The past year or so have been quite tumultuous for one Mr. Kanye West. After releasing a beautiful ode to his mother and daughter North that featured Paul freaking McCartney on keys, making some waves at last year's Grammys with some stupid comment about Beck, and just recently having a mini-meltdown backstage at the Saturday Night Live studio, we have to kind of wonder where it'll end. Well, my friends and I have had some theories about this, which will be included in this review.
After over a year and a half of teasing the album, Kanye West finally released his seventh studio album, The Life Of Pablo, last week. He chose to release it exclusively on Tidal, and many, including myself, weren't having it, as they chose to listen to it through alternative methods. We already know that Tidal has been a huge flop, and anyone who has payed attention to the current climate around music streaming knows why. Unfortunately, music pirating won't be going away any time soon, but if you want to guarantee that your music will get pirated, stick it on a website that costs $20/month to subscribe to and offers you nothing besides some exclusive content and slightly higher-quality sound without a physical release.
EDITOR'S NOTE: I do not condone music pirating. I buy music all the time and am currently paying for Spotify premium as well. While I don't condemn everyone who pirates music, on 99.9999999% of situations where I'm given a choice to buy music or pirate it, I will choose to buy it. Support the artists you like by buying their albums and downloading their songs!
But enough of my Tidal rant. Let's talk about the album itself.
In short, it sounds incomplete. If that's all you're interested in hearing, stop reading.
The album opens with "Ultralight Beam" featuring Chance the Rapper, and in my opinion, it's one of the most disappointing tracks that Kanye West has ever produced. For one thing, it's about a minute and a half too long, and seems to go on for even longer than its running time. Thankfully, by the third track, things start to pick back up, but that opener does not leave a great taste in my mouth.
Recently, my friend and I were discussing the differences between Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar, and comparing this new album with To Pimp A Butterfly. We thought that these comparisons were very similar in some ways to what the Beach Boys and the Beatles were doing in the 60s. In the same way that To Pimp A Butterfly sent Kanye back to the drawing board, Sgt Pepper's sent Brian Wilson back to the drawing board. Seeing the personal issues Kanye is going through reminds me a lot of what probably went on at that time as well.
While I have my share of criticism about this album, it really isn't that bad. After "Ultralight Beam", things pick back up. Admittedly, the singles "Real Friends" and "No More Parties in LA", the latter featuring a guest verse from the aforementioned Kendrick Lamar, are both incredible singles with classic Kanye West College Dropout-type beats. Other killer features from The Weeknd and Rihanna, among others, bring great qualities to this album. Even better is the new and improved version of "Facts", a track which previously disappointed me when it was first released.
Regardless of how I feel about this album, putting it on Tidal and not putting it up for sale is unforgivable and is a terrible business model.
Overall: 8/10
Favorite tracks: Famous (yes, even looking past the now-infamous Taylor Swift quote); FML (feat. the Weeknd); Real Friends (feat. Ty Dolla $ign); Wolves (feat. Frank Ocean and Caroline Shaw); No More Parties In LA (feat. Kendrick Lamar)
EDITOR'S NOTE: I do not condone music pirating. I buy music all the time and am currently paying for Spotify premium as well. While I don't condemn everyone who pirates music, on 99.9999999% of situations where I'm given a choice to buy music or pirate it, I will choose to buy it. Support the artists you like by buying their albums and downloading their songs!
But enough of my Tidal rant. Let's talk about the album itself.
In short, it sounds incomplete. If that's all you're interested in hearing, stop reading.
The album opens with "Ultralight Beam" featuring Chance the Rapper, and in my opinion, it's one of the most disappointing tracks that Kanye West has ever produced. For one thing, it's about a minute and a half too long, and seems to go on for even longer than its running time. Thankfully, by the third track, things start to pick back up, but that opener does not leave a great taste in my mouth.
Recently, my friend and I were discussing the differences between Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar, and comparing this new album with To Pimp A Butterfly. We thought that these comparisons were very similar in some ways to what the Beach Boys and the Beatles were doing in the 60s. In the same way that To Pimp A Butterfly sent Kanye back to the drawing board, Sgt Pepper's sent Brian Wilson back to the drawing board. Seeing the personal issues Kanye is going through reminds me a lot of what probably went on at that time as well.
While I have my share of criticism about this album, it really isn't that bad. After "Ultralight Beam", things pick back up. Admittedly, the singles "Real Friends" and "No More Parties in LA", the latter featuring a guest verse from the aforementioned Kendrick Lamar, are both incredible singles with classic Kanye West College Dropout-type beats. Other killer features from The Weeknd and Rihanna, among others, bring great qualities to this album. Even better is the new and improved version of "Facts", a track which previously disappointed me when it was first released.
Regardless of how I feel about this album, putting it on Tidal and not putting it up for sale is unforgivable and is a terrible business model.
Overall: 8/10
Favorite tracks: Famous (yes, even looking past the now-infamous Taylor Swift quote); FML (feat. the Weeknd); Real Friends (feat. Ty Dolla $ign); Wolves (feat. Frank Ocean and Caroline Shaw); No More Parties In LA (feat. Kendrick Lamar)