“Donda,” features a whopping 31 artists in the album, including Kid Cudi, Lil Yachty, Playboi Carti, Travis Scott, Young Thug, Roddy Ricch and Lil Durk. These artists added flavor for people who are not huge Kanye fans. 

I really enjoyed how every song used a hybrid of rap mixed with gospel-type music. Kanye raps about his worship of Jesus and his relationship with him. The use of a piano, and chorus that you would hear in a Christian church environment is an element I wasn’t expecting. In “24,” Kanye uses these sounds to help illustrate the sense of a Christian environment.

“[Kanye] adds some diversity and religious beliefs into some of his rap songs. He mixes more traditional rap songs into his songs. “Come to Life,” is my favorite, it’s more of a faithful song than traditional rap, but I just found it so beautiful and melodic. It sounded like he really cared about his own faith, and I just thought it was cool,” junior Christian Martin said.

I noticed when Kanye makes songs, each song has its own story behind it. For example, in “No Child Left Behind,” Kanye explains how he doesn’t rely on anyone but Jesus Christ. I think it’s just amazing how the song is so short, but it’s not about the length when it comes to Kanye. He delivers the message, straight forward, which I think makes him stand out from other artists who rap about their cars, money or jewelry. Kanye really expresses his belief that the Christian Lord will have his back no matter what. 

Before I listened to this album I had really only listened to Kanye’s big hits like “All of the Lights,” “Stronger” and “Power.” I never really noticed that some of his biggest songs have some parts where he talks about God assisting him in his life. I feel it makes the music even more unique because it carves a bigger meaning. I’d recommend this album to anyone with very strong feelings towards Christianity, and who would like to try transitioning to listening to more rap music. 

Junior Braden Sachs, who has liked Kanye since his mid-2000’s songs, feels that all of the songs on “Donda,” were just in a medium range of his preferences. Sachs feels Kanye’s other albums, like “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” and “Graduation” feature many of Kanye’s most popular songs like “Stronger” and ‘Power.”

““Donda,” was not horrible but I would not say it’s just medium. I think “Hurricane,” is my favorite from the album though. I do think his other albums from the past are far better though; they had better beats to me,” Sachs said.