“24 hours, 24 candles”: Kanye West pays tribute to Lakers legend, Kobe Bryant, on the eleventh track of Donda titled ‘24’

Kanye West pays tribute to Kobe Bryant on ‘Donda’ on the eleventh track of the album, titled ‘24’ with help from his Sunday choir. 

After nearly a month of teasing fans with his latest album drop, Kanye West shocked the world by releasing his 26-track album, ‘Donda’ last night and it’s fair to say that it hasn’t disappointed. One track in particular that has NBA fans talking about up a storm is the eleventh track on the album that is dedicated to Kobe Bryant. 

Kobe Bryant and Kanye West were close friends and even appeared in an iconic advertisement together where West hilariously questions Kobe on strangely philosophical analogies. Following Bryant’s untimely passing, Ye said, “He [Kobe] was the basketball version of me and I was the rap version of him!”

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Kobe Bryant has received several nods and tributes on music ever since his passing, with fellow NBA superstar, Damian Lillard, shouting him out as well on his 4th studio album. 

Kanye West has a song on Donda that’s dedicated to Kobe Bryant. 

For the past half decade or so, Kanye West has fully delved into having a choir featured on his songs on any of his albums and ‘Donda’ is no different. The eleventh track on his 10th studio album is titled ‘24’ and is a song that is fully dedicated to the late Lakers legend, Kobe Bryant.

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Lyric such as,” Twenty-four hours, twenty-four candles, twenty-four hours,” and “Never the right time to go,” are clear tributes to the 5x champ himself. 

As for other NBA players that got a shout out from West, Giannis Antetokounmpo made the cut following his 2021 title win over the Phoenix Suns. ‘Junya’ had a bar that went,” Let me be honest, I won with the Bucks boy, Let me Giannis.” 

It’s safe to say that Kanye West still has it in him to hang with the rap goliaths of the 2020s like Lil Baby and Drake as ‘Donda’ is one of his best pieces of work to date.