News : KANYE WEST IS DROPPING HIS TENTH ALBUM ‘DONDA’ THIS WEEK

First it was DONDA. Then it was God’s Country. Now it’s DONDA, again.

Those who watched Game 6 of the 2021 NBA Finals likely caught an advert for Beats’ new Studio Buds, featuring future track & field icon Sha’Carri Richardson. However, the ad also doubled as the formal announcement of Kanye West‘s forthcoming album DONDA, slated to arrive July 23.

The commercial featured a minute-long snippet of the album’s first single, “No Child Left Behind.”

So, a few things:

1. I’m never going to trust the words of a Justin Laboy, ever, so excuse me for being extremely apprehensive about this album given Ye’s musical track record as of late regardless of what Twitter says. I’d rather listen to and judge it myself… if and when I decide to.
2. I would always quasi-joke to my friends that a post-breakup Kanye album would probably be some of his best-ever work. Well, here it is!
3. We still haven’t forgotten the last five years of Kanye antics (and I mean everything), which has resulted in said apprehension (spare me that “separate the man from his music” crap. If that was the case, we’d all still be singing along to “Step In The Name Of Love” at the function). And most of his music in that span has been — and I’m being nice here — largely forgettable (out of everything in that time frame, the only project that still gets hefty spins from this side is Pusha T‘s DAYTONA), and hasn’t come remotely close to his music before then.

Kanye will debut the album in Atlanta at the Mercedes Benz Stadium on Thursday, July 22. Apple Music will provide a free stream for those unable to attend in person. Apparently, the first single also arrives in a matter of hours. So, we’ll see what happens.