Before you read this, if you’re not a Kanye West fan, then don’t even bother.

"The Life of Pablo" was honestly a great album. I’m not a Yeezus supporter nor am I a Kanye stan.

Stan (noun)

1. Based on the central character in the Eminem song of the same name, a "stan" is an overzealous maniacal fan for any celebrity or athlete.

Thanks, Urban Dictionary.

Seriously, let’s forget for a second that Kanye West is an egoistic asshole and let’s focus on the music. I try my best to tell people to focus on the music because perspectives can be hindered by the image of the artist. I wouldn’t listen to Justin Bieber or Mac Miller at one point of my life because of their image. Who do I look like listening to Justin Bieber and Mac Miller? Then I got over it and realized that "GO:OD AM" was a great album.

The anticipation for the album sucked. It was horribly organized and I don’t even have my Def Jam download yet. I know, it sucks. If you weren’t a crazy person like me, you didn’t buy a ticket and a digital download to the album when West released the tickets to his Madison Square Garden listening party/fashion show. Well, his “fashion show.” Then he made people wait until after his SNL performance. Then he made all of us waste our Tidal free subscription just to listen to the album. Blame chance, but, seriously, the organization sucked.

Then I listened to "Ultra Light Beams." Even if I wasn’t a Kanye West fan, I would have still enjoyed the song. He announced that "The Life of Pablo" was a gospel album and I actually believed him until I listened to his verse on "Father Stretch My Hands Pt.1" and I laughed at the "bleached *sshole" line.

Alright, but let’s talk music. I’m gonna take Pitchfork’s opinion and make it mine because we are both on the same page.

(They gave him a 9/10)

Let’s talk about the negatives first. The lyrics have no substance. Well, there's minimal substance. Some songs had some really insightful "College Dropout" style bars ("30 Hours" and "Real Friends"), but the overall aesthetic of the album was not focused on the lyrics. I got over that because I don’t expect West to have bars. It’s been almost two years and "Yeezus" was disappointing (it was a solid album, but it was still disappointing after what he gave his fans with "MBDTF"), so I don’t have high expectations. This album exceeded my expectations.

Then West dropped the credits of the album on his website and my perspective towards "The Life of Pablo" changed. For Christ's sake, he got a jail phone call from Max B as an interlude. That’s ridiculous. Production of the album is out of this world. Even after "Yeezus," I was expecting strong production from West’s next work and he exceeded my expectations. West was able to prove that he did not lose his creative craft with this album. There were "College Dropout" vibes, "Late Registration" vibes, "Graduation" vibes, "808’s" vibes, "MBDTF" vibes, and it was as vulgar (if not more vulgar) than "Yeezus."

The most exciting parts of this album are the features. After seeing the infamous notepad, I was so excited for Andre 3000, Earl Sweatshirt, and Chance the Rapper. Those are people who I would have never expect Kanye West to work with and it happened. Honestly, I can say that I wasn’t disappointed. Was I expecting an Andre 3000 verse? Of course I was. Was I expecting at least 16 bars from Earl? Of course I was. It turned out that Earl didn’t make the cut and Kanye only used Andre 3000 for two words. At first, I was so disappointed. This was the perfect vibe for a 3Stacks verse. It was a mellow song about West’s ex and his terrible decision in implementing an open relationship, in which his pride got the best of him. I wanted a 16 bar verse from Andre 3000 so bad and I didn’t get it. I know that a lot of people were in my position. Who in the world has enough power to get one of the greatest rappers alive on a track and then just makes him say two words? It's Kanye West.

Overall, this album isn’t perfect. "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" is a more established and perfected album and it's likely Kanye’s best work, but "The Life of Pablo" is next. The raw sounds and the imperfections are what makes this album so good. Would I rearrange track list? I already did.

Would I change up the way that West used his features? Minimally, but yes. I can’t sit here and call it a classic album, but there are some tracks on here that I will listen for the rest of my life.

"The Life of Pablo" isn’t a lyrical album. It isn’t a production-based album. It isn’t a gospel album. It is an album of vibes. The listener gets different vibes from each song of the album and that’s what makes it so good. Some songs make me feel like I’m in the middle of a church sermon and, in the "Famous" outro, I feel like I’m in Jamaica vibing to throwback dance hall.

It’s an album that Kanye West fans needed.