In Dark Fantasy, West plays the role of a brash celebrity-genius, delivering verse after verse about his opulent lifestyle and emotionally damaged state without ever finding real meaning or closure, resulting in a fascinating meditation on the perils of fame. Donda, then, is best analyzed in conversation with Dark Fantasy, of which Donda seems to be a kind of reinterpretation.ĭonda and Dark Fantasy approach the same narrative from different sides. These details fit the precise mold that surrounded the release of West’s 2010 magnum opus, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - at the time, West had just split with his then-fiance, Amber Rose, had been (the 2010 equivalent of) cancelled for interrupting Taylor Swift at the VMAs, and had been taking time to mourn his mother’s 2007 passing. West brought high-profile artists and producers into a studio he had rented out indefinitely and created an album in the wake of a well-publicized split with his spouse, an erratic public persona, and persistent grief over the death of his mother. The circumstances surrounding Donda’s release are nothing new for longtime Kanye listeners. The beauty of Donda lies not in any new musical or thematic venture for Kanye but in the rapper’s ability to find freedom from troubles that have been cropping up in his life for as long as he has been in the public eye. When West played the album for the 38,000 fans in attendance, the output borrowed heavily from the musical palettes of earlier Kanye albums 808s and Heartbreak, Yeezus, and Jesus is King.ĭetractors have criticized Donda for sounding like a collection of B-sides from West’s prior work, but using novelty as the measuring stick for artistic quality misses the point of the record. Rather than performing from a conventional stage, West had a replica of his childhood home in southside Chicago built atop a mound of dirt in the middle of the stadium. ![]() On August 26th, Kanye West fans flocked to Soldier Field in Chicago where the rapper was holding what would be the third and final listening party for his tenth studio album, Donda.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |