“Donda” or “Certified Lover Boy,” Kanye or Drake, that is the question. The debate has been going on for quite a while since Kanye announced his release for “Donda” and was teasing it with the couple of events he had, all while Drake announced his release for “Certified Lover Boy” with a quite questionable album cover.
So, I want to start off by saying that I do enjoy both Kanye and Drake’s music, although I prefer more of Drake’s older music like “Take Care.” As of now writing this, I’ve listened to all of “Donda” but I haven’t gotten around to finishing “Certified Lover Boy.” So, before I review both albums, I’ll be finishing that first.
Alright, now back to the reviews. I’m going to start off with the lovely “Donda” by Kanye West. Before getting into the album itself, I want to talk about the awesome listening parties that Kanye threw for his new album.
Now, here is just a photo of the last listening party he threw—Kanye is pretty much floating in the air. The listening parties were pretty intense and built a lot of suspense for the album itself. So, onto the review.
Now to start, look at the album cover… need I say more? I remember that before “Donda“ was released, many potential album covers were being teased all over Twitter. Then when it was finally revealed online, it turned out to just be a black screen. Overall, though, I really enjoyed the album. My favorite songs are “Jail,” “Hurricane,” “Remote Control,” “Moon,” “Jesus Lord,” “Lord I Need You,” “Pure Souls,” “Come To Life,” and “No Child Left Behind.” At the moment, many of these songs like “Jail,” “Hurricane,” “Moon” and “No Child Left Behind” is all over my For You page on Tik Tok. Plus, I heard snippets of “Moon” and “No Child Left Behind” before the album was even released! Overall, the album has emotional parts and upbeat parts. The song “Hurricane” features The Weeknd, and since I’m a huge fan of his music and style, I love all that song. Kid Cudi can be heard in the background of “Moon” and the song even includes Don Toliver’s iconic introduction. The track “Lord I Need You” makes me very happy because I’m a fan of Kanye and Kim and hearing him talk about his relationship with Kim and seeing her at the events was very heartwarming.
I think there’s a lot of music genius behind the album, but since it’s Kanye, I’m not surprised since he is a mastermind himself. Personally, my least favorite on the album is “Tell The Vision,” which is unfortunate because I like Pop Smoke. The song is just very quiet and muffled, and the instrumental did not sound satisfying to me. All in all, I really enjoyed “Donda,” and it surely lived up to my expectations given and the hype of the events that Kanye had before he released the album.
Next, we have “Certified Lover Boy” by Drake. Despite all the mixed reviews it has been receiving, I actually enjoyed the album a little bit! Yes, there are some strange lines in a few of the songs and as I mentioned, it has a very weird album cover. But, I wouldn’t say the music is horrible, it just isn’t very interesting. My main critique is that the album seems to be all over the place, and there were a lot of times when I wasn’t sure where the songs were going or what was going to happen next. However, that doesn’t necessarily need to be seen as a negative thing! As of now, my favorites on this album are “Champagne Poetry,” “Love All,” “Fair Trade,” “N 2 Deep,” “Yebba’s Heartbreak,” “Race My Mind” and “IMY2.” I love the beat on “Champagne Poetry” a little too much, and the intro is always stuck in my head. On the other hand, “Fountains” sounds like a newer version of “One Dance,” which I’ve never been a fan of. I think the album dragged on a bit too long, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some good songs sprinkled throughout!
(I thought this photo was pretty cool below, so I wanted to include it. Should’ve been the real cover!)
Well, I have to say that I did enjoy “Donda” more, but as a huge Kanye fan, that doesn’t really surprise me. However, I was somewhat shocked that I didn’t dislike “Certified Lover Boy,” considering all the hate the album has been getting. I think the album is more good than bad, just a bit boring at times.
As the famous Anthony Fantano says, “Y’all know this is just my opinion, right?”