KANYE WEST Vinyl & CDs

Review: The ever divisive Kanye West dropped this 10th album Donda on streaming platforms back in August 2021. He has already served up an expanded 'deluxe' version on CD and now it comes on limited edition vinyl. Less over the top than its predecessor, this record continues the iconic artist's infatuation with blending cutting-edge contemporary hip-hop (and nods to his musical roots in the '90s rap scene), R&B and his beloved gospel, resulting in a grandiose and entertaining set that makes use of a huge roll call of guests and collaborators *Lil Baby, Lil Durk, Lil Yachty, Roddy Ricch, Young Thug, Jay Electronica, Travis Scott, The LOX, Kid Cudi, Fivio Foreign and many more.

Review: Sixth months after it first dropped on streaming platforms, the expanded 'deluce' version of Kanye West's 10th studio album finally drops on CD. Less over the top and strutting than its predecessor, Jesus is a King, the double-disc set continues the iconic artist's infatuation with blending cutting-edge contemporary hip-hop (and nods to his musical roots in the '90s rap scene), R&B and his beloved gospel, resulting in a grandiose and entertaining set that makes use of a huge roll call of guests and collaborators *Lil Baby, Lil Durk, Lil Yachty, Roddy Ricch, Young Thug, Jay Electronica, Travis Scott, The LOX, Kid Cudi, Fivio Foreign, Westside Gunn, Conway The Machine, Playboi Carti, Jay-Z, Shenseea, DaBaby, Pop Smoke and Andre 3000 all feature). It's basically stadium hip-hop blended with reflective soul and R&B; given that nobody else does it quite as well as Kanye, it's no surprise that Donda hits home hard.

Review: It may have been released digitally six months ago, but Kanye West's "Jesus Is King" album - his 12th solo set in total - has finally made it on to vinyl. By now, most will have already heard it, but for the uninitiated "Jesus Is King" sees West meditating on Christianity, offering up a tight 27-minute set of tracks that draw influence from (or explicitly sample) gospel music in all its forms. It's still a hip-hop album of course, it's just that the beats, musical choices (gospel choirs, loops from killer records by gospel soul act The Whole Truth etc) and lyrics are closer to the black American gospel tradition than anything West has released before.

Review: It may have been released digitally six months ago, but Kanye West's "Jesus Is King" album - his 12th solo set in total - has finally made it on to vinyl. By now, most will have already heard it, but for the uninitiated "Jesus Is King" sees West meditating on Christianity, offering up a tight 27-minute set of tracks that draw influence from (or explicitly sample) gospel music in all its forms. It's still a hip-hop album of course, it's just that the beats, musical choices (gospel choirs, loops from killer records by gospel soul act The Whole Truth etc) and lyrics are closer to the black American gospel tradition than anything West has released before.