Kanye West’s premiered his upcoming tenth album Donda for the third time this past Thursday. The rapper brought the long-overdue unreleased project to his hometown for a performance at Chicago’s Soldier Field. The listening event did not require attendees to be vaccinated or present a negative COVID-19 test, but instead, they offered vaccinations against the virus for those who arrived to hear the latest version of Donda.
But according to reports, that effort wasn’t nearly as successful as many hoping to help end the pandemic would have hoped. According to TMZ, a representative for the stadium said that 1,500 doses would be available. And the publication has shared the official count for vaccination given at the venue and it’s quite low.
TMZ reported that a spokesperson from the Illinois Department of Public Health told them that just 13 vaccinations were given out at the rapper’s event on Thursday. Since a vaccination or negative COVID-19 test was not required to attend the event, there’s no telling how many of the 38,000 people that were present at Soldier Field were actually vaccinated. However, with 65% of Illinois residents confirmed to have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccination, it’s hard to not imagine that a decent amount of the Soldier Field attendees were not vaccinated.
While the 13 vaccinations may seem like a low number, it’s a bit of a jump than the number that was given at the rapper’s second listening event for Donda, which concluded with just 4 vaccinations for the 40,000 people in attendance.
Making an uncomfortable situation that much ickier, a representative for Marilyn Manson has confirmed that the shock-rocker — who is currently under investigation by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department for accusations of domestic abuse — features on Kanye West’s forthcoming album, Donda. “Marilyn Manson’s voice is featured on Donda, and he will continue to conceptually collaborate with Ye on the Donda project,” a spokesperson for Manson told Billboard, who picked the story up from Newsweek.
Last night, Kanye prompted fan backlash when he brought Manson and DaBaby onstage with him during his third Donda listening party at Chicago’s Soldier Field. During the event, Kanye premiered a new version of “Jail” that replaced a Jay-Z verse with one from DaBaby, who has been under fire for making homophobic comments onstage during Rolling Loud.
Earlier this year, actress Evan Rachel Wood came forward to name ex-partner Manson as her alleged abuser, whom she accused of terrorizing her during their relationship, which began in 2007 (when she was 18 and he was 36) and ended in 2010. At the time, Wood accused Manson of both “grooming” and “horrifically” abusing her. After that, at least ten more women came forward to make similar accusations against the singer, including Game of Thrones actress Esme Bianco, who had previously testified alongside Wood in support of California’s Phoenix Bill, which is aimed toward lengthening the statute of limitations for crimes involving domestic violence. Bianco eventually sued Manson for sexual assault and battery. Following the accusations, Manson’s label, Loma Vista, dropped him from their roster.
Manson has denied the allegations, posting a statement to social media in February: “Obviously, my art and my life have long been magnets for controversy, but these recent claims about me are horrible distortions of reality… My intimate relationships have always been entirely consensual with like-minded partners. Regardless of how — and why — others are now choosing to misrepresent the past, that is the truth.”
Over the past however many months, there have been reports about the progress of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s divorce. Based on information that has been made public, though, the whole thing seems quite amicable. Kardashian, for example, has showed up to West’s recent Donda listening events. She again had a presence at his Chicago event last night, although she was more involved than usual.
This time, she became part of the show. At the end of the performance, during the song “No Child Left Behind,” she took the stage in a wedding dress (a Balenciaga Couture wedding dress, as TMZ reports). She approached West, and as the show concluded, the pair left the stadium hand-in-hand.
TMZ also notes that according to their sources, while Kardashian and West aren’t getting back together, they still have familial love for each other and will continue to support each other.
Meanwhile, the Chicago event will packed with headlines aside from the Kardashian appearance. Aside from her, Marilyn Manson and DaBaby, who are both controversial figures in the music world at the moment, were also part of the proceedings. Speaking of DaBaby, fans noticed that West replaced a Jay-Z verse with one from DaBaby, and folks aren’t pleased.
Kanye played the newest version of Donda from the steps of a replica of his childhood home, which was built on the field of the Soldier Field stadium in his hometown Chicago and styled as a church. While the borderline sacrilegious imagery is old hat for both artists, who’ve both enjoyed provoking the Christian establishment since their careers began nearly 25 years ago, fans didn’t enjoy seeing Kanye connect himself to someone accused of sexual assault during an event ostensibly meant to honor his late mother, Donda West. A number of fans on Twitter noted the discrepancy, which was exacerbated by his choice to play a new version of “Jail” that replaced Jay-Z’s verse with one from DaBaby — who himself has been under fire for making homophobic comments onstage during Rolling Loud.
cutting a jay-z verse for dababy and bringing out marilyn manson(?) out to just stand there is so fucking weird why does he do this pic.twitter.com/uopGGpHTqD
If Kanye’s goal was to get people talking, well, mission accomplished. If it was to endear himself to the fans he’s alienated over the years with his antics, I don’t think he should hold his breath. Check out more responses below.
Ye got DaBaby and Marilyn Manson on the porch. R Kelly finna bust through the door like the Kool-Aid just like this pic.twitter.com/y6DB2vkP82
kanye replacing jayz with dababy and then proceeding to chill on the front porch of a replica of his childhood home with marilyn manson is the most surreal thing to happen this release cycle
Kanye West’s third Donda listening at Chicago’s Soldier Field is underway, and one of the biggest changes he’s made to the project so far was evident right off the bat — and many fans aren’t happy about it. One of the standout tracks at Kanye’s first listening came toward the end, revealing that he had, at last, reconciled with Jay-Z, who contributed a verse addressing Ye’s oddball political antics over the past few years. However, this time, he opened with the same song, with one major change: Jay-Z’s verse had been replaced with one by DaBaby.
The reason for the change is currently unknown and will likely remain so for the foreseeable future. The fan reaction, though, was obvious and immediate. Putting aside the quality of the song for just a moment, the timing — coming as DaBaby has been subject to widespread backlash over his homophobic comments during Rolling Loud — is questionable and likely intentional on Kanye’s part. After all, Kanye did spend the better part of the last four years trolling people with a Make America Great Again ball cap, even as the man who coined the catchphrase was doing everything in his power to do the opposite.
Replacing Jay-Z with Da Baby is like replacing Michael Jordan with Eddy Curry
Fans criticized the switch, calling it a downgrade. Meanwhile, the listening has continued with further attention-baiting decisions, such as inviting Marilyn Manson — who is currently under investigation for domestic abuse — to hang out with him on the steps of the reconstructed replica of his childhood home as he plays an album named for his mother. Meanwhile, that album’s release date has once again changed, now showing September 5. See more responses to the change below.
Kanye West’s third Donda listening at Chicago’s Soldier Field is underway, and one of the biggest changes he’s made to the project so far was evident right off the bat — and many fans aren’t happy about it. One of the standout tracks at Kanye’s first listening came toward the end, revealing that he had, at last, reconciled with Jay-Z, who contributed a verse addressing Ye’s oddball political antics over the past few years. However, this time, he opened with the same song, with one major change: Jay-Z’s verse had been replaced with one by DaBaby.
The reason for the change is currently unknown and will likely remain so for the foreseeable future. The fan reaction, though, was obvious and immediate. Putting aside the quality of the song for just a moment, the timing — coming as DaBaby has been subject to widespread backlash over his homophobic comments during Rolling Loud — is questionable and likely intentional on Kanye’s part. After all, Kanye did spend the better part of the last four years trolling people with a Make America Great Again ball cap, even as the man who coined the catchphrase was doing everything in his power to do the opposite.
Replacing Jay-Z with Da Baby is like replacing Michael Jordan with Eddy Curry
Fans criticized the switch, calling it a downgrade. Meanwhile, the listening has continued with further attention-baiting decisions, such as inviting Marilyn Manson — who is currently under investigation for domestic abuse — to hang out with him on the steps of the reconstructed replica of his childhood home as he plays an album named for his mother. Meanwhile, that album’s release date has once again changed, now showing September 5. See more responses to the change below.
After it was reported that Kanye West’s upcoming Donda listening event at Chicago’s Soldier Field stadium would not require proof of COVID-19 vaccinations or proof of a negative COVID test, representatives for the stadium told TMZ that Soldier Field will do on-site vaccinations the day of the event. ASM Global Management, which runs Solider Field, partnered with the city of Chicago to secure 1,500 doses of vaccines split between the two-shot Pfizer version and the one-shot Johnson & Johnson formula. For anyone getting the Pfizer dose, Department of Health officials will help set up a second appointment.
A similar program at the Atlanta Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where Kanye held the first two listening events, reportedly only yielded a small number of vaccinations, but with the Delta variant spreading, perhaps Chicagoans will be more eager to inoculate themselves. Other safety measures will include a reduced capacity — only 38,000 will be allowed into the 63,000-capacity venue.
Fans have been led to expect a more elaborate production than those who attended the Atlanta show as well, as Kanye is apparently pulling out several of the stops to ensure his hometown event has much more to see — including a replica of his childhood home that was reportedly being built on the stadium field. Hopefully, with this third event, he’ll be more satisfied with the version of the album he’s putting forth because any more delays may end up costing him more than just stadium rental fees.
In 2018, Kanye West’s perpetual tardiness became kind of a joke after his GOOD Music releases came later and later. In 2021, no one is laughing — or even surprised, really — that West has now had two separate listening events for his new album Donda while the album itself has been pushed back over and over again. Originally, its release date was scheduled for sometime in 2020, but for obvious reasons, it was pushed back to early this year.
But then, it was pushed back again — and again. Kanye now has a third listening event booked for this Thursday but there doesn’t seem to be anywhere near as much buzz as there was for the first or even the second. This is after neither listening event drew the sort of response that Kanye was able to generate in 2016 with the rollout for The Life Of Pablo. Maybe his antics just don’t resonate anymore or maybe he’s finally burned through all of the goodwill he generated with My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and his 2010 GOOD Fridays campaign, but it feels like excitement dies down with each new release date he announces.
The diminishing returns for each new announcement remind me of another much-hyped hip-hop release that never came to fruition: Dr. Dre’s long-rumored, but as-yet unsubstantiated masterpiece, Detox. Referred to throughout the years as “rap’s Chinese Democracy, Detox held near-mythical status among hip-hop heads for over a decade following its announcement shortly after the release of 2001, Dre’s anachronously-titled sophomore “solo” album — which itself dropped nearly 10 years after his debut, The Chronic.
Billed as Dre’s final album and tentatively scheduled for release in 2004, Detox not only never materialized, but it also frustrated rap fans endlessly with every tantalizing detail hinted at by one of its seemingly endless list of collaborators. Names attached to the project included 50 Cent, Anderson .Paak, Busta Rhymes, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, and even Golden Era pioneer Rakim. On Dre’s collaborations with proteges like 50 and Kendrick, he continued to tease fans to “Look Out For Detox.” Interviews and features described the high-concept theme of an epic crime thriller, Dre’s ultimate goodbye to the rap game.
And yet, with each successive year, the reality of Detox seemed further and further away. Where once artists’ hints that they had been in the studio prompted excitement from hip-hop fans, by the mid-2010s, such tidbits only inspired derisive dismissal. By then, everyone had been in the studio with Dre. If he were to release even a fraction of the collaborations that were rumored to be sitting on some hard drive somewhere, it could only spark waves of lamentations that the other rumored records hadn’t dropped as well, or that the buzzy alliances would only result in music that fell short of expectations.
Single releases like 2011’s “I Need A Doctor” felt like forward movement, only for Dre to again go dormant by the end of that year. Four more years went by before Dre released a full project and it wasn’t even Detox. 2015’s well-received but short-lived Compton seemed to put paid to the concept of the swan song, which was possibly Dr. Dre’s only way out of the prison of expectations he’d built around himself. By moving on from Detox, he freed himself from the constraints of releasing an all-time, game-changing classic and let fans engage with the music itself instead of their disappointment at missing pieces.
While Donda hasn’t quite reached that level of hype just yet, there are some pretty obvious parallels. His extensive list of potential collaborators on the project includes everyone from newcomer Baby Keem to classic New York battle rappers The LOX to the slippery trap rap royal Young Thug. So far, two entirely different versions of the album have been played for fans, including one with a Jay-Z reunion record, and yet, the quality of the music has been washed out by the spectacle of the events themselves, with snack menus going more viral than any of the songs and news coverage of the third event focusing heavily on what appears to be the publicity stunt of Kanye building a house inside Soldier Field stadium.
Meanwhile, should another projected release date pass by without a listenable version of the album hitting streaming services, it’s a safe bet that whatever goodwill Kanye has left will be spent in its entirety. Sure, there’s a subset of Yeezy diehards on Reddit who have convinced themselves that what he’s doing is the next big idea in album rollouts, but the rest of us will probably finally admit to ourselves that the emperor has been parading about in his underwear for the last few years. Maybe the constant delays really are a sign of his perfectionism, just like Dr. Dre’s were for Detox — but in the end, unless they actually release the products they’re pushing, it won’t matter how good they are, if they only exist in the artists’ imaginations.
According to the Chicago Tribune, the rapper will not require proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID test at his upcoming Donda listening party, taking place at Soldier Field on Thursday, August 26. Consequence points out that Soldier Field doesn’t have a roof or dome, which technically qualifies it as an outdoor concert, which means that it wouldn’t fall under Chicago’s indoor mask mandate. Still, there will be an audience cap: only 38,000 people will be permitted in the stadium, which has a max capacity of around 63,000.
“Kanye West’s performance is one of many examples that show that Chicago can be open and safe at the same time,” Chicago Park District spokesperson Michele Lemons said. “We have worked with Soldier Field on COVID-19 safety protocols, as we have other venues including Wrigley and Guaranteed Rate Fields, and feel this event can be safely held with the proper mitigation efforts in place.”
As for when Donda will actually be released, that still remains to be seen. The album was expected to be released after each listening event, but that has obviously not happened. This next event is on August 26, so at this point, one would assume the album currently has a planned August 27 release. But you know what they say about assuming: it makes an ass out of you and Ye.
Kanye West may have delayed his anticipated album Donda, but he’s getting his fans involved in the album more than ever. He’s been hosting a few Donda listening events, which give select fans a way to hear the album before its released. The rapper is also giving his listeners a way to interact with his music on a more personal level by releasing a stem player, which will give fans an easy way to remix his music.
Kanye unveiled his Donda stem player on his website Wednesday. According to the product description, the stem player ships with the purchase of Donda and will allow listeners to “customize any song.” It includes features that control vocals, drums, bass, and samples, it can isolate certain parts of a song, and add effects. Staying true to its name, the device can even split a song into stems, which is an individual audio file for each instrument used on a track.
Kanye previously mentioned his stem player in a 2019 interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. It seemed as though the rapper’s original plan was to release the stem player alongside his Jesus Is King album in order to “spread the gospel.” But the device was delayed nearly a year and a half, and will instead be released alongside Donda.
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