(Kan)Ye (West) Drops Donda Deluxe

Kanye West’s Donda is one of the best albums of his career, it delves in the fertile ground between deep personal loss, faith, divorce, hope, and eccentric wooly theological beliefs. The only reason it isn’t treated as a flawed masterpiece (it lacks a center of gravity) is because Ye is the one black American who can be insulted with impunity by liberals.

Now we have the deluxe, an over two hour glimpse at the world according to Ye, God appears over and over again, while his mother, Donda, is in the background, floating above the album. No track feels entirely finished, and the album is like Life Of Pablo, it is open ended and moves from Gospel to 808s style hip hop, the mood can be so serenely beautiful and yet so self-destructive. It is so clearly and complete a musical statement that despite the greatness of the adds, the Andre 3000 featured “Life of the Party” where the Outkast joins Ye to out himself as a borderline believer, “Keep My Spirits Alive” with the Griselda posse adding some boom bat, the gorgeous Kid Cudi and Young Thug featured “Remote Control, Pt 2” and emorap mood sounds “Moon,” it didn’t necessarily need them. “Jonah” remains central.

Donda repays attention with an immersive dreamworld that goes on and on, it feels like reality after being stuck in a grinder for two years: the God here hovers from track to track where Ye is the son and Donda the holy ghost.

Grade: A