Heartwarming moments from Kanye West.
- "Never Let Me Down" may be one of the most joyful songs 'Ye ever recorded. J. Ivy's spoken-word rant at the end especially.
- "Family Business" manages to be sweet without going overboard, painting a loving but flawed picture of Yeezy's family.
- "Hey Mama", which is just a beautiful dedication to his mother (with one performance in particular featuring him singing the song to her), although it does dive right into Tear Jerker territory when you remember Mrs. West passed away years ago and Kanye rarely performs "Hey Mama" live.
- In light of news breaking out that Taylor Swift's album Reputation would be released on the same day as the 10th anniversary of Kanye's mother's death (which was reportedly completely unintentional); the Kanye subreddit came up with "Hey Mama Day". It essentially went as follows: on the day of the anniversary/album release, Kanye fans would repeatedly stream "Hey Mama" for 12 hours straight to keep Swift off the charts. As a result, the song's number of Spotify streams increased by around 700,000, it topped the Spiking Tracks list on Last.fm, and reached the top 100 in New Zealand and Australia. Truly a testament to the power of Kanye's fans and the respect they show his mother for bringing him into the world.
- "Big Brother" is a touching song about Kanye's mentor Jay-Z.
- "Bound 2" is more or less a dedication to Kim Kardashian."Close your eyes and let the world paint a thousand pictures
One good girl is worth a thousand bitches."- The fact that, prior to its deletion, Kanye's Twitter had over 13 million followers but itself followed only one: Kim's.
- "New Day," where he and Jay-Z warn their future sons of the price of fame.
- "Only One", which is pretty much "Hey Mama" for his daughter, North." Tell Nori about me... "
- "Ultralight Beam" is a Heartwarming Moment in a few ways. First, Chance the Rapper's guest verse; it's clear he's been a huge Yeezy fan since he was a kid, and you can hear the joy in his delivery now that he's a prominent rapper himself and featuring on a song alongside his idol. Then there's the gospel chorus with Kelly Price and The-Dream, which is simply beautiful. But the most heartwarming moment might be Kirk Franklin's spoken-word bit at the end, a big slice of You Are Not Alone to close out the track.
- Kanye's idea of a birthday gift for Kim: he bought a blank white Hermes purse and videotaped their daughter painting it. Link
. - After Kim's stepfather came out as a transgender woman named Caitlyn, it was reported by all accounts, Kim had no idea how to handle the revelation and Kanye was the one who pushed Kim to simply accept and offer unconditional support to Caitlyn's transition. He also willingly appeared on the reality show documenting the transition and offered his support.
- "24" from Donda. "We gonna be okay". In spite of his controversies, his divorce, the pandemic and everything else, Kanye still has enough optimism in him to share.
- The title track of Donda, making it clear Kanye will forever always love and miss his mother dearly, combined with audio samples of Donda West herself speaking.
- "Lord I Need You" is a rumination on his breakup with Kim Kardashian after almost a decade of marriage, but in spite of his history of turning past failed relationships into bitterness fodder, Kanye instead turns it into a genuinely heartfelt "thank you" for their time together, accepting that even though it didn't work out, he still loves her and their children dearly. It's also notable that during the listening parties, Kim showed up as part of this song's performance in a wedding dress, with the two engaged in a symbolic exchange of vows. While their future remains greatly uncertain, it appears that despite everything, the two remain on amicable terms.
- The Donda deluxe addition track Life of the Party" entails what is possibly Kanye's most direct ode to his late mother, lamenting to her on how potentially less controversial he would be if she was still around to guide him, but still hoping that she's proud of just how influential and inspiring he ended up becoming in spite of it all. Andre 3000's verse is its own heartfelt message to Miss Donda, sharing in the same loss and heartbreak from the death of his own mother and imparting into an equally loving message on finding peace and happiness. Capping it off is a soundbite of the late DMX, sampled from a video of him riding on an amusement park ride with his daughter. Aww...
