The release of Kanye West's latest project, The Life of Pablo, last month was nontraditional to say the least. After nearly a year of delays and a seemingly endless amount of title changes, West announced the album had dropped on Jay-Z's subscription-based streaming service Tidal during a performance on the February 13th episode of Saturday Night Live. Less than 48 hours after releasing The Life of Pablo, West took to Twitter and went on a long-winded rant confirming that the album would only be available on Tidal- bypassing a release on all other digital and physical formats- and that the project was "open-ended" and would be tweaked several times over the coming months. The album itself is every bit as messy as its ill-conceived rollout and because of this, I've decided to take a track-by-track look at this chaotic, roller coaster of an album.
1.Ultralight Beam: As much as I admire West as an artist, there are times where his ego gets the best of him. "Ultralight Beam" is a prime example of this phenomenon. What was clearly intended to be this sweeping, emotional track comes off as an absurd, self-indulgent affair thanks to West's pathetic attempt to sing like an R&B crooner and the ridiculously over-the-top use of a gospel choir. West's masturbatory egotrip is single-handily salvaged by a spotlight-stealing verse from fellow Chicago-bred MC and music critic darling Chance the Rapper. With his consistently clever lines and perfect flow for the moody, gospel-influenced beat, Chance injects this stale track with a much-needed burst of life. Between this and his similarly spectacular guest spot on Action Bronson's "Baby Blue" last year, it's become increasingly clear that Chance needs to drop his long-awaited follow-up to 2013's Acid Rap as soon as possible.
2/3: Father Stretch My Hands Pt.1/2: No song on here illustrates the cohesion issues that exist on The Life of Pablo better than this two-part "epic" track. The "Father Stretch My Hands" saga is essentially just West trying to cram as many clashing musical ideas as he can possibly can into less than four and a half of minutes. The highlights of this musical clusterfluck include some reliably mediocre clean singing from Kid Cudi, a disco beat that sounds like it was record at Studio 54 in 1973, a random trap hook from some 18-year old kid named Desiigner that just got signed to West's GOOD Music label, and to top it all off, West rapping about the hazards of screwing a model that just bleached her asshole. I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a few enjoyable moments amidst all the drastic, rapid tempo shifts, there's just way too much going on here for the track to amount to anything that's truly enjoyable.
4.Famous: Magic tends to happen when West collaborates with Rihanna and "Famous" is no exception to that rule. West actually raps a proper verse for the first time on the album and it results in a beautiful, punchline-filled verse that serves as a reminder of just how clever and infectious West can be when he puts forth a legitimate effort on the mic. Pair West's strong, bravado-filled verses with a memorable hook from Rihanna and you have one of the clear standout tracks on this record.
5.Feedback: Don't look now, but The Life of Pablo appears to be gaining some traction! Behind a grimy beat that sounds like an outtake from Yeezus, West drops two quick, aggressive verses explaining how misunderstood he is as a person and artist and seemingly apologizing for some of the insane public comments he's made over the years. It's far from a classic, but it's definitely an enjoyable track that showcases West at his hungriest.
6.Low Lights: This is basically just an extended intro to the next track "Highlights". It serves no real purpose other than to fill time.
7.Highlights: Of the songs on The Life of Pablo that actually sound polished, this is easily the worst. The combination of over-the-top autotune, piss-poor rapping from West and a guest spot from the always obnoxious Young Thug make this track completely insufferable.
8.Freestyle 4: With a title like "Freestyle 4" you'd expect Kanye to drop some serious bars here right? WRONG!! This is essentially a two-minute spoken word piece dedicated to Kanye's love of having wild sex while under the influence of various drugs with another attempt to push his label's recent signer Desiigner-who sounds exactly like the poor man's Future- at the end of the song. God damn you Kanye for getting my hopes up for some hot fire spitting and giving me this dull malarkey instead.
9.I Love Kanye: This hilarious interlude sees West skewering his arrogance by simply stating how much he loves himself for 52 seconds. West's self-awareness is a large part of why his public antics have never bothered me and this track only further confirms that.
10.Waves: This is the song that West attributed the delay of The Life of Pablo to. After hearing the album, I completely believe that claim as the final product sounds clearly rushed and uneven. It's a shame West felt the need to slap this track together at the last minute because there are flashes of potential greatness (the stunning intro, the hook from Chris Brown) scattered throughout the duration of the song. Given the "open-ended" nature of this project, it would've been a better idea to not release it until it was actually finished.
11.FML: Just when it seemed like The Life of Pablo was a total lost cause, "FML" puts a stop to lengthy mid-album skid. The rapping from West is merely average and you once again can't help but feel that this song wasn't fully developed, but the eerie beat and haunting chorus from The Weeknd is enough to make this track a winner.
12.Real Friends: While "FML" was a step in the right direction, "Real Friends" marks the point where The Life of Pablo starts to really pick up in quality. "Real Friends" sees West addressing how focusing on his career, marriage and fatherhood has effected his other relationships in a very thoughtful, articulate manner. It's a fantastic antithesis to the mindless boasting that makes up most of this album and proves that West is still capable of creating poignant, introspective material when he wants to.
13.Wolves: Is the version with Frank Ocean, Vic Mensa and Sia that was performed at the Saturday Night Live 40th anniversary special in February 2015 and leaked onto the internet a few weeks ago better than this one? Absolutely. Is the version featuring Caroline Shaw that appears on this record a huge step-down from the original? Absolutely not. This is an immense and thoroughly chilling track that makes better use of Kanye's dark pop aesthetic than anything on 2008's 808's and Heartbreak did. Of course I'd like to hear a properly mastered rendition of the original version at some point in time, but this current version is still mightily impressive.
14. Silver Surfer Intermission: YAY ANOTHER POINTLESS INTERLUDE!!!! THANK YOU BASED YEEZUS!!!!!
15.30 Hours: This is EXACTLY what I wanted "Freestyle 4" to be. This is a great throwback to the fun, bullshit ad-lib tracks you would find on a number of classic hip-hop records in the late 80's and early 90's. It would've been better suited as the closing track, but it's still a solid, throwaway track that makes great use of West's charisma and knack for hilarious wordplay.
16.No More Parties in LA: The internet exploded when Kanye dropped this collab track with Kendrick Lamar back in January and for good reason; it's one hell of a song. This is an ambitious, jazzy and lyrically-dense track that would've fit in beautifully on either of West's early classics (2004's The College Dropout and 2005's Late Registration). This is the best song on The Life of Pablo by a considerable margin and I firmly believe that it ranks among the finest songs West has released over the course of his storied career.
17.Facts (Charlie Heat Version): "Facts" is everything you'd expect out of a Kanye West Nike diss song. The entire track is build around a highly-energized West taking pointed shots at the shoe giant and incessantly bragging about his massive success with rival Adidas behind a stellar, abrasive beat. It's a moronic and extremely petty song and I loved every minute of it. Bonus points for boldly citing Los Angeles Lakers forward Nick "Swaggy P" Young as one of the reasons Adidas is doing better than Nike right now (any NBA fans out there knows that this is easily the most insane and false thing West says on the entire record).
18.Fade: The success of "Fade" is a testament to how brilliant of a producer West is. The sample work and beat are so god damn impressive that it all but completely glosses over the half-assed, incomplete verses that West, Ty Dolla $ign and Post Malone deliver on this track. It's definitely a fitting ending to the wild, disjointed ride that is The Life of Pablo.
The Life of Pablo serves as a perfect metaphor for Kanye West as a person and artist. It's a ridiculously polarizing piece of art that's frequently jumps between being brilliant, incoherent, bizarre, obnoxious, fascinating and flat-out insane. West is a musical mad scientist with a frequently changing sound and while this isn't even close to being his finest experiment, you have to commend him for making such an unpolished work on any sort of level.
3.5/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.No More Parties in LA
2.Famous
3.Wolves
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