Digital Nas

Kanye West Brought Out Marilyn Manson At His ‘Donda 2’ Listening Party In Miami

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Since one of the few people giving the public information about Kanye’s anticipated Donda follow-up, Donda 2, already let us know Marilyn Manson has been a fixture during Kanye’s recent studio sessions, the accused rapist’s presence at the listening parties for Ye’s latest album shouldn’t come as a surprise. Earlier this year, Kanye’s collaborator Digital Nas told Rolling Stone “I see Marilyn a lot in the studio. Like, every day I go to the studio, Marilyn is there working on Donda 2.”

And tonight, at the Florida listening party for the record, Manson was front and center with Ye, along with the still-embattled rapper DaBaby, whose recent comments about HIV rubbed plenty of fans — and his own fellow collaborators — as extremely homophobic and backwards. But in Kanye’s world, being chastised by the public is part of an artist’s appeal. Tonight’s listening party took place at LoanDepot Park Stadium in Miami, Florida, and marked the second time Ye brought out both artists for a listening — they also joined him at the original Donda listening in Chicago.

Another takeaway from the night was Kanye sampling his ex-wife Kim Kardashian calling him the greatest rapper alive on SNL, and vocals from the late, controversial rapper XXXTentacion. So needless to say, this album is going to be a doozy. Stay tuned.

What Are The Features On Kanye West’s ‘Donda 2’?

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For plenty of Kanye West fans, his 2021 album Donda felt like a comeback. Sure, it might not be My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy levels of Yeezus, but it was a start. It felt like Ye was trying again, not wandering around the gospel realm with choirs and Sunday Services in tow. So when word got out that he’s already hard at work on Donda 2, and it will be here in the matter of a few short days, excitement about the project reached a fever pitch. And so naturally, excitement over the release also begged the ever present question when it comes to a Kanye album: Who will he collaborate with? Here’s everything we know so far on that tip.

What Are The Features On Kanye West’s ‘Donda 2’

Luckily, one producer on the new Kanye album has given the media plenty of info on some of the album’s more relevant aspects. So we know that he’s once again working with Nas Digital, who produced “Junya” and “Remote Control,” on Donda part one.
When Kanye announced the album last week, he stated that Future will serve as the executive producer for the album. This creative partnership followed up a surprise New Year’s Eve performance from the pair of rappers, who have rarely worked together in the past.

A recently released collaboration with The Game called “Eazy” takes shots at Pete Davidson, who Ye’s ex-wife Kim Kardashian is reportedly dating. While it’s unclear if this is a Donda 2 track, it seems like The Game and the track’s producer Hit-Boy might be in the mix.

Spotted hanging out at the studio with Kanye in mid-January were The Game (a collaboration we’ve since heard), Moneybagg Yo, Chavo, and his frequent collaborator Mike Dean, so it’s very likely we’ll get a guest verse or something from a few of them. Even weirder? Big Sean, who has continually implied he has beef with Kanye and is no longer signed to GOOD Music was also at the studio hang. Rekindling? We’ll see.

The next day, photos of Kanye, ASAP Rocky, and Pusha T at the studio together surface. I’ll tune in for a song by that trio any day.

A few days ago, Digital also spilled the beans that Marilyn Manson is working very closely with Kanye on the project. “I see Marilyn a lot in the studio,” the producers said. “Like, every day I go to the studio, Marilyn is there working on Donda 2.” Though that particular partnership might upset some fans, at this point, Kanye doesn’t seem to care. After all, doing whatever he wants is basically what he’s best known for at this point.

Marilyn Manson Is Reportedly Working Closely With Kanye West On ‘Donda 2’

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At the upcoming Grammy Awards, Marilyn Manson secured himself a nomination thanks to his work on Kanye West’s album Donda. Ye received backlash for working with Manson in light of allegations of sexual assault and abuse he faces, but it appears that hasn’t deterred West from containing to work with Manson, who is reportedly involved in the making of the upcoming Donda 2.

Digital Nas, a producer who worked on the first Donda album, told Rolling Stone, “I see Marilyn a lot in the studio. Like, every day I go to the studio, Marilyn is there working on Donda 2.” He continued, “[West] doesn’t want Marilyn to play rap beats. He wants Marilyn to play what he makes, and then Ye will take parts of that and sample parts of that and use parts of that, like he did [generally when making] Yeezus. […] He has some producers from Yeezus working on Donda 2 this time around, [as well as] Marilyn, me, a bunch of producers from Donda 1.”

He also noted that West and Manson have “a crazy dynamic,” saying, “I would have never, ever thought that would happen, but it happened.”

Furthermore, Nas speculated why West decided to work with Manson, saying, “I think it’s moreso that Ye is coming from a standpoint of like, ‘We all make mistakes.’ I think that’s maybe why he had DaBaby and Marilyn at that one show. I’m just assuming it is from a standpoint of like, ‘We’re all sinners. We all make mistakes. We shouldn’t point the finger at someone for the mistakes they’ve made or something like that.’”

Kanye Wants ‘Donda 2’ To Soundtrack ‘Major Moments’ Like Funerals, Childbirth, Graduation Or Weddings

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Now that Kanye is back in a prolific phase, releasing Donda last year and almost immediately announcing a follow-up, he’s got a whole new slew of producers and collaborators in the mix. That’s a good thing, Ye’s taste level in other artists has always been one of his strong suits — except for that whole Marilyn Manson fiasco — and now one of his new producers, Digital Nas, has spoken to Rolling Stone about his time working with Yeezy on Donda 2.

Digital Nas, aka Nasir Pemberton, said he initially traveled from his home in Atlanta to work with Kanye in LA, but ended up moving to the city of angels in the end. “I went out there on a whim, no expectations,” the 23-year-old told Rolling Stone. “Then it turned into me living out there. By the fifth day, my manager gets an email like, ‘Hey, we want Nas out here indefinitely.’ And we’ve been just rocking ever since.”

Not a bad way to kick off your career! As for what fans can hope for from Donda 2, Kanye is planning and hoping to have it soundtrack major moments in his listener’s lives. “These are the directives for the album: ‘If it cannot be played at a funeral, childbirth, graduation, a wedding, it will not be on our record,’” Nas said. “We learned a lot from Donda 1. We learned what hit. We learned what was sticking. So we took from there. It has to be able to be played at four major moments in people’s lives. That’s crazy, right?”

Check out the entire interview here, and keep an eye out for Donda 2, which drops in just a few weeks on February 22.