What does Kanye West wear when he is sick? He wears Sneezys! Kanye West’s long-awaited tenth studio album, “Donda,” dropped on August 29. The album, having been announced more than a year ago, was teased to fans in recent months with West himself holding listening parties in stadiums across the country before its official release. However, the album did not disappoint. 

According to www.revolt.tv, the album was the second biggest Spotify debut of all time, earning nearly 100 million streams in its first 24 hours. On Donda, the top songs include “Jail”, “Moon,” “Hurricane,” and “Off the Grid,” getting at least 215,000,000 streams all together on Spotify. It had many features to add along with the 27 songs on the album. Some of the most notable features come from Travis Scott, Lil Baby, the Weeknd, Dababy, Playboi Carti, Chris Brown, and many more. “My favorite feature on the album is in the song ‘Hurricane,’” said eighth-grader Griffin Miller. “I like the Weeknd’s features.”

The album name “Donda” has a long backstory with Kanye and his family. Donda was the name of his mother, Donda West. West states that “Without my mom, there would be no Kanye West since my dad was too busy.” The introduction song “Donda Chant” is really important to him and his family. In the song, Syleena Johnson says “Donda” 58 times, and Donda West passed away at the age of 58. Also, when Johnson says “Donda”,  she is symbolizing Donda West’s last 58 heartbeats, according to this article here from Focus News. “The song ‘Donda Chant’ is kind of odd since it says ‘Donda Donda Donda,’” said seventh-grader Ryan Chait. “I saw the reason why since it’s his mom’s last beat. It was a sad reason.”

However, people aren’t just talking about the songs on the album. The album cover, which is simply pure black, has caused a stir among fans. Some think the simple cover is the result of the album being released without West’s permission, according to the artist, detailed in this article from BBC.  But, on all social media platforms, his profile picture remains a pure black photo. Kanye West is often known as “Ye,” which is a very commonly used word in the Bible, meaning “You” in old English. With the death of his mother on November 7th, 2007, West changed and tried to better himself by becoming more religiously centered.  

This album is a good overall album, but some people may think differently. “Donda is as good as his other albums when he was younger since they were slower and less up-tempo,”  said

eighth-grader Haley Roth. Donda features lots of depth. The first half of the album shows his darker side before he changed, giving off a similar feel to his 2013 album titled “Yeezus,” which is thought to be an experimental album according to fans. The second half shows how he changed for the better and references the Bible a lot, similar to his previous album “Jesus is King.”  “Donda is over some of his albums, but I would put Graduation over Donda without a doubt,” said eighth-grader Brady Davis.

West has been around the music industry for a while and he’s made nine other studio albums before Donda. He is one of the most influential artists of the early 21st century. He went from a hip-hop beatmaker to a worldwide-known hitmaker. Many of his most popular albums went over billions of streams, like Graduation and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.