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In 2016, Ye, formally known as Kanye West, simultaneously introduced his album “The Life of Pablo” and the third season of his fashion line Yeezy by plugging his laptop into the Madison Square Garden speakers. With thousands of fans in attendance, models wearing his latest design filled the stadium’s floor as Ye performed to each song with his collaborators on stage behind him.

Six years later, Ye released his latest album, “Donda 2,” in similar fashion. He kept the same large cast 1,000 miles south of New York in Miami, though the setting itself was more grand — Ye walked around a pool in the middle of the arena as a church burned behind him.

But the striking visuals were paired with constant audio issues as the sound from Ye and the featured artists who joined him on stage during some songs were delayed or silent. And during the performance of “Jail,” a song that was part of the original “Donda” album, Ye threw his microphone into the water in frustration.

Though the album is unfinished, Ye’s spectacle was representative of an album that was frustratingly underwhelming. Ye has recently been omnipresent in the public eye because of his divorce with Kim Kardashian, and he announced the sequel to 2021’s “Donda,” named after his mother, on Jan. 27 that would only be released on his $200 dollar Stem Player platform. Still, the project was another step down in Ye’s revamped sound, with the strength of his production as the only highlight.

Ye has shown his ability to synthesize witty lyrics with memorable flows since his 2002 debut single “Through the Wire,” when he rapped “I drink a Boost for breakfast, an Ensure for dessert/ Somebody ordered pancakes, I just sip the sizzurp” with his jaw still wired shut from a car accident. But Ye opts for personal bars about his lack of custody of his kids, his hatred for Kardashian’s new boyfriend Pete Davidson or his anger at Kardashian herself throughout “Donda 2.”

On the opening track, “True Love” featuring XXXTENTACION, Ye raps, “Let the kids dig a tunnel to my house like Chapo/ Only neighbor in the hood with a door they can knock on/ I leave the light on.” He’s blatantly saying that he wants his kids to sneak out of their mom’s house, even comparing them to a bar code he has to scan to spend time with. While these bars show how Ye feels, they cross the line as being too personal and unnecessary and add unneeded drama to the issue.

Still, Ye lets his featured artists, like XXXTENTACION and Don Toliver, thrive on some of the most creative beats he has recently enlisted. Toliver opens “Broken Road” with his distinct melancholy style, but Ye starts his verse with the questionable line “Baby, I’m free (Baby, I’m free) like a homeless person.”

The production remains superb throughout the album, transitioning from the lo-fi introductory tracks into hype songs like “We Did It Kid” and “Pablo,” similar to the versatility of “Donda.” But he spoils some of the beats too, sampling Vice President Kamala Harris saying “We did it Joe” on “Louie Bags” and Kardashian’s monologue from when she hosted SNL on “Sci Fi.”

Best track: We Did It Kid

This song features little of Ye, implementing Baby Keem and two-thirds of Migos for the majority of the track. But that adds to why it’s one of the strongest songs on the project, as the lyrics aren’t dealing with his divorce or Davidson.

All three artists talk about their hardships of getting to the popularity they have today, with Keem hopping on the track first. Like JAY-Z and Ye on “Hate” off of the album “The Blueprint 3,” Quavo and Offset take turns throughout their verse, going bar for bar to end the song. In typical Migos fashion, both artists fill their lyrics with sports references and conversations about the money they’ve accumulated through their careers.

Over a happy, horn-driven beat from Ye, the trio delivers witty and entertaining lyrics like “Heaven’s Gate when I get home” and “Hand-built it like a carpenter did it.” This makes you want to bop your head at the sound of each downbeat, transitioning perfectly into the next track matching the same tone, “Pablo.”

This entire song is taking shots at the ex-friends in Ye’s life, starting with Kid Cudi. Ye raps “No, you can’t be on my mama album” in reference to Cudi being removed from “Donda 2” because of his friendship with Davidson.

Ye continues the song threatening Davidson, saying “Pops home, I ain’t gettin’ frisked/ I put your security at risk.” Davidson reportedly hired extra security following Ye’s threats on social media, and Ye tries to poke fun at that throughout the entirety of this track.

The production mimics “Freestyle 4,” an aggressive dark beat on “The Life of Pablo” that samples the Goldfrapp song “Human.” He tries to do the same on “Security,” using the same grunt that he introduced his first verse on “Freestyle 4” with, but the sped up sample of Micachu’s “Wanna Trap” is more distracting than entertaining. And his flow isn’t special either, repeatedly rhyming “risk” and “frisked.”

Hardest Bars: Get Lost

While a lot of “Donda 2” is filled with cringey lyrics taking shots at Kardashian or Davidson, “Get Lost” is an emotional track with bars reminiscent of “808s & Heartbreak.” There is no actual beat in the background, with Ye distorting his voice, another tactic he’s used since the late 2000s.

This highlights his lyricism, which still hints at his dying relationship with Kardashian, but in a more sympathetic tone. Ye raps, “Memories back from time/ All my thoughts on at night/ All my life’s on the line/ I still get lost in night.” He talks about “keeping to darker streets,” before ending the song saying “Do I still cross your mind?/ If not, then, never mind.”

In simplistic, four to five word lines, Ye talks about how he misses his marriage, feeling as if his entire life relied on that relationship. Now, he can’t sleep, lost in the night. Ye displays his humane side for once on the project, yearning for his ex-wife.

Final thoughts:

If you miss the old Kanye, you’re not alone. His speciality was creating complete and experimental projects that require no skips. But he hasn’t been able to achieve that since his collaborative album “KIDS SEE GHOSTS” with Cudi in 2018.

More than half of the tracks on “Donda” don’t demand replayability, and “Donda 2” has even more unnecessary songs. There are still tracks which sound like vintage Ye, but his left turn creatively hasn’t been as captivating as the previous transformations in his career. But this album is unfinished, and if it’s ever released to the public without a $200 dollar price tag, there could be massive improvements from this version.

Hopefully, another shift is remaining in the 44-year-old artist’s artillery, giving Ye stans something more nostalgic than average. Mr. West needs to wake up again.

Published on March 1, 2022 at 9:43 pm

Contact Anish: asvasude@syr.edu | @anish_vasu