Kanye West's Producer Mike Dean Reveals Possible Reason Behind 'Donda' Delay

Kanye West's upcoming album, Donda, has become the focus of much attention on social media in recent days, as it continues to face delays.

And veteran producer Mike Dean revealed a possible reason behind the delay of the star's 10th studio album, when he responded to a meme on Twitter.

West held a second listening livestream event at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the album on Thursday, with fans expecting that Donda would be released on Friday August 6.

And as a series of memes circulated on Twitter with regards to another date being missed for Donda—which was originally scheduled for release in July 2020—as it has still not seen the light of day, one particular image caught the attention of Dean.

A photo from the Atlanta event showing West passionately speaking into his phone was shared by a Twitter user, along with the tongue-in-cheek caption: "Make sure Mike Dean locked up in that room. We not finished yet!"

Responding to the post, Dean wrote of musician and designer West on Saturday: "He was actually calling me [about] a mix mistake!! Lol."

Dean—who has worked with West on most of his studio albums, including Graduation (2007), 808s and Heartbreaks (2008) and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010)—interacted with a number of other tweets about Donda.

One that he retweeted read: "If there's one thing we've learned from all the Donda delays, it's that @therealmikedean is a national treasure."

West's 24-track album currently remains on pre-release on Apple Music, with a recent update stating that it will be available for purchase from August 13.

In recent weeks, West has moved into Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium to complete work on the highly anticipated album.

Donda was due to have been released on August 6, and before that it was anticipated that the project would be available on July 23—one day after his first album listening event in Atlanta. He also hosted a smaller listening party earlier in July in Las Vegas.

According to Pitchfork, the event for the album on Thursday August 5, which was livestreamed on Apple Music, featured a number of songs previously unveiled at the July 22 listening event, with select updates and a revised track order.

A host of stars were heard on tracks played on the night, including Young Thug, Kid Cudi, Lil Yachty, Lil Durk, Jay Electronica, and The Weeknd, per Pitchfork.

West is no stranger to pushing back the release dates of his albums, as a number of his previous musical outings were also delayed over the years.

Donda, which also features an appearance from Jay-Z, is named after West's mother, Donda West, who passed away in 2007 from plastic surgery complications.