Before we get Kanye's new 7-track album tomorrow (hopefully), I decided to go back to The Life of Pablo. Even though this album rollout wasn't nearly as chaotic as his current one, it was still one of the weirdest rollouts of all time. From the constantly changing titles to drama with Wiz Khalifa to constantly pushing the date back to making it a temporary Tidal exclusive, Kanye was making his fans go insane. If there was anything the rollout did accomplish, it was interesting and controversial, which is Kanye's bread and butter. This album is very polarizing among fans of Kanye and music in general. People will praise its unpredictability and say it's Kanye at his best and others will say it's inconsistent and easily Kanye at his worst. In my opinion, this is Kanye at his most Kanye, peak Kanye if you will.
Positives
Yeezy hasn't lost a step when it comes to production and once again, it is the highlight of the album. There's tons of help from other great producers like Mike Dean, Metro Boomin, Charlie Heat, Madlib, and others. The production is filled to the brim with samples, which isn't surprising since Kanye is a producer who relies heavily on them. One thing that has definitely improved over the years is Kanye's singing, which shines brightest on the album's opener "Ultralight Beam" and on"FML." While Kanye isn't the most lyrical rapper, you are always guaranteed to hear some quotable lines that are sometimes worthy of a chuckle such as:
"I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that bitch famous" - One of the best lines of Kanye's career on "Famous"
"Y'all sleeping on me, huh? Had a good snooze?" - Heard on the hook of "Feedback"
"I bet me and Ray J would be friends / If we ain't love the same bitch" - The opener of his verse on "Highlights"
"When did I become A list? I wasn't even on a list" - from his verse on "No More Parties In LA"
Negatives
This album is incredibly inconsistent. There are some great tracks on here, even some of Kanye's best ever, but you can't deny that this album drags a bit long because of so much filler. Did we need to tack on the 2016 hit "Panda" on "Father Stretch My Hands Part 2?" Was there any need for tracks that don't even feature Kanye like "Lowlights?" Did we need not one, not two, but three interludes that last less than a minute and add nothing to the album? I thought "I Love Kanye" was pretty funny, but "Frank's Track" should have been a full song and the only good thing about "Siiiiiiiiilver Surffffeeeeer Intermission" was its title. Some of these songs just drag longer than they need to like "30 Hours" and "Fade." While I did mention that Kanye has some nice quotables, he has a lot of questionable lyrics like:
"Now, if I fuck this model / And she just bleached her asshole / And I get bleach on my T-shirt / I'ma feel like an asshole." - The infamous line on "Father Stretch My Hands"
"I know it's corny bitches you wish you could unfollow / I know it's corny niggas you wish you could unswallow" - repeated three times on "Wolves"
"You left your fridge open, somebody just took a sandwich" - an out of place line on "Wolves"
"I remember being nervous to do Victoria's Secret / 'Til I pictured everybody with they clothes off" - 30 Hours
So how were the features?
As long as you were in the studio with Kanye West, he will credit you as a writer. I bet he's probably credited someone as a writer for delivering pizza to the studio. My point is, Kanye likes to give everyone credit, but for some reason, none of the features are credited on Spotify. I found the many artists featured throughout on Genius.
1) Chance The Rapper (Ultralight Beam) - He had one of the best verses on this album, but I have to nitpick just one inaccuracy. At the beginning of his verse, Chance says "I been this way since Arthur was anteater." I get that if you look at the early design for Arthur, you could easily mistake him for one, but he's not. HE'S AN AARDVARK GODDAMMIT LOOK IT UP! But seriously, what makes his verse so great is the unintentional foreshadowing of the 2017 Grammys ("He said let's do a good ass job with Chance three / I hear you gotta sell it to snatch the Grammy").
Verdict: Liked
2) Kid Cudi (Father Stretch My Hands Part 1) - I remember loving the shit out of this song two years ago, and it was mainly because of Cudi. His chorus is absolutely amazing. It's weird how much I love him on this because the beat doesn't sound like something that would fit Kid Cudi.
Verdict: Liked
3) Desiigner (Father Stretch My Hands Part 2/Freestyle 4) - Ah, 2016. The year when "Panda" was ruling the charts and everyone thought Desiigner was the next big thing. But seriously, FSMH part 2 is literally "Panda" with tacked on Kanye vocals. However, I enjoyed his outro to "Freestyle 4."
Verdict: Invalid for "Father Stretch My Hands Part 2," Liked on "Freestlye 4"
4) Rihanna (Famous) - I wouldn't say she's the highlight of "Famous," but it wouldn't be as great as it is without her contribution. Her chorus is short but shows some graceful singing.
Verdict: Liked
5) Young Thug (Highlights) - He didn't really do that much for his contribution, but I enjoyed his vocals on the intro for the most part. I honestly just don't like this song.
Verdict: Ehhhh
6) Chris Brown (Waves) - "You know what this song needs? An out of place hook sung by Chris Brown!" - Nobody
Verdict: Disliked
7) The Weeknd (FML) - I feel like Kanye could have done something more with The Weeknd considering he is only given a short chorus, but this will do. I love The Weeknd on this song. Hell, I love The Weeknd on every song.
Verdict: Liked
8) Ty Dolla $ign (Real Friends/Fade) - On "Real Friends," he provides a nice bridge and some background vocals, and also trades some lines with Kanye. "Fade" obviously has the weaker feature from Dolla, mostly because "Fade" is an awful song in general.
Verdict: Liked on "Real Friends," Disliked on "Fade"
9) Sia (Wolves) - I normally like Sia's singing, but I thought she was just okay on here. I didn't like the end of her verse where she repeated "I was too wild" six times.
Verdict: Disliked
10) Vic Mensa (Wolves) - His part surprised me. On the bridge of this song, he sings, which is not what Vic normally does. He sounded great. I don't just think he was a better singer than Kanye on this track, he's probably the highlight of this track.
Verdict: Liked
11) Kendrick Lamar (No More Parties In LA) - This was one of Kendrick's best guest verses. He had some nice flows and some amusing lines here and there.
Verdict: Liked
12) Post Malone (Fade) - He had a short contribution that only lasted 4 lines and was drenched in vocal effects. He is still the best part of that godawful track.
Verdict: Ehhhh
13) Sampha (Saint Pablo) - The album's closer would not be nearly as good without the beautiful vocals from Sampha. His chorus and verse immediately take over the track and it's one of the best guest appearances on this album.
Verdict: Liked
So how were the singles?
1) Famous (feat. Rihanna) - Is this one of the best Kanye West songs of all time? I don't know, but is this one of the most memorable Kanye West songs of all time? Definitely. This song is one of many moments on this album where Kanye goes full Kanye, especially when he references his famous interruption of Taylor Swift at the VMAs.
Verdict: Liked
2) Real Friends (feat. Ty Dolla $ign) - This was one of my favorite cuts on this album. I already mentioned how much I like Ty Dolla $ign's contribution, but I didn't mention how much I love the production from Kanye and Boi-1da. This was one of the songs that took a more serious tone, and I thought those were some of the better songs on here.
Verdict: Liked
3) 30 Hours - I think this song is okay but it drags on for what feels like forever. The outro, which includes background vocals from Andre 3000, could have been much shorter.
Verdict: Ehhhh
4) No More Parties In LA (feat. Kendrick Lamar) - The co-production from Madlib is amazing on this track, and it also features one of K Dot's best verses. You could debate for hours whether Kanye or Kendrick had the better verse, but you could just sit back and get lost in the wonderful madness that this song is.
Verdict: Liked
5) Fade (feat. Ty Dolla $ign x Post Malone) - The production from Yeezy and Rick Rubin is very groovy and includes one of the more memorable samples on here. However, this was one of the worst songs by far. The beat felt wasted because the lyrical contributions from Ye, Dolla, and Posty just feel like a whole lot of nothing. The outro, which includes sampled vocals from Barbara Tucker, drags on for longer than it needs to and just gets obnoxious after hearing it a few times.
Verdict: Disliked
Favorite Tracks
1) Father Stretch My Hands Part 1 (feat. Kid Cudi) - As much as I hate the infamous bleached asshole line at the opening of Kanye's verse, I absolutely love this song. The introduction, which samples a choir led by Pastor T.L. Barrett, sounds amazing, especially when Metro's signature tag ("If Young Metro don't trust you, I'm gon' shoot you") kicks in. I already mentioned how much I love Cudi's hook.
2) Freestyle 4 (feat. Desiigner) - While I think Tyler, The Creator's remix is way better (It's called WHAT THE FUCK RIGHT NOW and you can find it on YouTube), this was one of my favorites on the album. The production from Ye sounds sinister, and while his verse tends to be repetitive, he makes up for it with infectious energy.
3) FML (feat. The Weeknd) - This was easily the best of Kanye's more serious songs. The beat isn't too memorable, but it's nice, simple, and sets the mood for the track. I already mentioned how much I loved The Weeknd's contribution and I loved Kanye's singing in the first verse.
4) Facts (Charlie Heat Version) - This song is an absolute banger. Charlie Heat's production combined with other contributions from Southside and Metro Boomin almost made me fall out of my chair. This track basically serves as a diss track toward Nike and an excuse to brag about the success of the Yeezy sneaker line. This song also includes similar flows to Drake and Future's "Jumpman." He mentions jumping over Jumpman and how Nike had to pay LeBron a billion dollars just so he wouldn't leave them.
Least Favorite Track
Wolves (feat. Sia x Vic Mensa) - Lyrically, this was the worst song on the album. Not only in Kanye's rapping verse does he repeat the unfollow/unswallow sequence three times, he also features an out of place line about someone leaving the fridge open and someone else stealing a sandwich. Sia was nothing memorable and while Vic's vocals sounded great, he couldn't save this track.
I also dislike Fade, but I already mentioned that at length in the singles section.
Conclusion
I don't score my revisits, but you get the idea of whether or not I like an album. The Life of Pablo is all over the place, containing some of Kanye's best work and some of Kanye's worst. There's a great album in here somewhere, but Kanye clearly got too carried away with the number of tracks, and it falls short of greatness because of it. Thank God his new album is only seven songs because I don't want another bloated Kanye project.
I don't know any other releases besides the new Ye, but I will definitely be writing some reviews over the weekend.
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