So, I finally listened to "The Life of Pablo." I’m still trying to figure out how I feel about it. I don’t know if I like it. “Ultralight Beam” might be one of the most beautiful collections of noises I’ve heard indoors in a long time. Rihanna’s part in “Famous” is one of the best vocal performances she’s given. “No More Parties” was one of my favorite songs released on Soundcloud. “30 hours” is so good. But, what is it?
While listening to TLOP, I had a lot of thoughts. About a year ago, Kendrick Lamar dropped To Pimp A Butterfly early and I stayed up until 4am because I accidentally analyzed it instead of writing a sociology paper. It feels easy to compare TPAB and TLOP because of the similar themes of navigating spirituality, fame, the genuine vs. the superficial, and agonizing self-reflection. But comparing them feels really forced – I’m not even writing a sociology paper just an international studies one. TLOP isn’t trying to do what TPAB does. Kanye doesn’t try to understand South Side Chicago the way Kendrick places Compton in a social and political context. It’s just a look at Kanye.
Is it organized? Not really. Is it saying anything? I don’t know. But it makes sense. I don’t think TLOP will ever be finished. It can’t be. It will always be a work in progress.
I’m pretty concerned about Kanye. TLOP makes it pretty clear that Kanye is in crisis. The tracks aren’t even songs necessarily. Just these beautiful, soulful, regretful, collections of sounds. I don’t think I listened to music, I think I listened to a man fall a part and come back together more sure and confident of himself but scared and I hate this; it’s the best thing I’ve ever heard.
I’m typing this up because I haven’t decided on a analytic framework to compare the European Union and Organization of American States yet and I have no business reviewing this album or I guess playlist on Tidal but I can’t help but see the similarities between my notes, full of cross outs and footnotes and brackets. It’s messy, it’s 3am, it’s Kanye looking in the mirror confused because he drank too much Red Bull. Kanye doesn’t write his own essay exactly, he writes a lit review. He’s not a musician here exactly, not even just a producer, but kind of like a curator. And the collection is beautiful. But what is it?
I started thinking about postmodernism the first time I listened to this. I mean, I was reading about philosophy for the paper I’ll probably never finish, but TLOP fits really well in the postmodern movement. Three main points of postmodernism are integrating high culture and pop culture, that there's never one truth just a bunch of different subjective perspectives, and that nothing is ever really finished.
Like TLOP isn’t really an album, it's a playlist and by choosing to stream it instead of release it for download Kanye has the ultimate creative control. And it is a mess. Some of the transitions are sloppy it definitely needs more work. But TLOP isn’t my world; it’s Kanye’s. And that discomfort works in creating something. It isn’t good because it’s good music; it’s good because it’s Kanye. You can’t separate his presence and his art and this album is a mess. And it’s still changing, it's been released for a full month and it's still not done. Kanye made some changes to a song just a few days ago.
But I’m in a Kanye crisis; what does this mean for the future of music? Why should I buy an album when every time I listen to it, it’s different? There’s no new creation of music, just a different way to curate sounds. TLOP isn’t new music; it’s a new perspective.
Kanye’s album will never be finished because he wants each time you listen to it be a different experience. What does that mean for the future of music? Like, shifting from a good to an experience. Instead of CDs, you'd get playlists and sure it's kind of like what's going on now. But Kanye’s album wasn't just the album; it was also the Twitter rants, the fights with celebrities, Yeezy season clothing line, and the good Friday's songs released on Soundcloud. People might not be buying music anymore but will we buy the Kanye experience?
