So far in 2021, we have had many albums reach the top of the charts and have stayed at the top all year. However, albums this year were not that good, and did not have much of a replay value. One rapper who has set the bar this year just released his 10th studio album a few months ago. Kanye West released his long awaited album “Donda.” This album was named after his late mother who passed away from heart complications in 2007. The genre is Hip-Hop/Rap, but it also includes Gospel and soulful music. I personally enjoyed this album, even though there were some songs that weren’t particularly that appealing. But there was great lyricism, instrumentals, and vocals from this album.

While West does great on almost every song vocally, his features add more of a different tone and pitch and they stand out throughout the album. On the song “Jail” West and Jay-Z collaborate by rapping on a bold instrumental, and they rap slowly bar for bar. On the song “Off The Grid” West collaborates with rappers Playboi Carti and Fivio Foreign. The song starts off with Carti’s vocals and slowly transitions into a drill instrumental where Foreign raps like he is about to die. He keeps flowing for a minute and thirty seconds, and keeps going till West takes over again. Another really good song was “Praise God” where West collaborated with Travis Scott and Baby Keem. The intro has Donda speaking for 30 seconds, and then it goes into Travis’ vocals. The song ends with Baby Keem harmonizing and rapping near the end.

This album had too many songs which didn’t add much to West’s creative process. There were some unnecessary songs like ‘Tell The Vision’, and it was not appealing because the vocals were glitched and it was completely unfinished, but it served as a tribute to late rapper Pop Smoke. Overall, the album had a few bad songs, and many great songs, but it definitely was not West’s greatest work. It may become a classic in the next 10-15 years, but for now it was voted in the top albums of 2021. Kanye’s impact and lyricism hasn’t diminished yet and he has been consistent since he started rapping. This album is proof that there is still good music around and it shows many different sounds, it’s not just a rap album.

I thought this album had many creative aspects to it. My experience listening to this album for the first time was pretty good. West had so many people on this album, and really he used their styles in different ways to make this album sound unique and somewhat different from his other albums. The album had pretty exceptional reception from different news outlets and review sites. West’s vocals fit pretty well with the instrumentals which sound a lot different than what rap albums present today. This album really had a great influence and impact, and I cannot wait to see the reception and look back on it in a few years…