Songfacts®:

• Dr. Donda West, the mother of Kanye West, was born on July 12, 1949. Donda West was a single mom, and Kanye was her only child. After stints as professor of English at Clark Atlanta University and the Chair of the English Department at Chicago State University, she retired to serve as his manager.
  
  Kanye's mom passed away aged 58 in late November 2007 because of heart problems resulting from cosmetic surgery. This prompted Governor Schwarzenegger to sign the "Donda West Law" legislation, making it mandatory to prove well-being prior to undergoing cosmetic surgery.
  
  This song is the title track of Kanye West's tenth studio album, which he named in tribute to his late mom.
• The song features excerpts from an address by Donda West at Chicago State University recorded on October 19, 2007, a few weeks before her passing. It was a speech celebrating the life and works of renowned poet and writer Gwendolyn Brooks, who would have turned 90 in 2007. West later includes snippets from his mother reciting a Gwendolyn Brooks poem on the Donda track "Praise God."
  
• Other Kanye West songs about his mother include:
  
  2005 "Hey Mama," where he tells her how proud he is of her. Donda West used it as her ringtone on her cellphone.
  
  2008 "Coldest Winter," Kanye's graveside eulogy for his late mom.
  
  2011 "Mama's Boyfriend" where he talks about his mother's love interests after she divorced his father when Kanye was three years old.
  
  2014 "Only One," a collaboration with Paul McCartney that came out of the pair bonding over the losses of their mothers.
• Tony Williams, Kanye's longtime collaborator and vocalist at the Sunday Services, croons the hook with The Sunday Service Choir. It incorporates the doxology that is often added at the end of the Lord's Prayer by Protestants in recognition of God's kingdom, power, and glory.
• Early versions of the credits listed Ariana Grande as a background vocalist on this song, but they turned out to be incorrect. Instead, the song features singer Stalone, who recorded her vocals backstage during the second Donda show in Atlanta.
  
  Stalone also appears on the Donda song "Believe What I Say," providing background vocals on the track.
• West initially planned on releasing Donda on July 24, 2020, but the project experienced multiple delays. In July 2021, West set up a provisional recording studio at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, where listening events were held on July 22 and August 5. After a third listening event at his home city of Chicago on August 27, the highly anticipated album was finally released on August 29.
• This should not to be confused with another Kanye West song titled "Donda," which the Chicago MC dropped onto his website on July 12, 2020, on what would have been his mom's 71st birthday. That tune opens with a recording of Donda West reciting lyrics from KRS-One's 1993 single "Sound Of Da Police." West then raps a verse about how much he misses his mom.