Shenseea Recorded “5 Or 6 Songs” For Kanye West’s ‘Donda’ That Didn’t Make The Cut
Jamaican singer Shenseea says she recorded five or six tracks with American rapper Kanye West, which did not make the cut on his Donda album.
On Thursday, the Blessed singer pulled up to the Power 106 studios in Los Angeles to chop it up with the L.A. Leakers’ Justin Credible and DJ Sourmilk. While responding to a question about the number of tracks that were cut from Donda—from her as well as other artists—Shenseea admitted that she “almost didn’t make the album.”
“I was there watching people like ‘yow, he didn’t even put me on the album’ and I was like, ‘trust me, I almost didn’t make the album either,'” she told the hosts.
Shenseea revealed that she only found out that two tracks, OK OK Pt 2 and Pure Souls, made the cut when the album was released on August 29.
“I love it because it’s so unpredictable but I don’t like it because I don’t even know,” she continued. “And then I ended up on two? I never saw that coming at all.”
She took time to show some love to Ye and even went into how their collaborations came about. “I was like, how would he even know about me,” she said recalling the first time Kanye’s team reached out to her. At first, she thought it was a scam. Later, on meeting Ye, she learnt that it was her freestyle on the Crocodile Teeth riddim during her interview on Funk Flex back in July 2021 that had caught his attention.
Admitting that taking part in Donda was the highlight of that year, Shenseea went on to say that he treats her like family. “I love Kanye. Seeing him on social media and being around him is totally different. He’s a living inspiration.”
When asked about getting such a huge nod of approval so early in her career, Shen again gave the artist props for being about the music and not the clout.
“People love the clout so much, they never try to give the underdogs a chance. None of us are really huge huge yet so that shows me he’s doing it for the love and not just to sell,” she said.
OK OK Pt 2 and Pure Souls featuring Roddy Rich peaked at No. 12 and 52 on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively. Shenseea’s contribution to West’s album has earned her a Grammy nomination for Album Of The Year at the upcoming 64th Annual Awards in April.
Ye has since followed up with Donda 2 on February 23, released exclusively through his Stem Player service. It featured uncredited vocals from XXXTentacion, Baby Keem, Migos, Future, Travis Scott, Alicia Keys, Soulja Boy, The Game, and more.
Is it possible that we may still hear those unreleased Shenseea tracks/verses that didn’t make the cut? You never know.
Watch the full interview below.