Kanye West: rapper, producer, business man, fashion designer. Apparently a video game designer? Possible presidential candidate? Revered by some, hated by most: this one man has become one of the most prominent and controversial figures in both the music industry and the public eye in general. This last week he made the last of the changes to his title, track listing and artwork, he finally delivered his 7th studio album, "The Life of Pablo." How does it sound? Well...
This album sounds like a compilation of random tracks that Kanye threw together at the last minute, which very well may be the case. There are many different sounds all over, some of them sounding great, and some of them sounding simply awful. It almost sounds like a mash-up of tracks from each of his previous albums. There are high points that I enjoy quite a bit, and there are definite low points all over this thing too.
The first track, "Ultra Light Beam" is a gorgeous gospel track that has these amazing choir vocals and slow, inviting synths in the back that are very pleasant to hear, and Kanye's own vocal performance isn't too bad either. Chance the Rapper comes in at the end with a great verse that is very impressive without taking too much of the spotlight. This is a great song; it is immediately followed by the very mediocre "Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1." This one loses me right from the beginning with the line about f****ing a model who just bleached her a**hole, and if he gets some on his shirt, he'll feel like an a**hole. I think this may be one of the most tasteful lines I've ever heard. Oh, wait, tasteful? I meant tasteless. This may be the most tasteless line I've heard since "Yeezus" when he dropped the "get this b*tch shakin' like Parkinsons." Classy.
"Pt. 2" is slightly better with some decent melodies throughout, but the vocals and lyrics are atrocious. "Famous" is a good song that brings a decent instrumental, and Kanye's flow on this track is one of the better on the album. And the line about still having sex with Taylor Swift is blown pretty far out of proportion. It's just Kanye once again trying to get a rise out of people, and he succeeded once again.
"Feedback" continues on a good path with Ye' trying to show off in a way that doesn't go too overboard (until he gets to the "Ghetto Oprah" part, which is a little off-putting). After this song, however, the album starts to take a turn for the worst for a decent amount of tracks. "Low Lights" is literally useless, and "High Lights" has some pretty bad vocals, featuring a poorly auto-tuned Young Thug, and some more trashy lines about wishing his d**k had a Go Pro.
"Freestyle 4" is probably my least favorite song on the entire thing, with Kanye doing some more "Yeezus" style thing and yelling "What if we f**k right now?!?" There is no appeal to this song for me, and I skip it when I listen to it. "I Love Kanye" isn't my least favorite surprisingly, and it does add some humor to the album. With that in mind, I think this track is also useless since there isn't any kind of focus on this album or anything solid to add humor too.
The next track "Waves" is another completely useless song that actually makes me angry considering this is the track that delayed the album's release even further. It just sounds like a random interlude with no substance to grab onto, and who honestly wants to listen to Chris Brown in 2016 anyway?
The next song, "FML," is one of the best on the album. It actually shows Kanye at a vulnerable point about how he's risking his entire career to make sure his family is alright. The instrumental is a very quaint, sad melody that really matches the mood, and the Weeknd's feature is fantastic as well. And this one is followed by "Real Friends," my favorite song on the entire record. This one is another vulnerable point in Kanye's persona about issues with his family, and trying to deal with them while maintaining his fame.
"Wolves" comes in and is a pretty disappointing track. With more poorly used auto-tune and a very skeletal beat, it just isn't very exciting or attention-grabbing. And Kanye drops yet another ridiculous line about leaving his fridge open and someone taking his sandwich, and comparing it to people taking advantage of him. It does have an interesting part about his children and him trying to protect them from wolves. I don't have much to say about "Siiiiiiiilver Surffffeeeeeeer Intermission," all it does is waste our time and make this album even more pointless.
The first half of "30 Hours" is pretty good with a cool sample from Arthur Russell's "Answer Me" and a steady, driving beat. Kanye's verses are pretty good, but his singing on the hook is very off, and the track drags on for so long. "No More Parties in LA" is another song that I enjoy very much, with a killer instrumental from producer Madlib, as well as stellar performances from both Kendrick Lamar and Kanye, who I think has a better verse on this track.
Unfortunately, the album does not end on a great note. "Facts" should not have shown up on the project, its only objective being to take unnecessary shots at Nike. Although I do like this remixed version a little better than the original, I still don't think it should have been here. "Fade" is what he decided to end the album with, and it's even more disappointing than if "Facts" had been the closer. At least then it would have been a sort of hyped, energetic ending, but "Fade" is a boring song with a very lackluster beat and even more lackluster vocals, featuring a horribly auto-tuned Ty Dolla $ign and Post Malone.
I know that albums don't always need to have a point or concept. In fact, it would be very exhausting if all music were like that. Sometimes all we need is something entertaining to listen to. This album does not entertain me, however. It has its highlights (not including the song "Highlights"), but a lot of the album is just useless nonsense that should never have shown up here. I don't think Kanye was particularly focused on making this album in the first place. With everything else that he's been doing for the last year, this project sounds like it was on the back-burner for the majority of the time. And with the amount of hype this album amassed in the month preceding its release compared to the quality, I honestly think Kanye wasn't even trying to make good music. I think he was only concerned with keeping up his appearance in the public eye, and using this album as a display while relying on his most dedicated fans to make it at all successful.
Even still, I recommend you download a free trial to Tidal and check out the album for yourself. Maybe you'll interpret it differently than I did.
#SWISH
Fav. Tracks: Ultralight Beam, Famous, Feedback, FML, Real Friends, No More Parties in LA
Least Fav. Track: Freestyle 4
