It’s clear at this point that Kanye West lives on his own plane of existence where release dates are nothing more than arbitrary numbers seemingly spit out at random like lottery balls. The rollout for West’s 10th album, Donda, is a shining example of Kanye’s unorthodox ways.
Kanye first announced Donda would be dropping on July 24, 2020 before postponing the album an entire year. He set things back in motion with a small album listening in Las Vegas on July 18, 2021, followed by a sold-out album listening party at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on July 22, with the promise of the album the following day. In typical Kanye fashion, no album was released. He kept the hype at a fever’s pitch with another listening and a new release date of Aug. 6. And we all know how that story goes. As Kanye figures it all out, some seemingly random things have been happening surrounding the release.
On Aug. 5, a pre-order for the album dropped on Apple Music. The tracklist contains 24 tracks sans song titles or features. It listed the album as coming out on Aug. 9, despite reports from Kanye’s camp that the album would drop on Aug. 6. The date has since changed two times. First to Aug. 13. Now Aug. 15, which is a Sunday, is listed as the target date.
In addition, the latest pre-order shows the song “Hurricane” featuring Lil Baby and The Weeknd. However, the track is not available for download in U.S. markets. Strangely, the track can be streamed via some international markets including Russia’s Yandex streaming service and Japan’s Line Music.
In another head-scratching revelation, the Kanye West song “Nah Nah Nah,” which was released last October, and the remix featuring DaBaby and 2 Chainz have been removed from streaming services.
These could all be signs that we are getting ever closer to the release of LP10 or just another Kanye West smokescreen. The Donda saga continues.
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