Kanye’s Christian School Requires Parents to Sign NDAs

Thursday morning Kanye West sent a letter to Gap notifying them that he’d be terminating his Yeezy Gap clothing line. The collab between the rapper and retailer kicked off in 2020 and pulled in an impressive $1 billion in sales in its first year. But, citing a breach of contract, Ye pulled out of what should have been a ten year deal. Gap CEO Mark Breitbard emailed staff confirming the separation, saying that the company’s and Ye’s “vision is not aligned.” West reportedly plans to open his own clothing stores.

As is often the case with West, another big news item concerning him dropped the same day: Rolling Stone published a piece on questionable practices at Donda Academy, the private Christian prep school West opened last year. Yes, the artist behind The College Dropout and Late Registration operates a school. (Though to be fair, he also has albums titled Second Semester and Graduation.) The unaccredited K-12 school located in Simi Valley requires families of students to sign NDAs. A source at the school told Rolling Stone that they aren’t so much NDAs as they are an “informal agreement.”

The NDAs are apparently working, because it’s not entirely clear why attending the school would require one. Producer and West-collaborator Malik Yusef told RS, “I don’t think Kanye needs to tell the world what he’s doing, so that he can be under more scrutiny.” Sure, one might think that, but I’m not sure California’s school accreditation agency feels the same; in fact, they might feel like they need to know exactly what West is doing at the school that offers parkour and instead of a lunch lady, has a “culinary tea” that is developing “elevated high-concept coffee, tea, and fruit focused beverages for kids, parents and faculty.”

Donda Academy, which costs $15,000 a year to attend and has an enrollment of about 100 students, boasts a competitive basketball program and school choir. The choir participates in West’s secretive Sunday Services, which are also bound by NDAs. Athletes like Celtic’s player Jaylen Brown and Utah Jazz point guard Jordan Clarkson have visited the school to meet with students. A lot of the student body is made up of children of West’s collaborators, including Keyshia Cole’s son. Worth noting that West’s and Kim Kardashian’s children do not attend Donda Academy, despite West’s plea to that the kids split their time between there and Sierra Canyon, where they currently attend.

Students at Donda Academy are outfitted in all black uniforms from Yeezy and West’s former Gap line. That much we do know.

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