By: Ryan Martin
After Kanye West's multiple controversies leading up to an ultimately messy rollout for an album which included a feud with Wiz Khalifa and Amber Rose, a number of different titles including "Waves" "SWISH" and "So Help Me God" which eventually settled on the confusing The Life Of Pablo and a different number of tracklists that was posted on Twitter frequently and gathered a number of celebrity signatures including A$AP Rocky, Chance The Rapper, and Earl Sweatshirt. A hint at who had worked on the album or been involved in the creative process of when it was created. On February 14th, the album was finally released, three days after the first initial release date. When we got the album, it was released only on Tidal (the music streaming service by Jay-Z) with Kanye urged people to sign up for Tidal by announcing that it’s the only platform it will be released on.
After Kanye West's multiple controversies leading up to an ultimately messy rollout for an album which included a feud with Wiz Khalifa and Amber Rose, a number of different titles including "Waves" "SWISH" and "So Help Me God" which eventually settled on the confusing The Life Of Pablo and a different number of tracklists that was posted on Twitter frequently and gathered a number of celebrity signatures including A$AP Rocky, Chance The Rapper, and Earl Sweatshirt. A hint at who had worked on the album or been involved in the creative process of when it was created. On February 14th, the album was finally released, three days after the first initial release date. When we got the album, it was released only on Tidal (the music streaming service by Jay-Z) with Kanye urged people to sign up for Tidal by announcing that it’s the only platform it will be released on.
Kanye released an album that paints an abstracted picture with different genres and sounds ranging all over the album. Most noticeably the opening track and arguably one of the best ones, 'Ultralight Beam' which features fellow Chicago artist Chance The Rapper who destroys his verse. 'Ultralight Beam' is a gospel-heavy track which goes into 'Father Stretch My Hands', (which has two different parts) a banger featuring vulnerable lyrics in the second part. This track features the newest G.O.O.D. Music signee Desiigner who sounds eerily similar to Future as well. After that we get Famous which puts Rihanna’s vocals on display as she delivers an incredible hook. Kanye lays down controversial and unapologetic bars as he puts Taylor Swift on blast and says he believes him and Taylor might still have sex. Which he just 100% ruined his chances of that ever happening with this track. He even pissed off her brother who posted a Vine of him throwing his $1,200 Yeezy sneakers in the trash.
Over the 18-track long album and the 1-hour duration, we experience gospel inspired tracks, ('Low Lights'), auto-tuned Kanye, (Highlights), bangers, ('Feedback', 'Freestyle 4', 'Facts [Charlie Heat Version]', 'No More Parties In LA') radio-friendly pop hits, ('Waves', 'Fade', '30 Hours') and slower jams ('FML', 'Real Friends', 'Wolves'). The album definitely has its share of variety but throughout the project but Kanye’s lyrics are at a low throughout the album with lines like “Now if I fuck this model/And she just bleached her asshole/And I get bleach on my T-shirt/Imma feel like an asshole” and “Sometimes I'm wishin' that my dick had GoPro/So I could play that shit back in slo-mo/I just shot an amateur video; I think I should go pro”. Kanye’s lyrics have always been a problem in my opinion. While he can make a dope beat and his flow is decent, his lyrics are ridiculous and cheesy. 'Bound 2' has some of the most awful lyrics I’ve ever heard in my life. Kanye has the potential to pull off some dope ass bars like with “No Parties In LA” but his ego gets in the way of his lyrical writing and it feels like he rights his raps in like 20 minutes and convinces himself that they’re perfect. If an upcoming rapper who was trying to make a name for himself was rapping some of the stuff Kanye rapped, he would be laughed out the rap game. Which makes it frustrating to listen to Kanye’s music sometimes. His music is no doubt influential and a huge part of the generation’s culture and hip-hop in general but he is no god. Anyone who raps about “Kimoji” even if it is his own wife needs work lyrically. That’s just fucking dumb.
After listening to The Life of Pablo, I can say that it’s definitely good. It’s not great and has it’s flaws, including '30 Hour’s' long ass outro which takes up more than half of the song. But for what it’s worth it’s not bad. Kanye’s making a huge mistake not releasing the album on iTunes or physically, although there are rumors he will be releasing a deluxe physical version of the album. If he really is in debt like he has been tweeting about, then he should be trying to squeeze as much profit out of this album as possible. I would recommend either illegally downloading this album (because it’s already been done 500,000 times and it pisses Kanye off) or getting the free trial for Tidal and then cancelling it after you’ve heard the album because it’s a waste of your money.
Over the 18-track long album and the 1-hour duration, we experience gospel inspired tracks, ('Low Lights'), auto-tuned Kanye, (Highlights), bangers, ('Feedback', 'Freestyle 4', 'Facts [Charlie Heat Version]', 'No More Parties In LA') radio-friendly pop hits, ('Waves', 'Fade', '30 Hours') and slower jams ('FML', 'Real Friends', 'Wolves'). The album definitely has its share of variety but throughout the project but Kanye’s lyrics are at a low throughout the album with lines like “Now if I fuck this model/And she just bleached her asshole/And I get bleach on my T-shirt/Imma feel like an asshole” and “Sometimes I'm wishin' that my dick had GoPro/So I could play that shit back in slo-mo/I just shot an amateur video; I think I should go pro”. Kanye’s lyrics have always been a problem in my opinion. While he can make a dope beat and his flow is decent, his lyrics are ridiculous and cheesy. 'Bound 2' has some of the most awful lyrics I’ve ever heard in my life. Kanye has the potential to pull off some dope ass bars like with “No Parties In LA” but his ego gets in the way of his lyrical writing and it feels like he rights his raps in like 20 minutes and convinces himself that they’re perfect. If an upcoming rapper who was trying to make a name for himself was rapping some of the stuff Kanye rapped, he would be laughed out the rap game. Which makes it frustrating to listen to Kanye’s music sometimes. His music is no doubt influential and a huge part of the generation’s culture and hip-hop in general but he is no god. Anyone who raps about “Kimoji” even if it is his own wife needs work lyrically. That’s just fucking dumb.
After listening to The Life of Pablo, I can say that it’s definitely good. It’s not great and has it’s flaws, including '30 Hour’s' long ass outro which takes up more than half of the song. But for what it’s worth it’s not bad. Kanye’s making a huge mistake not releasing the album on iTunes or physically, although there are rumors he will be releasing a deluxe physical version of the album. If he really is in debt like he has been tweeting about, then he should be trying to squeeze as much profit out of this album as possible. I would recommend either illegally downloading this album (because it’s already been done 500,000 times and it pisses Kanye off) or getting the free trial for Tidal and then cancelling it after you’ve heard the album because it’s a waste of your money.