A new Kanye West album has surfaced online — but it isn’t his 11th studio album that he’s rumored to be working on.
On Thursday (September 21), a visual album called Donda: With Child leaked in full, along with an almost 35-minute video directed by Vanessa Beecroft.
AD LOADING...
The project was reportedly supposed to be released in 2020 and is an early version of Ye’s Donda LP that arrived the following year.
Donda: With Child features several audio clips of Kanye’s mother, Donda West, and contains a handful of songs that appeared on the official version of Donda, albeit with some significant changes.
AD LOADING...
Pusha T handles both guest verse and hook duties on “Off the Grid,” Big Sean and Ant Clemons replace Lil Baby and The Weeknd on “Hurricane,” and KayCyy and The Sunday Service Choir appear on a beefed-up, drill-flavored version of “24.”
There are also a number of unreleased tracks, including collaborations with Travis Scott, James Blake, Sheck Wes and Saint JHN, according to a tracklist on Reddit.
At least one of the songs featuring Scott — “God’s Country” — ended up on the Houston rapper’s recently released Utopia, sans Kanye vocals.
As for the visuals, they appear to have been filmed at Yeezy’s sprawling Wyoming ranch and are reminiscent of his videos for “Follow God” and “Closed on Sunday” from 2019’s Jesus Is King.
AD LOADING...
The lengthy clip features shots of various animals, Ye’s fleet of Sherp ATVs, a fully-clothed woman floating in a lake, construction work being carried out on the ranch and female models roaming the vast landscape.
Kanye appears halfway through the video and is seen walking alone across the ranch with his hood up while sharing some off-the-cuff political musings.
AD LOADING...
“Purple is a mix of red and blue,” says the Chicago rap mogul, who unsuccessfully ran for president in 2020. “Not saying that we’re far to either side, but we understand both sides. We mix and we find this purple. Purple is Prince… Purple Rain… purple makes you think of purpose.”
He also makes a brief cameo towards the end, playing a keyboard at his outdoor studio set-up at night.
Watch Donda: With Child below:
As for Kanye West’s upcoming album, various details and song snippets have emerged in recent months, fueling anticipation for the controversial rapper’s return.
Most recently, Ye debuted a new song at the Mowalola Spring/Summer 2024 fashion show in London earlier this month, which hears him namedrop luminaries like Frank Ocean, Solange and celebrity jeweler Johnny Dang.
AD LOADING...
“Ice on my teeth, now my dentist think he Johnny Dang/ I just hit a lick on the industry, now they in pain/ Y’all gon’ see me with a blonde if I’m bein’ frank,” he raps over a hard-hitting beat.
Later in the song, he spits: “Fighting while we elevating like Solange, aye/ Ballin’ ever since I came in, like LeBron, aye.”
AD LOADING...
The as-yet-untitled album has been described as “a mix of The College Dropout and The Life of Pablo,” and reportedly boasts an “insane” supporting cast.
The same Yeezy insider also said Kanye, who was dropped by numerous business partners last year due to his antisemitic comments, has “controversial but not antisemitic mentions of Jewish people on the album.”
