Kanye West is clearly big on surprises these days. Back in August, he — or his label — abruptly released his long-awaited tenth studio LP Donda, which initially came with 27 tracks and a slew of contributions from Playboi Carti, Fivio Foreign, JAY-Z, Lil Durk, Lil Yachty, The Weeknd, Lil Baby, Ty Dolla $ign, Young Thug, Jay Electronica, the late Pop Smoke, and loads more. The project continued Ye’s reign of success on the charts, landing at the top spot on the Billboard 200 thanks to 309,000 album equivalent units sold — Donda has also since earned been certified Gold by the RIAA.
In a recent interview with N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN’s “Drink Champs,” Ye revealed that a deluxe edition of Donda was imminent, yet didn’t give any indication of which it would actually arrive:
“I wrote this song for Donda that we’re gonna bring out on the bonus album .. on the deluxe, but it says, ‘I Let Go.’ ‘If I let go, let God and let go, I gotta let it go, I got it let’s go.’ And then—it’s funny—it’s got this line that makes you think about Miami, it says, ‘Flying to the Mondrian-drian, dun dun dun.’”
Last night (Nov. 14), the Chicago superstar decided to shock everyone once again by delivering Donda (Deluxe), which raises the song count to 32 overall. The new additions include the three songs that ended up on Ye’s stem player — “Up From the Ashes,” “Remote Control Pt. 2” (which sees Kid Cudi joining Young Thug as a feature) and “Life Of The Party,” the now-critically acclaimed standout that features André 3000 and was originally leaked during an episode of Drake’s Sound 42 radio station. Fans also receive “Never Abandon Your Family” and “Keep My Spirit Alive Pt. 2,” the latter of which KayCyy alongside the song’s original collaborators Conway The Machine and Westside Gunn, and a slightly altered version of “Come To Life” with background vocals courtesy of Tyler, The Creator.
Press play on Donda (Deluxe).