Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Todd Rundgren did not have a great time working with Kanye West on the rapper’s latest album Donda, named after West’s late mother Donda West. Rundgren was open for West’s production but felt like he was a minor cog in the creative process. The “I Saw the Light” singer said he might be on the expansive 27-track album somewhere, but he’s not sure.
“I’m one of the few artists not on Kanye’s album,” Rundgren told Ultimate Classic Rock earlier this week. “I have three albums worth of Kanye stems on my computer. Because I kept getting called by Kanye to add vocals onto the record. When it got into the homestretch in July, I just said, ‘That’s enough for me. I have no idea whether any of this is being used.’ You don’t get much feedback from him regarding what it is.”
Rundgren was asked by producer 88-Keys if he would consider collaborating with West. Rundgren is well-known for his work with Badfinger and Meat Loaf as well as the New York Dolls, among many other rock acts. He said that he would be open to collaborating with West, regardless of what topic West wanted to cover on his new album. “I didn’t mind working on his gospel stuff. If you want to sing about Jesus, go ahead, I don’t care. I’ll help ya do it, you know?” Rundgren said. “If you want to sing about your troubles with your wife, go ahead and do it. I don’t care.”
Eventually, Rundgren got frustrated with how slow the process was, and he felt like “driftwood” in the production. Rundgren quit the project but acknowledged that it is possible that some of his contributions may have survived to the final mixes. “There’s so much junk in that record,” He stated. Rundgren later called West a “dilettante at this point,” noting, “Nobody would regularly make records like that unless they had stupid money to throw around. Nobody rents a stadium to make a record in. Nobody flies in the entire world of hip-hop just to croak one syllable, just so you can say that everybody was on it.” Rundgren said he was involved in Donda for a year, but suggested that West rushed out the final product in the end just to get the album out before Drake’s Certified Lover Boy.
West released Donda on Aug. 29, following listening events at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on July 22 and Aug. 5, and a third at Chicago’s Soldier Field on Aug. 26. After the album was finally released, West claimed Universal Music Group did so without his permission, but they denied this. DaBaby, who was embroiled in hemophobia controversy, and Marilyn Manson (who has been accused of sexual assault) were also featured on the album.