We got our hands on “Donda 2,” yall!

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TOP 5

Honorable Mention. Flowers

Believe it or not, I didn’t love the solo Kanye West tracks on this album. I do think that “Flowers” is the bomb, though (Do you like what I did there?).

If you’ve seen jeen yuhs (Particularly ACT II), you know that Kanye knows how to put together some pretty decent melodies. In “Flowers,” he shows his ass as a singer by hitting us with a spirited vocal performance. No need to worry traditional Kanye fans, he also hits us with modern-styled raps that are hella catchy. As for lyrically, he comes across as a rebellious figure that gets excited to upgrade chicks not named Beyoncé. 

I can tell that Future helped write this song (Kanye mentions “metro housing” in it).

5. First Time In A Long Time

Can you believe that Soulja Boy went from not being on Donda to closing out Donda 2? (He’s the prime example of the American dream)

I’m going to need you to trust me on this one: Soulja Boy dropped the best verse on this album. I REPEAT, SOULJA BOY DROPPED THE BEST VERSE ON THIS ALBUM! Knowing the backstory about him being removed from Donda made his lyrics about being resilient, making money, and getting it out of the mud feel powerful as s**t. Oh, and Soulja also rides the song’s beat fantastically.

Kanye West puts up a touching, catchy, introspective, and stimulating performance in “First Time In A Long Time.” He truly bares his soul in the song; I respect it when any musician does that.

4. We Did It Kid

Baby Keem, Migos, and Kanye’s chemistry in “We Did It Kid” is awesome.

“We Did It Kid” is the kind of music that boxers walk out to. The song features a jubilant beat, fierce raps by both Kanye and Migos, and a passionate/invigorating/Lil Uzi Vert-Esque hook by Baby Keem. If I were to guess, this song started out as a Migos track but ended up on this album.

3. City Of Gods

This song is going to be a helluva trivia question one day. I can see Aaron Rodgers asking folks “Alicia Keys once made a song with this drill rapper in 2022?” on Jeopardy.

“City Of Gods” sounds like an extension of “Off The Grid.” The song is powered by this out-of-this-world drill beat that definitely gives me Captain America vibes. Over the beat, Fivio Foreign hits us with an aggressive verse that has him sounding like he’s ready to go to war with his enemies, Alicia Keys hits us with an invigorating hook that has her paying homage to New York City, and Kanye hits us with a verse in which he sticks his chest out, threatens to bring goons to SNL, and says everything with him and Drake is swell. Personally, I think the song is a little too unnecessarily heroic, but at the end of the day, it’s still fantastic.

2. Broken Road

Kanye West and Don Toliver in “Broken Road” = Lebron James and Kyrie in game seven of the NBA finals.

Don Toliver’s vocals on “Broken Road” are legendary. He did a good job of blessing us with something that is intoxicating. Kanye also does his thing in the track, too. He drops a passionate verse that has him flowing really well and lyrics that actually make him come across as both imperfect and human.

What if Don Toliver ends up being Kanye’s new John Legend? That would be dope as s**t!

1. True Love

Kanye decided to make you shed tears immediately by making “True Love” the first song on this album.

You will probably get goosebumps listening to “True Love.” The song features an unbelievably touching chorus by XXXTENTACION. As for Kanye West, he blesses us with a verse in which he sounds extra motivated and like the ultimate family man. He also adlibs XXXTENTACION magnificently. All in all, “True Love” is special.

GOD, X was such a one-of-a-kind talent.

SONG BY SONG RATING

1. True Love (5/5)

2. Broken Road (5/5)

3. Get Lost (2/5)

4. Too Easy (2/5)

5. Flowers (3/5)

6. Security (2/5)

7. We Did It Kid (4/5)

8. Pablo (3/5)

9. Louie Bag (3/5)

10. Happy (3/5)

11. Sci Fi (3/5)

12. Selfish (2/5)

13. Lord Lift Me Up (4/5)

14. Keep It Burning (2/5)

15. City Of Gods (4/5)

16. First Time in A Long Time (4/5)

RGM RATING

(D+)

The people that think that Donda is a bad album are out of their minds. To me, it features so many high-quality hip-hop tracks. With that being said, the people that think that Donda 2 is a bad album are right on the money. Here’s the thing, though: I don’t think that the version of Donda 2 that is out right now will sound like this; I think, eventually, Kanye will upload versions of some of the songs that will sound more mastered. I also think that he’s going to remove some songs, add some people to songs, and potentially take some people off of songs (I’m looking at you, Soulja).

In the midst of going through some real s**t, Kanye decided to make music; I definitely applaud him for that. Throughout the album, he touches on his brand new single life, his past love life, his current mental makeup, and his relationship with GOD. As expected, Kanye has just as many moments in which he sings passionately as he does in which he raps aggressively. Most of Kanye’s verses are pretty good; some just sound low quality (He literally speaks gibberish in one of the songs). As expected, he keeps us entertained by being juicy.

The guest features are the best thing about this album. The rap verses that Jack Harlow, Migos, Fivio Foreign, and Soulja Boy put up are phenomenal and the vocal performances that Vory, Alicia Keys, XXXTENTACION, and Don Toliver put up are breathtaking. It’s gotten to the point in which I wish Kanye would simply play curator on his albums. I think he is amazing at putting folks in positions to succeed.

Kanye West is one of the greatest music minds of all time. He’s also a perfectionist. I refuse to believe that this is the final version of Donda 2.

Quincy

Quincy is the creator of Ratings Game Music. He loves writing about music, taking long walks on beaches, and spaghetti that fights him back.