DONDA

The music world was supposed to be enjoying Kanye West’s tenth album Donda last weekend, but the rapper did not release it as expected despite a huge listening event for it. He premiered what appeared to be an unfinished version of the project last Thursday at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium. With Donda failing to arrive on the intended release date of July 23, Kanye decided to move into the stadium in order to complete it before its rumored arrival on August 6. As he continues to put the finishing touches on the project, the rapper took to Instagram to show off what appears to be a makeshift bedroom made for him inside the stadium where the bumbling Atlanta Falcons play.

Kanye shared an image of the room to his Instagram page, and in it, you can see a rather small bed, a few pairs of shoes, including the pair he wore to the Donda listening event, clothes hanging in a closet, and an opened luggage. The rapper shared the photo without a caption, but for what it’s worth, it’s interesting at the very least to see how he’s living as he continues work on Donda.

During his time at the stadium, Kanye took a break from working on Donda to hang out with the crowd that was in attendance at the stadium for the Atlanta United soccer game against Columbus Crew on July 24. Kanye was spotted in the stands with fans, who seemed surprised and delighted by his presence, before he decided to walk around and tour the stadium as the match continued.

You can view the post of Kanye’s living situation above.

As you no doubt have heard, Kanye West threw a massive Donda listening session last Thursday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, though the rapper did not end up releasing the album the next day, as had been promised. Now we know for sure that Kanye is camping out at the Atlanta stadium to put the finishing touches on the album, according to a stadium rep, who confirmed the news to Rolling Stone. Likewise, various media outlets, such as Rolling Stone and Pitchfork, have confirmed that the new release date for Donda will be August 6.

The August 6 date had already been circulating, with media personality Justin Laboy and Kanye collaborator Malik Yusef posting about the August release date last week. TMZ also reported an August 6 release date. As noted above, Donda had been slated to come out on Friday, July 23, via G.O.O.D. Music and Def Jam Recordings.

Over the weekend, TMZ reported that Kanye had essentially moved into the Atlanta stadium to put the finishing touches on Donda. The publication said that “sources with direct knowledge” told them that he and his teamed had created a makeshift studio space and living quarters in the stadium. The rapper even hired a chef to prepare meals for him and his team.

For those who did attend the Atlanta event, which was streamed on Apple Music (and broke streaming records), audiences got to hear a Kanye reunion with Jay-Z, plus album guest spots from Pop Smoke, Travis Scott, Pusha T, Baby Keem, Lil Baby, Lil Durk, and others. Donda, which is named for Kanye’s mother, also features a track called “No Child Left Behind,” which showed up in a new Beats ad starring US track star Sha’Carri Richardson.

Donda is out 8/6 via G.O.O.D. Music/Def Jam Recordings.

Kanye West was supposed to release his tenth album Donda this past Friday. The rapper announced a huge listening event at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium stadium to premiere the project, then release it shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, the album was not officially released as promised, and Kanye later revealed that he’s still tinkering with it — which, it appears, he’s doing from the same stadium where it made its semi-premiere.

According to TMZ, Kanye essentially moved into the Atlanta stadium to put the finishing touches on Donda. The publication says that “sources with direct knowledge” tell them that he and his teamed have created a makeshift studio space and living quarters in the stadium. He’s even hired a chef to prepare meals for him and his team.

The news comes after Kanye took a brief break from working on the record to check out Atlanta United’s soccer game against Columbus Crew. He was spotted hanging with fans during the match as well as walking around the stadium with his team. It also seemed like he was wearing the same thing he wore during the listening event for Donda on Friday.

As for when Donda will arrive, social media personality Justin Laboy announced the project was reportedly delayed until August 6.

Earlier this week, Kanye West revealed that his tenth album, Donda, would arrive before the weekend. The rapper also announced that he would hold a listening event at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the 75,000-capacity venue that’s home to the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons. Despite a nearly two-hour delay, the event went on as expected, but Donda was not officially released afterward and fans were once again left empty-handed, with no clue for when the project would arrive.

After spending much of the day waiting for an update on Donda, Kanye finally released an updatet late Friday night, but it came from an unexpected source: Justin LaBoy. On Twitter, the social media personality wrote, “KANYE WEST WILL MOVE THE RELEASE DATE OF DONDA TO AUGUST 6TH. THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE.” He added, “HE WANTS TO GIVE HIS FANS THE BEST POSSIBLE PRODUCT WITHOUT RUSHING ANYTHING. HE LOVES YALL WITH ALL OF HIS HEART. GOD BLESS.”

LaBoy is certainly not the name you’d expect to make this announcement, but apparently they’re closer than you may think. Last week, the social media personality revealed Kanye played the album for him and NBA player Kevin Durant during a listening session in Las Vegas. Afterwards, Laboy posted on social media, “ALBUM OF THE YEAR. DONT @ ME.”

Kanye West’s gotten away with some pretty egregious feats of merchandising in the past, so it makes sense that one of the main talking points surrounding his Atlanta listening event for Donda was a rapidly-circulating photo of a snack menu that purported Kanye was charging $50 for chicken tenders, among other outrageously priced snacks. After all, this was the man who overpriced Coachella Sunday Service merch by quite a lot and convinced fans to pay through the nose for whatever the heck these are so much that Walmart knockoffs became a thing.

However, on closer inspection, that doesn’t appear to be the case here, as the text on the bottom of the menu reading “Please see your suite attendant to order” suggests that these are the prices for attendees who sat in suites at the Mercedes-Benz Arena, which means the prices are for sharing size orders (usually, enough for four people). This is usually pretty common practice at most arenas, which overcharge for food anyway (a McDonald’s Big Mac, which would normally be around 2 bucks in LA, is about twice as expensive in Staples Center). Still, the reactions are pretty funny, all things considered, and illuminate just how little patience people have for Kanye — who still hasn’t actually released Donda despite holding a listening event in an arena to premiere it — these days.

Check out more reactions to the $50 chicken tendies below.

More than a year after he first announced the project, Kanye West finally revealed when the world would receive his tenth album, Donda. The rapper announced the project would arrive this Friday, July 23. As expected, fans all over the world quickly built up their excitement for its release. To build up the anticipation for Donda, Kanye also announced a huge listening event for the project set to take place at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the 75,000-capacity venue that’s home to the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons.

The event was slated for an 8 p.m. kick-off time, but to the surprise of no one, the event did not start at its intended time.

Thankfully, nearly two hours later, Kanye kicked things off for the night. The show began with what seemed to be a recording of Kanye repeatedly singing, “We gonna be okay,” as an organ played loudly in the background. The camera panned out to show him rocking a red bubble jacket while moving all across the stage, which was essentially the full stadium floor covered in some type of white material.

Prior to the show, Kanye was spotted backstage at the stadium putting the final touches on the album. This includes sequencing the project’s presumed tracklist, making last-second tweaks with producer and engineer Mike Dean, and apparently inviting acts like Playboi Carti and 2 Chainz to record additional verses for Donda.

Rumors of the arrival of Donda first began when Kanye and Tyler The Creator were spotted in the studio together, presumable working on the album together. Shortly afterward, the album was confirmed for a release through a Beats By Dre commercial featuring track and field star Sha’Carri Richardson that also featured his currently unreleased track, “No Child Left Behind.”

You can watch a livestream of the listening event for Donda here.