‘Donda’ released, but Kanye West says it shouldn’t have been

The rapper says his label “put my album out without my approval.”

Kanye West arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills in 2020. The artist, soon to be known at “Ye,” was in Chicago on Thursday night delivering his third “Donda” listening event, in this case at Soldier Field.

Kanye West arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills in 2020.

AP

Kanye West’s long-awaited album “Donda” dropped on streaming services Sunday morning — perhaps contrary to the rapper’s wishes.

A post on West’s Instagram account Sunday after said his label, Universal, “put my album out without my approval.”

He also complained the label blocked one track, “Jail, Pt. 2,” from being on the album. It was absent from the album early Sunday but later was added.

Universal had no immediate comment.

The 26-track album, already heard at listening events in Chicago and Atlanta, also includes contributions from Jay-Z, The Weeknd, Kid Cudi, the late Pop Smoke, Swiss Beatz, Jay Electronica and Travis Scott, among other illustrious collaborators. It is available on most major streaming platforms.

Several announced release dates have come and gone since West announced the album in July in a commercial during Game 6 of the NBA finals. It premiered July 22 at a livestreamed Atlanta event where he appeared but barely spoke.

He then postponed the release and reportedly lived in the venue, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, while tweaking the recording and hosting another listening event.

At the Chicago listening party Thursday, West wore a full face mask most of the night while dancing, being set on fire and re-creating his wedding with Kim Kardashian West at a to-scale model of his South Shore childhood home built in the middle of Soldier Field.

The album is named after his mother, Chicago State University professor Donda West, who died at the age of 58 following plastic surgery complications in 2007.

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