As the great Dr. Robert Doback once told his son Dale after he'd given up his dream of running a prestigious worldwide entertainment company to take a job as a caterer, life just isn't the same if you lose your dinosaur. In other words, sacrificing what makes you unique strictly for the sake of appeasing other people is a move that you'll regret in the long run. It's taken about 15 years, but Kanye West appears to be on the cusp of losing his dinosaur. His eight LP ye is a borderline unlistenable collection of tracks that sees the hip-hip icon betraying the no-holds-barred authenticity and unwavering confidence that has helped define his legacy as one of the music industry's most dynamic talents to deliver a feigned apology for his (very) recent public misdeeds.
Where his chaotic last LP The Life of Pablo was rough around the edges by design, ye sounds like a truly unfinished product. After sitting through this jarring barrage of soul samples, obnoxious hooks and aimless features a few times, it's hard not to come away feeling that ye is simply a PR move disguised as an album. Like just about every piece of damage control from a public figure or company, this mercifully short (it clocks in at just under 24 minutes) musical apology for West's most headline-grabbing string of controversial comments to-date contains the subtlety of a nuclear arsenal and sincerity of an average political stump speech.
After undergoing the most hostile public takedowns of his career following his now-infamous TMZ outburst and repeated praise of Donald Trump, it's comically evident that West and his team were desperate to change the narrative around him. And what better way to win the people over than to concoct a nice introspective album that focuses on how much he loves his family and his struggles with bipolar disorder? This calculated charade might've worked if West had approached this material with any sort of conviction. His delivery is so consistently sloppy and devoid of legitimate emotion that it renders every single "heartfelt" sentiment completely meaningless. Watching an artist that has preached sticking to your true self at every turn suddenly table that previously steadfast belief because their public image, which has always been polarizing, could've possibly taken a long-term hit is a shocking and disheartening development that I honestly didn't see coming.
Whatever fleeting victories are found on ye stem from the goofy back-to-back combo of "Yikes" and "All Mine". While neither of these tracks flirt with greatness, they at least allow glimpses of West's signature brashness and childlike giddiness to shine through. On an album that's driven by an unsettling sense of phoniness, a couple of on-brand songs with bouncy beats and vulgar punchlines offer up some much-needed hope that West's vacation to the world of contrived conformity is only temporary.
The existence of ye has made me wish that West stayed out of the public eye for at least a little bit longer. Succumbing to a media shitstorm with a rushed album riddled with lackluster material that's at the very least forced, if not completely insincere was an uncharacteristic move that stripped away the unapologetic attitude and unpredictable creative flare that usually define his projects. I'm pulling for West to rebound from this unfortunate misstep in an otherwise pretty remarkable career, but considering this and the similarly suspect quality of his other recent endeavors not named Daytona, you have to at least consider the possibility that his reign as hip-hop's boldest voice has come to an end.
Grade: D+
Standout Tracks
1.Yikes
2.All Mine
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