Stuttering piano keys and a strolling bass line recur. The Dramatics’ sample - “The life of the party, I laughed ’til I almost cried” - loops. It has a minor-key mood dark chord changes lyrics about “spirit-spinning” events, nature and the states of discombobulation both men find themselves in. This song finds both Ye and André 3000 in a liminal space, between versions of themselves, a kind of audio bardo. In “Life of the Party,” the grief is less specific and consequently feels more pervasive and overwhelming. In addition to the Dramatics tune, the song’s title references another “Donda” track, “Jesus Lord”: “Mama, you was the life of the party/I swear you brought life to the party/When you lost your life, it took the life out the party,” Ye raps, his voice hoarse. “Life of the Party” concerns a more multifaceted grief - for Ye’s mom, for his marriage, for dead rappers. Ye’s single incorporates the Dramatics’ 1975 song “I Was the Life of the Party,” about a man putting on a happy face after his romance ends. The DNA of hip-hop songs can often be found in their samples. Of all the songs on the album, this one, a collaboration with André 3000, shovels closest to both rappers’ psychic turmoil. “Life of the Party,” which didn’t appear on the original version of the album but on the extended “Donda Deluxe,” released in November, is drastically subdued. Three of Ye’s singles from this project - “Hurricane,” “Believe What I Say” and “Off the Grid” - are characterized by his trademark stadium thump, meant to fill arenas the size of their creator’s prodigious ego. Illustration by Darien Birks “Donda,” the album Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, released last August, is a product of grief it’s named in honor of the artist’s mother, Donda West, a former English professor who died in 2007, and also covers the aftermath of Ye’s separation from his wife, Kim Kardashian.
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