Kanye West Is Working with Accused Rapist Marilyn Manson "Every Day" on 'Donda 2'

"Like, every day I go to the studio, Marilyn is there working on 'Donda 2'"

BY Kaelen BellPublished Jan 31, 2022

As the number of increasingly horrifying allegations against Marilyn Manson continues to grow, the accused rapist has had, at the very least, one steadfast supporter. Kanye West has spoken out in support of Manson and has continued working with him throughout the wave of controversy, featuring him on last year's Donda and having him perform at his Sunday Services

As previously reported, Kanye's been working on the upcoming Donda 2, and, according to a report from Rolling Stone, Manson has been in the studio working on the album with West "every day."

According to producer Digital Nas, Manson will be heavily featured on the new album. "I see Marilyn a lot in the studio," said Digital Nas. "Like, every day I go to the studio, Marilyn is there working on Donda 2."

He continued, describing what Kanye is creating with Manson: "He doesn't want Marilyn to play rap beats. He wants Marilyn to play what he makes, and then Ye will take parts of that and sample parts of that and use parts of that, like he did [generally when making] Yeezus … He has some producers from Yeezus working on Donda 2 this time around, [as well as] Marilyn, me, a bunch of producers from Donda 1."

Kanye's dedication to Manson is disturbing, if not necessarily surprising, and it casts an immense shadow over an album that already has plenty of baggage. Digital Nas told Rolling Stone that Kanye's allegiance may be explained by his intense religious leanings, saying:

"I think it's more so that Ye is coming from a standpoint of like, 'We all make mistakes.' I think that's maybe why he had DaBaby and Marilyn at that one show. I'm just assuming it is from a standpoint of like, 'We're all sinners. We all make mistakes. We shouldn't point the finger at someone for the mistakes they've made,' or something like that.'"

It wouldn't be a Kanye West album cycle without an exhausting amount of controversy, but this Manson stuff is beyond simple button-pushing. One can hope that Kanye's infamously endless edits will eventually include a common-sense dismissal of Manson's presence entirely, though it seems unlikely. 

Donda 2 is set to arrive on February 22. 

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