Kanye West - The Life of Pablo


Kanye West
The Life of Pablo
2016
Spotify

The original plan was not to review this album, probably not even really listen to it. Kanye West has made it clear over the lead up to The Life of Pablo that this music is A. not for white people and B. above any kind of scrutiny. According to Kanye this is the best there ever was, the best there ever will be ect. ect. It is one of the most frustrating things to hear from someone you respect, and you actually thinks makes good music. We all know fame has gone to Kanye's head to a level I've personally never seen, but the entire media shit storm that was the release of this record was just unbearable. If you weren't sour to even the idea of this record by the time TLOP dropped, a hand to you for your patience. When a musician goes into the album recording process even the impatient amongst us are willing to give them time, let them work and see what comes of it all. That is IF this artist is actually doing something rather than faking like they are to keep people buzzing. Buzz is a double edged sword, because it means that people will anxiously wait and clamber when the day finally comes, but it also means that the product needs to blow them away. TLOP is a really good record, really good, but extracting yourself from the swirling world that surrounds it is frustrating to say the least. Then of course there was the Tidal debacle where Kanye tried to exclusively release his music on the streaming service. This meant most people didn't hear it, and eventually forced the rapper to give in and release everything wide.

It is Kanye's bluster that both makes him endearing and a nightmare. He simply will not shut his mouth and put that energy on tape rather than on twitter. However when you hear those first three songs, that anger, that frustration melts away and you get lost in TLOP. More than anything I want to bash the absolute shit out of this record and beg people not to listen, but it's to fucking good. The moments on the record are better than the entirety, every track you get about 20-30 seconds of pure genius and the rest is just good. But the album feels very rushed, as if this was recorded over just a few months rather than the years that Kanye said he has been working on it. Which quite honestly sounds better for Kanye as an artist, but also makes him look like a liar. The song structure is also a bit odd, changing direction often like Kanye has not fully flushed out these ideas before they hit the wax. "Highlights" comes across more like a explosion of his ideas getting pushed out more than a well crafted thought. The question then becomes does The Life of Pablo live up to the hype? The answer really is no, but not because it is not good, but because the hype was just way to insane for anything to live up to. I'm sure this will not be the last version of the album as Kanye has already changed it multiple times in the month it has been out, but in the end you have to respect his music, even if you can't respect the man himself.

9.0 out of 10

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