Kanye West Debuts His Mom-Honoring, Divorce-Processing, Jay-Z Reuniting Record in an Atlanta Stadium

On Thursday night in Atlanta, Kanye West played his new album Donda for its first public audience at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The album is named for West’s late mother and includes recordings of her speaking. The listening party, which was also livestreamed, was an opportunity to hear the slate of features on the album, including appearances from Lil Baby, Lil Durk, Pop Smoke, Travis Scott, Pusha T, and Baby Keem.

The most notable (or at least surest to be dissected) feature on the album came from Jay-Z, who, as Pitchfork noted, has a verse on the record’s final song. West and the Roc Nation head were longtime collaborators and friends, a relationship that reached its high-water mark with their 2011 album Watch the Throne and its subsequent tour. The pair’s relationship seemed to cool significantly in recent years as West showed public support for former president Donald Trump and then made his own bizarre and scattershot bid for public office last fall. Audio engineer Young Guru wrote on Twitter that Jay-Z had recorded the verse just hours prior to the event.

“I told him to stop all that red cap, we going home,” Jay-Z raps, according to Pitchfork. “This might be the return of the Throne. Hova and Yeezus, like Moses and Jesus.”

In a full face mask, as his been his style in recent weeks, West kept mostly still in the stadium as the album played. According to the New York Post, Shaquille O’Neal, CeeLo Green, Big Boi, and Jadakiss were among the attendees. Also in attendance were Kim Kardashian West and the four children she and West have, as well as Khloe Kardashian. Kardashian West filed for divorce in February, and on Thursday, West repeatedly sang on one song, “I’m losing my family.” 

In recent years, West has built a reputation for albums that are in progress up to and after their scheduled release dates. Donda includes a celebratory reference to Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who West watched secure an NBA championship on Tuesday.

As of this writing, the album hasn’t yet appeared on streaming services.

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