'Donda': Will Kanye West collaborate with Rihanna and Jay-Z on his new album? New cover art teases first look
Kanye West's tweets continue to puzzle fans and non-fans alike. After sharing details of his album, including multiple tracklists, potential features and a release date, West's tenth studio album 'Donda: With Child' still remains a mystery since it didn't release as promised. However, West has now shared even further details of potential features as well as cover art for the release, while choosing not to address the missed release date entirely.
One of West's tweets read, "I need me and Rih to have Jay open every one of our albums out of respect and lineage and Drake and Nikki have Wayne open every one of they albums," adding, "...Wayne triple goat #2020VISUON Yeah spelled rong." Fans were, naturally, unsure what West was trying to say: was he implying the album was delayed owing to the addition of a new opening track or was he simply making a statement about honoring your mentors?
One user shared, "I think he means on like the opening track? Maybe that explains why Donda isn't out," while another said, "I think he means opening them from being locked into specific streaming platforms. All the random songs that you can't play on Spotify or Apple Music etc."
Fans immediately had one major gripe with West's latest update: he spelled Nicki Minaj's name wrong. "Why do you always spell her name wrong," asked one user, another said, "NICKI* HOW HARD IS IT," and one stated, "You worked with her 4 times and still can’t spell her name right". And, naturally, some users had time for a few jokes.
One user asked, "Man what is u talking bout," and another quipped in response, "His 2020 vision obviously." But amid the jokes and puzzled fans, one user had an answer: "Seeing some confusion in the responses. I think it means if someone mentored you, they should be featured on the first song of your albums. So like Jay mentored Ye, so Jay always has this spot at the top of the album. Same with Drake/Wayne. Or Em/Dre."
Admittedly, it's hard to pick out which of West's tweets can be trusted and which can't. After all, he promised a Friday release for 'Donda' and fans are still waiting patiently for it to drop. And while this isn't out of the ordinary for West, who has previously released albums later than scheduled, it certainly doesn't bode well amid his other tweets.
Minaj was earlier set to feature on the track 'New Body' but her verse was entirely omitted over "creative differences" as the song, which was originally about body positivity, became increasingly Christian-themed. West also claimed he attempted to get Lil Baby on the record, but that the rapper wasn't responsive to his request, a claim that surprised Baby.
In his latest tweet, West is alluding to having Jay-Z, his mentor, on the opening track for 'Donda', adding the same should be true for any album fellow mentee Rihanna might put out. Many are reading this as West stating that both artistes should be on the opener. One fan tweeted, "Jay, Rihanna and ye?? LESSSSGO," to which another responded, "It's been a while."
Not everyone was happy waiting for the feature, however, with one user joking, "Next he gonna need Pac to close em all." Tupac, being one of the most influential rappers and hip-hip artistes of all time, would certainly take top billing when it comes to mentors for contemporary artistes in the genre. Beyond the confusion around who will and won't feature on this album, however, West also dropped another tweet captioned, "DONDA ALBM CVR," along with an image of what appears to be a family at the beach with a heatmap effect layered over it.
One fan deciphered the image as, "So we have ground, sky, and kids floating to a solar eclipse or at least the sun," adding, "Has the sense of the spirit world." Given that West has previously shared multiple tracklists for 'Donda' that align with his new-found love for Christian hip-hop, this is quite likely an accurate assessment. The album is additionally in honor of West's late mother Donda, and his recent tweets have repeatedly mentioned his daughters, with West particularly highlighting that "God" had kept him alive so he could care for them. All that put together seems to point to the cover reflecting the most important relationships in West's life at present — which doesn't appear to include wife Kim Kardashian or her family if West's recent accusations against them are anything to go by.