Title: The Life of Pablo
Artist: Kanye West
Genre: Hip Hop
Familiarity: Extremely, I've heard his whole discography
1. Ultralight Beam: What a way to start an album. I love the reversed synths mixed with the gorgeous gospel singing, and Chance's verse is utterly fantastic. Definitely the best-rapped verse on the whole album. I understand this was initially intended to be the closer, I think it would've worked exceptionally in either spot. There's something weirdly both goosebumps-inducing and catchy hearing Kanye say "we on an ultralight beam" as a gospel choir belts out amazing stuff behind him. There's kind of a dichotomy there with Kanye's absurdity on one hand and the pure, angelic sounds of a black choir on the other.
2. Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1: I absolutely adore the production on this one (a statement I'll be making a lot throughout this review). A lot of people criticize this song for having the goofy set of lines "Now if I **** this model/And she just bleached her *******/And I get bleach on my t-shirt/I'ma feel like an *******"...and I don't blame them because that's pretty silly. Doesn't really hurt the track for me though, I especially love the moment the beat kicks in around 30 seconds in. Awesome stuff going on there.
3. Pt. 2: This track is much more rap oriented and I'm not quite as huge of a fan of the long mostly monotone verse Kanye busts out here. It's not quite that memorable after that but still enjoyable. I kinda dig the weird Imogen Heap-esque vocal near the end (actually is this a sample of her? I wouldn't be shocked).
4. Famous: I like the vocal hook that Rihanna does here, and the verses are solid with a nice dark beat. I also really enjoy the "bum bum bedum" thing that's going on in the second half, it's a lot of fun to listen to and weirdly catchy.
5. Feedback:
Fucking
love the synthy/guitar/whatever instrument that fronts this track most of the time. Awesome production on here the entire time, although the rest of the song isn't particularly memorable.
6. Low Lights: This one just sort of bores me, it's definitely a "low" point on the album which makes the title very apt lol. It does seem like an interlude of sorts I guess but there's a couple more interlude-esque songs coming up soon so this is not exactly my favorite stretch of tracks.
7. Highlights: Definitely better than Low Lights, this one has actually grown on me since first hearing it. There's nothing particular special here, it's just a solid Kanye track that comes and goes. I dig it.
8. Freestyle 4: This one's really weird. I love how it starts with the spooky sounding production that reminds me of a haunted house on Halloween or something. Near the end of the track though I'm not entirely sure what's going on anymore and it seems like Kanye's losing his damn mind. If he had developed the first half into the second half better this could've been a superb track.
9. I Love Kanye: Pretty nice little rap here from Kanye. Short, sweet, and to the point.
10. Waves: This one delayed production because Chance really wanted it on the album. I think the record is better for it primarily because this track breaks up the darker rap heavy tracks that we'd started to get into. This one has some very bright, fun production that reminds me of Graduation. It's kind of got a cheesy sound but I really don't mind it at all.
11. FML: Competes with Ultralight Beam for my favorite track here. The production is impeccable, and Kanye's rapping really works. I also think these are the best lyrics on the record, he makes some interesting references and rhythms here. The Weeknd's presence on this track is actually great, I love his hook as the chorus. The outro is simply sick. Just an awesome track through and through.
12. Real Friends: This one's been out for a while but I hadn't heard it until the album actually dropped. Definitely a solid track but it kind of flies by without making a huge impression on me.
13. Wolves: I really love the vocal sample that serves as the background here. The last minute of the song is awesome and reminds me of the music that plays to introduce the final boss of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. Which is awesome in my book, thanks for the nostalgia Kanye. I love the dark feel to this track, it's a style that's hit-or-miss on this album but this song is definitely an example of a hit.
14. Silver Surfer Intermission: This obviously isn't an actual song but I kind of hate the inclusion of this. It's just pointless and inflates the runtime by another minute.
15. 30 Hours: This song isn't bad by any stretch but it's pretty long and I don't feel like it needs to be on the album. There's some pretty crappy lyrics thrown in here and there and it's not particularly memorable which is kind of what you want when you're winding down a record as long as this one. I think you could cut this out completely and you'd have a better album.
16. No More Parties in LA: I think the only track I heard before release simply because I couldn't resist checking out a Kanye track that features Kendrick. Didn't disappoint. The song isn't perfect but Madlib's production combined with Kendrick's excellent verses make this one of the best on what is a truly excellent album.
17. Facts (Charlie Heat Version): Cool use of samples on here, I really enjoy the intro. This is another really solid track that's heavy on Yeezy rapping and utilizes some of the darker, more booming beats that is on this album a lot.
18. Fade: Awesome beat on this one, I really dig that funky bass. This seems like a strange track to end the album on to be honest, but I guess there weren't any notably better options so this is what we have. Solid outro but I feel that Kanye should've gone for a bigger, more epic finale.
End Result: I obviously love this album overall. It's a little uneven and goes to some weird places but as a whole there's some brilliant production and as a musician it's truly a pleasure to listen to and analyze.
Love or Hate?:
True Love