‘Donda’ or ‘Certified Lover Boy’ – Le Campus

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Kanye West and Drake are two of the biggest icons of this generation, and not just through their music. Drake is regularly seen hanging out with some of today’s greatest athletes and West has been a staple in the fashion industry for over a decade thanks to his Yeezy brand.

Each released highly anticipated albums in the same week. After a match of 309,000 sales in the first week of West’s “Donda” album, Drake’s “Certified Lover Boy” debuted with 613,000 sales and broke his own Spotify streaming record.

While the numbers suggest a decisive victory for Drake, student reviews point to a much closer battle.

“I think ‘Donda’ was a lot more original,” said Bailey Matrascia, ’22. “In Drake’s album there was some Drake-esk stuff and it’s okay, but I felt Kanye’s sampling was more unique. There were some good samples on CLB but on ‘Champagne Poetry’ he just – if you’ve heard of that Navajo song – took that beat and kind of copied and pasted it without adding anything to it.

Originality seems to be where West shone the most compared to his counterpart.

“It’s not disrespecting Drake at all because it could be anyone – Trippie Redd, Juice WRLD, Pop Smoke or whoever it is – but Kanye continues to push the boundaries,” said Anthony Baldeosingh. , 22 years old. “He put Lil Baby and The Weeknd on the same song and it bangs.”

“Donda” is not only the name of West’s most recent and tenth album, but also the name of his late mother who died in 2007 at the age of 58. While fans have theorized about the messages possibly hidden behind the album’s opening track, “Donda Chant,” it’s no mystery that the album is intentionally non-explicit. This was done to honor her mother and act in accordance with her re-devotion to the Christian faith.

This was West’s third studio album that was clean. The difference this time is that it allowed artists to use profanity in their verses, choosing instead to erase the words.

“Honestly, it didn’t really bother me,” said James Stoltenberg, 24. “I didn’t think Kanye needed this to get his point across because he really never swears so much, so I barely noticed it, but now that the album was for his mom, it’s more cool If that had been done on ‘Certified Lover Boy’ there would have been a bigger difference.

“Certified Lover Boy” observed less risk but delivered the classic sound and themes that made Drake a mainstay of the Billboard charts. After its first week, CLB held nine of the top 10 spots on Billboard’s Top 100 Songs.

“My expectations were pretty high just because this was a Drake album, but honestly it’s probably my favorite album to date,” Stoltenberg said.

While Drake’s sound is more stereotypical, his accolades – which include his tenth song # 1, “Way 2 Sexy,” – caught the attention of his audience and gave him the opportunity to step out of the script.

“I thought the sound and that type of music ‘in your bag, but in your feelings’ that put him on the map is something he excelled at,” Baldeosingh said. “At the same time, ‘Champagne Poetry’ is a five minute intro of him rapping, but it’s at the point where people are going to listen to anything that might not have happened early in his career. “

While Drake has had the opportunity to rap chorus-free for minutes, he also has the freedom to have more fun with his music even though not everyone is a fan of his gimmicks.

“I knew Drake was going to do something a little cranky at some point,” Matrascia said. “I get it, and if you like ‘Way 2 Sexy’ it’s good, like it’s a ‘mean bitch’ thing so it’s funny, but it’s also a little cheesy anyway.”

The music video for “Way 2 Sexy” features notoriously talkative Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard dancing alongside Drake and star performers Future and Young Thug.

Although the subject matter of “Donda” and “Certified Lover Boy” are very different, neither is lacking in terms of the artists featured.

“There were a lot of spectacular features on CLB,” Stoltzenberg said. “Lil Baby on ‘Girls Want Girls’, Travis Scott on ‘Fair Trade’ and 21 Savage on ‘Knife Talk’ all come to mind.”

Neither album lacked star power, the point of difference came from the unexpected pairings and use of features on West’s album.

“Dude, this Kanye man is different,” Baldeosingh said. “You have Playboi Carti and Fivio Foreign on the same track rapping about God. I mean, Fivio Foreign is a crip, like he’s a gang member and you got him rapped “You know we have God with us / Look at me and you see a figure of God.” You don’t even have to be religious to appreciate it and historically understand the meaning of religion and its effects on culture. And all this on a drill? Kanye is different. Drill was also sort of born out of a dark space.

“It was a bit cinematic and awe-inspiring,” Matrascia said. “The amount of features made it seem like it was very collaborative at times, even though Kanye is on every song.”

Although the album produces very different sounds, West is responsible for inspiring Drake’s sound just as he has for many other artists today.

“Kanye’s ‘Say You Will’ underwater drum from ‘808’s and Heartbreak’ inspired Drake’s sound so much and is used in Drake’s album,” Baldeosingh said. “Kanye could use that sound on a few tracks now, but he’s moved on. He gave us something new every time and I think it’s the same with ‘Yeezus’. People hated him and now everyone loves “Black Skinhead”.

With “Donda” and “Certified Lover Boy” containing 27 and 21 songs respectively, fans of each artist received extensive listening material.

“I thought ‘Donda’ was a masterpiece and I thought CLB was a masterpiece too,” said Baldeosingh. “I don’t listen to ‘Donda’ anymore because I’ve never heard that kind of music before, so I think she will age better. If I come to you with a pair of Jordan Bred 11s and a pair of Jordan 1s, but you already have all 11s, then you’re going to take 1. ”

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