I’ve liked Kanye’s music for a while now, but I’m pretty loyal to his older music. I would have listened to “Donda” in time, but all the hype around the album made me want to listen after it dropped. Unfortunately, that was shut down pretty quickly after the majority of listeners didn’t care for it.

I started listening without a lot of hope for the album but was immediately impressed by “Jail.” I figured other listeners might have been dramatic about how much they disliked “Donda.” I was wrong.

The further I listened, the more I wished I could stop listening. Some of the tracks were good, but overall I was very disappointed. All of the tracks were very synthetic. For Kanye to talk about how much this album was going to reflect his struggles, I honestly expected something deeper. 

The usual word play that West brings was there, but it was lackluster. I don’t see myself listening to much of this album from here on out and I’m surprised to see that it’s doing so well. Usually, I am able to look on the bright side of things and don’t have a negative opinion about an album (especially for an artist I like), but this was disappointing. 

Going into the album, I knew I would hold it to the standard I hold “The Life of Pablo” to. I find that to be Kanye’s best album and I was hoping it would have a rival, but evidently not. 

This project had a lot of attention drawn to it because of the stunts Kanye has been pulling for the last few weeks. Nothing he has done really surprised me, but I have low standards for his actions based on the way he acted in the past.

Even though West was allegedly mad that his album was released without his permission, I think the timing of the release was smart on behalf of the record label. Many other rap projects are projected to be released in the next couple of weeks (namely Drake’s) and the revenue that would be lost by waiting longer simply wouldn’t be worth it. He didn’t have time to write new songs, and at 27 tracks, “Donda” certainly didn’t need more.

I’m not sure what I wanted out of this album, but I thought we as an audience would get more of an insight into what West has been dealing with for the last couple of years. Because of the nature of his relationship with the Kardashians, we haven’t been out of the loop on Kanye’s life, but we haven’t really heard his side either. 

I feel bad for not liking the album as much as I hoped, but I’m not going to pretend to care for a project because I’ve liked an artist’s work in the past.

SNL said it best: make Kanye 2006 again.

Maya Kurth is a sophomore public relations major. She can be reached at 581-2812 or mkurth@eiu.edu.