UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP RELEASED CONTROVERSIAL ALBUM DONDA WITHOUT KANYE WEST’S APPROVAL
On Sunday, Kanye West released his highly-anticipated album DONDA, named after his late mother. The album has been extremely controversial since it dropped. As soon as it hit streaming services, Kanye made an announcement on Instagram stating his label released the album without his approval. He wrote, “Universal put my album out without my approval and they blocked ‘Jail 2’ from being on the album.”
Representatives for Universal offered no comment to Variety. Still, the publication cited unnamed sources at the company who called West’s claim “preposterous.”
In addition, Charlotte, NC rapper DaBaby had some issues going on with Kanye and his label. Claims were made that DaBaby’s manager didn’t clear the song DaBaby featured on. DaBaby’s manager, Arnold Taylor, eventually spoke up and said the claims were false, and he doesn’t know why the song didn’t initially make it on the album. After some back and forth, Kanye’s album was adjusted to include DaBaby’s “Jail, Pt. 2” verse.
Similarly, Chris Brown took to social media to air out his frustrations. This singer was supposed to feature on the track “New Again.” However, the song was later replaced with a version that only features the voices of Kanye and his Sunday Service Choir. Chris is now only credited as a songwriter. Brown took to Instagram Stories and wrote, “Kanye a whole hoe.”
Likewise, rapper Soulja Boy alleged that Kanye removed his verse from the Donda song, “Remote Control.” He also took to social media and wrote, “If he didn’t like the verse he should of said that don’t text me acting like u f*ck wit it then secretly take it off,” he wrote. “What kind of shit is that I was working on my album too I don’t got time for this sh*t.” Let’s face it; everybody can’t make the cut on Ye’s 27 song album.
This nigga Kanye smh. Tell homie dont hit my phone no more. pic.twitter.com/jAoumHDz4F
— Soulja Boy (Draco) (@souljaboy) August 29, 2021
Kanye had a very long guest list for his album. According to Hypebeast, DONDA includes verses from JAY-Z, Playboi Carti, Fivio Foreign, The Weeknd, Baby Keem, Travis Scott, Lil Durk, Lil Yachty, Young Thug, Don Toliver, Kid Cudi, Ariana Grande, Swizz Beats, the late Pop Smoke, and the list goes on.
On the production side, West is credited as a producer on all the tracks with additional work from 88 Keys, Dem Jointz, Mike Dean, Ojivolta, Sean Solymar, Allday, Arrow, E.Vax, 30 Roc, AyoAA, David & Eli, Sloane, BoogzDaBeast, DJ Khalil, and many many more!
DONDA BY @KANYEWEST FULL CREDITS & FEATURINGS pic.twitter.com/0B4EweKbSI
— YEEZY MAFIA (@theyeezymafia) August 29, 2021
However, Donda is off to a great start on streaming services. West’s new album occupied the U.S. Spotify chart’s Top 10 yesterday. His track, “Jail” is currently the most-streamed song on the album and debuted at No. 2 on the global Spotify chart. According to Forbes, Donda is anticipated to move 300,000 album-equivalent units or more in its opening week.
