Following a sold-out, stadium-set listening party for Kanye West‘s long-awaited album “DONDA,” the city of Atlanta has officially declared July 22 to be ‘Kanye West Day.’
The honour is the first of two momentous gifts the 44-year-old rapper received after the success of his “DONDA” listening party on Thursday at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, in Atlanta, Georgia.
After the star-studded event, the Atlanta native got emotional backstage as he was presented with a plaque commemorating the day as his very own, as per TMZ.
West was also presented with the Dr. Donda West Meritorious Service award, honouring his late mother, Donda – who passed in 2007 of complications from cosmetic surgery – for her tenure as a respected member of Morris Brown College family. A teacher at the HBCU for almost 20 years, Donda also served as Chair of its English Department. by Dr. Kevin James, the President of Morris Brown College.
Kanye was visibly moved when he received the heartfelt honors in front of his family and friends, especially the tribute to late-mother, TMZ reported that the rapper got “super emotional” when he received the award.
West was extremely close to Donda leading up to her sudden death at 58 in November 2007. His upcoming album was named after her, as well as his creative content company.
West is one of the world’s best-selling music artists, with more than 20 million albums and 140 million singles sold worldwide. He has won a total of 22 Grammy Awards, making him one of the most awarded artists of all time. Six of his albums were included on Rolling Stone’s 2020 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list; the same publication named him one of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time. Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2005 and 2015.