On August 29, Kanye West released his several-times-delayed gospel, hip-hop, and rap album Donda, named for West’s late mother Donda West. West’s controversial conversion to Christianity in 2019 initially surprised his audience, with fans and critics questioning the authenticity of his newfound faith when he released his much-anticipated gospel album Jesus is King. However, the Torch has consistently covered his religious song releases like any other religious cultural topic; the message and the merit of these works should be judged by themselves just as much as they are judged inseparably from their creator.
The album’s release was tinged with controversy from day one, with West claiming that it was released by Universal Music Group without his permission following multiple delays over the previous several weeks. Nonetheless, it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and was one of the biggest opening stream-tallies ever on Spotify and Apple Music, marking West’s tenth consecutive number-one album release. It has remained at number one on the billboard charts to present.
I am not a Kanye listener, so many of the album’s references and callbacks are lost on me. It is clear, however, that the album is religious in part at the very least. Since his conversion, he has made the decision to permanently forgo swearing in his music, and as a result, all of the tracks are clean. Whether this is necessary for religious music is up for debate, but at a minimum it removes distractions from God from the music. It is extremely long for an album, clocking in at 1 hour and 48 minutes with 27 songs—over twice the average album length for inter-genre music like his. West uses his songs to praise God and his mother interchangeably, sampling large snippets of a speech his mother gave at Chicago State University in 2007 and drawing on scripture. He and his many featured artists bring up their upbringings and struggles with drugs, West’s recent separation from his wife, and the immense influence his mother had on his formation before her death. Through it all, he leans on God for strength to face his anxieties and those that don’t believe his conversion.
The album begins with the “Donda Chant,” simply a repetition of his mother’s name “Donda” in a rhythmic way, most likely meant as a hypnotic and meditative chant to prepare the listener for the reflection of the album to follow. Kanye follows up with songs titled “God Breathed,” “Praise God,” “Lord I Need You,” “Jesus Lord,” and “Jesus Lord pt 2,” among many others. While they do offer praise and worship to God, they simultaneously focus on other things. One song, “Remote Control,” features a sample from the meme “Globglogabgalab,” which is a ridiculous-looking character from a 2012 Christian allegorical children’s film. One reason for its inclusion might be a parody release of West’s album last month that claimed to be the leaked version, but in reality was a repetition of the Globglogabgalab’s dialogue from the popular meme, showing that West still closely watches how he is perceived publicly and uses his music strategically to that end.
Some claim that Kanye West’s swaggering ego and penchant for controversial coverage reveals the insincerity of his conversion as another publicity stunt among many. However, this viewpoint is not very accepting of the Christian belief in the capacity for true change in all souls. West’s decision to permanently remove swears from all future music and use all of his music to praise God in at least some capacity, combined with the motherly praise and post-marital, mid-life angst the album points to, suggests he has indeed changed his tune when it comes to God, and is trying to perfect his imperfections. Only time will tell how far any of us may get on the journey towards God and Christians should welcome his and each other’s attempts.
Grant is a senior studying Information Systems at the Carroll School of Management. He keeps busy by studying and writing for The Torch.
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