Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo leaves listeners confused
Not a day went by without news of Kanye West doing something ridiculous, whether its planning to campaign for the Presidency in 2020 or changing the name of his seventh studio album three times. After a long period of waiting, fans can now finally experience the LP, titled The Life of Pablo.
West’s quest to create the self-proclaimed “album of life” falls short. There’s no overall lyrical theme like we saw on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, West’s heralded 2010 album. Like MBDTF, however, TLOP is a combination of Kanye’s previous six projects all meshed into one. We get a top layer of autotuned crooning from 808’s & Heartbreak, the lush production of MBDTF, the soul of College Dropout, and Late Registration, the pop attractiveness of Graduation, and the sporadicalness of his last effort, Yeezus.
Unlike these last albums, however, TLOP has no real conclusion. At its core, there is really no purpose or motivation for creating this LP. From College Dropout to Yeezus, each of these projects had a rise, a climax, and a fall. There was an overarching theme. TLOP feels rushed in concept and release. Many of the interludes, skits, and attempts at pathos make no sense and fail to eclipse an emotion.
However, we still get a nice collection of new songs from West. “Ultralight Beam” featuring Chance the Rapper, Kelly Price, Kirk Franklin, and The-Dream, is one of West’s best intros in his catalogue. KiD CuDi returns to form for a nice hook on “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. I”, although Kanye provides some cringeworthy lyrics. In fact, most of the features here outperform West during the 59-minute run time of this album. Even Rihanna and Young Thug, artists who contribute minimally, are more interesting than the Chicago rapper.
Sept. 4, 2015 cover of the New Yorker, featuring West parodying the iconic “Dewey Defeats Truman” photo
I am now going to write a letter to Swizz Beatz.
Dear Mr. Beatz,
Please stick to producing and staying behind the boards. I hope your entourage and your beautiful wife with an amazing voice hides all of your microphones. I never want to hear you ad-lib during a rap song again. It’s nice of you, but I don’t want you to ask me “how I’m feeling in this.” I don’t want you trying to do fire engine noises. Or try to impersonate guns firing. Just do us all a favor and destroy all of your microphones. Or, if you want, give them to Alicia for a Christmas gift. “Hey dear. I have no rapping talent whatsoever and people are really annoyed. You want my microphones?”
Please and thank you.
Sincerely,
Mac R. Whaley
Kanye does flow well over an atrociously awkward “Feedback” instrumental that feels like a Yeezus leftover. Following that, however, “Low Lights” serves as some attempt to be “edgy” or “deep” and, once again, has no real reason for being here. It doesn’t tie into “High Lights” very well, which, although nice in sonics, does add to the barrage of bad lyrics.
Things do start to pick back up again with “FML”, carried by a simplistic yet original instrumental and a beautiful hook song by The Weeknd (I still don’t think this man can do wrong). The Travis $cott horror-movie instrumental section at the end makes no sense.
The odd transition leads into the crown jewel of the album, the Ty Dolla $ign-featured “Real Friends”. The tandem go back and forth from West’s different perspectives on how he could be a better father and friend. This track is very reminiscent of a MBDTF cut from the smooth, somber production to West’s calming delivery.
Just as things start to pick up again, West packs the back end of the album with more unnecessary flop with glossy production. Although “Wolves” reminds us that Frank Ocean is, indeed, still alive and well (barring that West didn’t just add old vocals to the track like he did with KiD CuDi on Yeezus’ “Guilt Trip”), the track is watered down compared to the original, which featured Sia and Vic Mensa. Despite that, this would have been a good place to end the album. However, West felt the need to add MORE nonsense (and by MORE, I mean six surplus tracks, only two of which are really worth keeping).
It’s nice to see legendary underground producer Madlib get notoriety for his “No More Parties in LA” track featuring Kendrick Lamar, and “Fade” should give Post Malone some more credibility, but these tracks are better for the midsection of the album, not the back end, especially when crammed in with awful filler moments like “Silver Surfer Intermission” and the horrendous “Facts” tracks. Can someone also explain to me why it has become customary to add an interlude or intermission at the end of an album?
Although the music on this album is great, it lacks the cohesion and lyrical sense of West’s previous work. If Yeezus left us wondering where Kanye was going to go next, The Life of Pablo is an abandoned ship in the middle of nowhere. The captain has lost his map (and his mind), and crew mates still believe he can lead them to shore.
FAVORITE TRACKS: “Ultra Light Beam”, “FML”, “Real Friends”, “No More Parties in LA”, “Fade”
LEAST FAVORITE TRACKS: “Freestyle 4”, “High Lights”, “Silver Surfer Intermission”, “Facts (Charlie Heat Version)”, “Facts (Original Version)”
WORTH YOUR $$? Stream it and buy what you like. Good album to put on shuffle.
RATING: 5.5/10
