Mar 28, 2026

My first impression (kinda long, but I'd love to hear what people think!!!)

I know that many posters have different opinions on when Ye's streak ended. Like, I remember @Michael Myers saying that he felt the bs started around Yeezus, some say TLOP, others KSG, etc. For me, I think that he was mostly incredible from TCD to Donda (I've been more mixed on ye and JIK recently, so they weaken that streak a bit for me). I thought that Donda 2 had a lot of potential, and even though I grew to like a lot of those songs, it's clearly weaker than almost everything that came before. I've been considerably more positive to VULTURES 1 than most, but there's no denying that Ye's bars are mostly garbage aside from something like "BURN". VULTURES 2 is Revival levels of bad. And even though it wasn't released officially, CUCK has to be one of the most embarrassing projects a legend has ever worked on.

The elephant in the room has to be the 3 year long tirade that Ye has been on. Time will tell if that apology from January was genuine, but there's no denying that this will follow him forever. Even if this record is completely devoid of nazi lyrics (high bar, I know!), I really don't blame anybody for refusing to check this out because of it.

I think the first 2 thirds are incredible. "KING" is an incredible intro, and songs like "FATHER", "ALL THE LOVE", and "WHATEVER KNOWS" are awesome. The new version of "BULLY" is stellar too. I know that there are some Donda haters itt, but I think that album is mostly great, and these songs are on that level.

And then, we get to the last few songs. I think that if the album had kept the momentum the first 12 tracks did, this could've been incredible. As I mentioned with my response to @DKC yesterday, most of the songs from the V1 version of the album just don't fit anymore, and the fact that they're mostly tacked on at the end makes it even worse. Those songs worked because of the empty feel that the demo had, so pairing them with these maximalist tracks just feels off. I think "d---" is good, but I don't think I'll revisit most of tracks 13-18.

While I absolutely LOVE the first two sections of the record, the last one brings it down for me. Feeling a 7 on this first listen, which granted, is much higher than I thought I'd give it. I think that this will do pretty good commercially (especially with a song like "FATHER"), but I can't really predict about the general reception. Similar to the D1 LP's, I feel like this could've used some more time to be refined, but as it stands, this is a pretty good return to form

 

Mar 28, 2026

Holy s--- lol



@KanyeSXN

 

Mar 27, 2026

I know there are some Donda haters in the thread, but this is better than every single thing he’s dropped since that era, by a mile

 

Mar 26, 2026

The demo version from last year was surprisingly good, hoping he didn't over tinker and f--- everything up cuz there was potential there. He seems pretty stable recently and if that holds true this might be the first album rollout Kanye's been entirely lucid for since...Yeezus? there's been very little fanfare and zero insane tweeting so far. Still, my expectations are extremely tempered lol

 

Mar 26, 2026

ngl i haven't listened to his last 3-4 albums and don't ever plan to listen again...AI or not