“Yeezy Season approaching!”
Kanye West has mastered the craft of manufacturing major moments in music. With the jeen-yuhs documentary and Donda 2 swirling around the audio/visual soundscape all at once, everyone’s eyes and ears are on Ye.
Act 1 of the jeen-yuhs documentary focused closely on his incredibly early music career, prior to releasing his debut album The College Dropout. We were invited in to watch his journey, seeing him shopping the demo version of tracks that went on to become worldwide hits. A pivotal moment in the first installation was Kanye (as he was known at the time) playing “All Falls Down” in Roc-A-Fella Records’ offices and being brushed aside. Seeing that sparked a newfound appreciation for the classic Kanye West cut, driving the streaming numbers for the song through the roof.
In the weeks following the release of jeen-yuhs Act 1, Donda 2 news and information began surfacing at a geometric rate. Studio sessions, tracklists, updates, and details on how to access the album (exclusively through his Stem Player platform) poured from multiple sources, including Ye himself on Instagram.
The DONDA EXPERIENCE PERFORMANCE, held on February 22nd, the album’s supposed release date, showcased an unfinished version of the album and was intended to display some Donda 1 tracks as well. The second half didn’t exactly go as planned, but listeners were excited to receive the new project. Pieces of Donda 2 were then released on the aforementioned Stem Player site.
Days later, jeen-yuhs Act 2 was released on Netflix. The second installment chronicled the release of The College Dropout, and the surrounding activity and fanfare. The standout moment to many viewers was the conception of the Jamie Foxx and Twista featured track “Slow Jamz.” As was the case with “All Falls Down,” fans revisited The College Dropout en masse in appreciation of the effort and artistry of a young Kanye West.
All of the above resulted in Ye being the #1 streamed Spotify artist in the world on back to back days, without even releasing Donda 2 on their platform.
