Kanye West’s ‘Donda 2’ removed from streaming just hours after release

30 April, 2025

Kanye West

Kanye West‘s ‘Donda 2’ appears to have been removed from streaming just hours after its release.

The album – West’s 11th, and a direct follow-up to 2021’s ‘Donda’ – was previously available exclusively via the rapper’s Stem Player platform, unique to the $200 (£150) device made by the rapper’s Yeezy Tech enterprise.

Following a recent livestream appearance in which he said he was hoping to bring the record to more widely-used platforms, the album was made public under the moniker DONDA earlier today (April 30).

Within hours of its belated arrival to the likes of Spotify, Tidal, and YouTube Music, the album was taken down after the ‘Carnival’ rapper was threatened with legal action.

West has since posted on X/Twitter that DeAndre “Free” Maiden – who manages Jahmal “Boogz Da Beast” Gwin and Brian “AllDay” Miller, who produced eight of the songs on the 18-track record – had got in touch to request the album be taken down over his failure to pay them for their work.

West’s post showed a screenshot displaying a message from Maiden, which read: “We did not & do not consent to the usage of our work for Donda 2 or ANY Ye project! He’s owed us $ for almost 3 years now, has refused to pay, yet keeps stealing our work.”

After detailing the songs his artists worked on, which between them include ‘We Did It’, ‘530’, ‘Lord Lift’, ‘City of God’, ‘Broken Road’, ‘Get Lost’, ‘Too Easy’, ‘First Time’ and ‘Maiden’, he added: “The Lawyers are getting this taken down within the hour.”

In the caption of the post, West wrote: “Free Maiden tried to charge me 3 million dollars for these beats from people I showed how to make beats to.

“Now he going to take down Donda 2,” adding: “Managers,” alongside a shrugging emoji, later posting: “Really wanna work with Brian and Boogz again. Really wanna work this out.”

Most of the tracks on ‘Donda 2’ that’ve been made available on Spotify and other streaming services remain largely unchanged from their 2022 versions, though some now have different names.

The track ‘530’, which appeared on his ‘Vultures 2’ album with Ty Dolla $ign, also appears on ‘Donda 2’, albeit in a truncated version. Future makes features on ‘Happy’ and ‘Mr. Miyagi’, while Jack Harlow guests on ‘Louie Bag’.

The album’s release and subsequent removal on streaming platforms comes after the rapper recently joined Twitch, only to be banned after seven minutes after he allegedly threw a Nazi salute while proclaiming: “Heil Hitler.”

Late last month, he courted more controversy by wearing a KKK outfit and a swastika necklace while claiming that he did not want to have children with Kim Kardashian.

It followed a string of highly controversial posts Ye has been making on X/Twitter recently, which have seen him take back his apology to the Jewish community for his past anti-Semitic remarks and go on to declare himself “a Nazi”.

In February, he came under fire for selling a white T-shirt with a large swastika emblem on the chest, listed as “HH-01” on his website – possibly a reference to the “Heil Hitler” chant.

The site was later taken down by Shopify, though the online retailer later stated that the artist’s website was taken down due to the potential for fraud – not because it was selling a swastika t-shirt. Shopify did condemn the item, calling it “vile, disgusting and inexcusable”.

West then took to X (formerly Twitter) to say he’s had the idea for the t-shirt for “over eight years”. It came alongside a string of highly controversial posts which saw him rescind his apology to the Jewish community for his past anti-Semitic remarks, and go on to declare himself “a Nazi” and write: “I love Hitler”, as well as praise billionaire and X owner Musk as “the most lit person that [has] ever been on Twitter”, following the latter’s accusations of Nazism at Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration.

Then, the controversial rapper then seemed to backtrack on his earlier comments, taking to X to share that “after further reflection”, he’s “come to the realisation that I’m not a Nazi”. However, it was followed only a few days later by yet more swastika apparel appearing on his X page.

Last week, West claimed that he took part in incestuous acts with his male cousin as a child.

In other tweets, he seems to have insinuated that it is the traumatic incidents from his childhood that are behind his controversial behaviour – which has included the aforementioned declarations of support for Nazi ideology, incidents of a sexual nature in public, insulting Jay-Z and Beyonce’s children and much more.

As well as sharing the update about his cousin, West has shared a photo of himself and Bianca Censori together – suggesting that the two of them are back together. News of their split came earlier this month, when West said in a new song that she had left him.

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