Tonight’s the night Kanye West fans have been waiting for; the multi-hyphenate is expected to finally drop his oft-delayed 10th studio album, Donda.
Ahead of the project’s release, Ye is hosting a second listening party at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where he has spent the last couple of weeks putting the finishing touches on Donda. The rapper threw a similar event on July 22, on what was supposed to be the eve of the album’s official release. However, Ye’s collaborators claimed he decided to push back the album to make some alterations, as he was reportedly inspired after the initial ATL listening party.
“Kanye West will move the release date of Donda to August 6th,” Justin Laboy tweeted last month. “Thanks for your patience. He wants to give his fans the best possible product without rushing anything. He loves yall with all of his heart. God bless.”
Days later, Live Nation confirmed Kanye would host a second listening party at the ATL venue on Aug. 5, hours before Donda would presumably hit streaming services. The event features creative direction by Balenciaga’s Demna Gvasalia, and was preceded by an Apple Music livestream in which fans could watch Ye complete his 10th studio album. Chance the Rapper, Fivio Foreign, Vic Mensa, Steve Lacy, and Mike Dean were among the stars who appeared in the “countdown” stream, which was filmed from inside his room at the stadium.
Shortly before the event started, Mercedes-Benz Stadium took to social media to let attendees know that they can receive Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine at the listening party.
You can stream the Kanye West Presents The Donda Album Release event via Apple Music. Donda, named after Kanye’s late mother, is scheduled to drop at midnight.
