"Donda Chant" is the opening track of American rapper

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

's tenth studio album '' Donda'' (2021). The song features vocals from American singer-songwriter Syleena Johnson, who had recorded vocals for another song that was eventually scrapped from the album. A

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for the song was released via

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by West on September 18, 2021. Throughout the video, pictures of both Kanye and his mother Donda West are projected atop a replica of the former's childhood home.

Background and composition

West first collaborated with Syleena Johnson in 2004 on his single " All Falls Down", where she contributed vocals on the chorus, interpolating lyrics from Lauryn Hill's "Mystery of Iniquity". West continued to work with Johnson during the early years of his career, including producing her 2005 track "Bull's-Eye (Suddenly)". On July 15, 2021, Johnson flew out to San Francisco to record for ''Donda''. Johnson talked more about the collaboration on ''Cocktails with Queens'' on

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on August 31, saying that West told her that he "wanted the album to have some type of healing component", after which Johnson suggested that the consonant sounds in "Donda" kinda sound like a "meditative chant". The singer then laid down vocals repeating "Donda" in different cadences and rhythms after telling West about the idea. She said that she had no idea that West would use the track in the way that he did on the album. Johnson said during the same session that she recorded vocals for another song, which was ultimately not included on the album. Musically, "Donda Chant" is a

spoken word Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...

song. Johnson repeatedly chants "Donda" for the song's full length of 52 seconds without pausing as a

mantra A mantra (Pali: ''manta'') or mantram (मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words in Sanskrit, Pali and other languages believed by practitioners to have religious, ma ...

, replicating the sound of a fading heartbeat. She utters the word 60 times, accompanied by no instrumental.

Music video

On September 18, 2021, West shared an accompanying

exclusively to his

. The video was directed by British fashion photographer Nick Knight, who also shot the visual for the album track " 24". It is set in

black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

, and has a length of 61 seconds. Aerial footage is displayed of the replica of West's replica childhood home from the album's third listening party at

Soldier Field Soldier Field is a multi-purpose stadium on the Near South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1924 and reconstructed in 2003, the stadium has served as the home of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) since 1 ...

in Chicago on August 26, 2021, which two rows of moving cars circle around. Flashes of photographs are projected onto the replica house that show Donda, who is pictured as both a child and an adult, while some images feature Kanye West accompanying her. Pictures of West as a baby and video footage of his mother, including clips where she laughs, are also displayed.

Reception

The ''

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'' ranked "Donda Chant" as one of the worst songs of 2021.

Personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal. * Vocals - Syleena Johnson * Mixing engineering - Irko * Record engineering - Alejandro Rodriguez-Dawsøn, Will Chason

Charts

References

External links

* {{Syleena Johnson 2021 songs Kanye West songs Song recordings produced by Kanye West Songs written by Kanye West Spoken word Syleena Johnson songs A cappella songs Chants