The idea to write down my initial thoughts on an album, from the first listen to a review over the next couple days, came from my good friend Nathan, who did this for Kendrick Lamar's album, "To Pimp a Butterfly" in March of last year. Oh, he also did it for this album a couple days ago.
So, the day has finally come. After long anticipation and two amazing leaks, people are finally ready for Kanye West's new album, titled So Help Me God SWISH Waves Unnamed T.L.O.P. Kanye announced on Twitter that he would give free stuff from his clothing line to anyone who could guess what the acronym meant and tweet it at him. I hazarded a couple guesses; The Lack of Power and To Live or Perish were my favorites. Yesterday, he announced the real name. After all the wait, Kanye West's new 2015 album will be called....
Final track list for The Life Of Pablo pic.twitter.com/PMH94MAAeJ
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 11, 2016
Wait, seriously? After all the time fans invested into guessing names, each with a completely different prediction as to album content, he chose... this? Who the hell is my man Pablo?
After what some would consider a legendary string of albums, we haven't seen much from Kanye West. "Yeezus," Ye's 2013 album, demonstrated a change in pace, and for many it was weird to hear Kanye go from radio hits like "Touch the Sky" and "Power" to experimental songs like "On Sight" and "Hold My Liquor." Yet after two singles reminiscent of Kanye's "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy"-style in "No More Parties in LA" and "Real Friends," I could not be more excited for this album (even though it's probably going to end up being mediocre at best).
In short, what you're going to read is my gut reaction when listening to this album for the first time, followed by a short review written later. I will not rewind or pause the album, and I won't go back to edit what I wrote. After analyzing the album and letting it sink in for a couple days, I'll come back and add to what I wrote.
This was the version that Kanye West played on the stream. Kanye has since said that the actual album (which has been delayed) has twice as many songs. I will definitely do a comprehensive review of the whole album once it comes out.
Ultra Light Beams - Wow. This is really soulful. And the fact that he's calling out for people to pray for Paris and Iran is something. Who's that female vocalist? I just looked her up; Kelly Price. I love her voice. Chance the Rapper's voice works so well on this chill beat. I don't know what to say. I was kind of expecting something reminiscent of 808s or MBDTF, but this song is really its own thing. It doesn't remind me of any song Kanye's ever made.
Father Stretch My Hands pt. 1 & 2 - This is really upbeat for a song that has such a religious title. Metro Boomin is really something. Oh, the beat just switched. Wait, is that Kid Cudi??? I didn't see him on the tracklist. What the hell. Am I blind???? I JUST WANNA BE LIBERATED AAII AII. He works so well on this beat. These samples are beautiful.
Freestyle 4 - Oooooh wow. This beat is weird. I like it. HOLY SH*T. THIS IS AMAZING. YE IS BACK. "Y'all sleeping on me, huh, have a good snooze?" Kanye West, the rapper, is back. I don't know what to say. He sounds like he's totally having fun. "Awesome, Steve Jobs mixed with Steve Austin." This wordplay is Dropout-esque. Famous is starting, but I'm still amazed at how good Freestyle 4 was. Oh my Lord.
Famous - I'm a huge fan of Swizz Beats, so I was looking forward to this. Wait. What the hell? Did he just say he was going to have sex with Taylor Swift...? Uh, once I get past that line, I'll start enjoying Rihanna's beautiful refrain. I'm really liking Kanye's rapping on this song too. What is this bridge? I love it.
Highlights - Damn, I missed this. The Kanye that bragged about his achievements in songs in a fun way! It's been a while, bro. He hasn't done this in so long. This vocal harmony from The-Dream and Young Thug is killing me. Oh my god, the Ray J. reference. No. Words. Kanye is hilarious. He's so in the moment right now and I can hear his excitement in rapping. I'm smiling like an idiot right now. Kanye is back.
Feedback - Creepy as hell. These strings make me feel like I'm in some creepy basement setting of a horror film. I'll be honest, this beat drop was a tad disappointing. Yeah, this is my least favorite so far if I'm honest. Still like the beat though.
Fade - I heard a small part of this when he released it early, but I haven't gotten far. That BEAT DROP. What's the sample? Now I see why he got both TY$ and Post Malone on this song. I think this is Kanye's foray into electronic, purposely distinguished from Yeezus.
FML - Hahahahahahaha. "I love you like Kanye loves Kanye." Goddamn, so he saw that meme. It's weird that I'm this far into the album, but still have no indication of who Pablo is or why he's relevant to this album. He mentioned Pablo once really early, but it wasn't specific. My guess has been Pablo Picasso or Pablo Escobar for the past week or so, but I haven't seen any confirmation for either (unless I missed it). Kanye's rapping in this song reminds me of Heartless. I just realized Kanye's sampling himself from earlier in the album!!! That's actually hilarious because he joked about "Kanye making a song about Kanye" at the beginning of this. I don't remember what song, I think it was Freestyle 4.
Real Friends - I've heard this already, so not really much to comment. Not really sure if it makes much more sense in the context of this album. No, I take that back. Famous and Highlights are kind of Kanye's way of bragging about the benefits of being famous, laughing and joking about how rich he is. This is his way of saying it's not that simple and that being famous has its drawbacks. I guess. I do still kind of like this better as a single though.
Wolves - I'm excited to see how Kanye gets Frank Ocean in on this song. OH I JUST HEARD FRANK OCEAN SAY A COUPLE WORDS. Frank, my man. Where's your album? Wasn't it planned for July last year or something, bro? Anyway. Is he comparing gang violence to wolves? I'm not sure. He had some amazing imagery when he described Mary meeting Saint Joseph in a club with a bunch of thugs. Oh, the song isn't even done. That ending was great. I have no words. We've been waiting for Wolves with Frank Ocean for over a year, and this sounds like what it feels like to leave your last final knowing that a long period of anticipation finally paid off.
I have a confession to make; when I heard Kanye was releasing a new album and saw the singles, I started comparing the songs to his previous discography to see if he was "returning to his roots." I was trying to see where on the spectrum of Graduation to Yeezus this album would fall. Having thought about it, T.L.O.P. belongs nowhere on that spectrum. It's a well rounded album that seems to take all the best parts of Kanye's previous work. I wasn't a huge fan of "Father Stretch My Hands" or "Fade," but I can tell that some people are going to enjoy those the most, and it's clear that a lot of thought went into the entire project.
This portion of the album has me back on the Kanye West hype-train. I feel like Kanye took a pretty dark turn with "Yeezus," "MBDTF," and "808s & Heartbreak." Although those albums did include some amazing songs, it's great to feel the way I felt when I first listened to "College Dropout" and "Late Registration." It feels like he's rapping to rap right now, not rapping as a celebrity.
