Kanye West

Recording for West's tenth album, Donda, began in early 2020. Named after his late mother, the release of Donda was surrounded by the same chaotic energy that encircled everything West was involved with at the time. Release dates were announced and pushed back, and after a listening party at Atlanta's Mercedes Benz Stadium in late July of 2021, West took up residence in one of the stadium's locker rooms to continue mixing and finalizing the recording of the album. Another listening party was scheduled around a new, tentative release date. The Grammy-nominated set finally arrived in August and entered number one in over a dozen countries. A sequel, Donda 2, appeared in February of 2022, exclusively available as part of the Stem Player, a remix device and streaming platform developed by British company Kano Computing in collaboration with West. However, because the release was not made available to purchase or stream outside of the device, it was deemed ineligible for the Billboard charts. Featuring the likes of Baby Keem, Migos, Jack Harlow, Alicia Keys, and many more, it reportedly managed to sell thousands of players, earning West millions. For the rest of the year, despite attempts to maintain a lower profile -- he pulled out of Coachella and Rolling Loud headline slots at the last minute -- West remained in the headlines with his continued controversial and inflammatory statements. In 2023, West joined forces with rapper Ty Dolla $ign to form ¥$. The duo released debut single "Vultures" in November of that year. They slowly leaked out information about the project in the lead-up to an oft-delayed debut full-length Vultures 1 before finally releasing it in February of 2024. The album, which featured guest appearances from a number of famous artists including Lil Durk, Freddie Gibbs, James Blake, and many others, debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 chart. Though ¥$ initially claimed they would release subsequent chapters Vultures 2 and Vultures 3 as a trilogy at the rate of one album per month, it would be August of 2024 when Vultures 2 finally materialized. The album again included a host of guest appearances, this time making space for collaborations from Lil Wayne, Young Thug, Desiigner, and Kodak Black, just to name a few. ~ Andy Kellman & Neil Z. Yeung, Rovi

From 🇺🇸 United States