3 years since the release of the rage against the machine, anti radio album YEEZUS. Kanye West is back with another record T.L.O.P (The Life Of Pablo). Apart from Kanye’s onslaught of tweets and his brief back and forth with Wiz Khalifa, who didn’t really have much to say as Kanye went on. Ye kept fans updated with pictures of the track-list and the growing amount of signatures of everyone who was in the studio in the making of the album then named SWISH then WAVES the final track-listing came the day after his initial release date of T.L.O.P and Yeezy Season 3.
On to the album, though some songs were hit and miss (for me) the album starts off with The Dream, Kelly Price, Ye and Chance the Rapper honing in on the concept of The Life of Pablo being a gospel. Ultra Light Beam starting the album was a great choice on Kanye’s part but Chance’s verse definitely stole the moment, while paying homage to Ye with the line “I made Sunday Candy I’m never going to hell // I met Kanye West I’m never going to fail.” Father Stretch My Hands pt 1 & 2 I feel could’ve been one 4 minute track it was split into two separate entities. Speaking on the first part a Kid Cudi feature is present though no actual verse, I believe his presence overshadowed Kanye’s lackluster verse but was still good in its own right. Part 2 steps it up and we get to hear the new G.O.O.D. music signee Desiigner go in a bit on the track as well. The track Famous has caused some buzz in the media with Ye’s opening line “For all my southside niggas that know me best I feel like me and taylor might still have sex, I made that bitch famous.” The track also holds some vocals from Rihanna on the hook and additional vocals from Swizz Beats tastefully spread throughout the track. Lowlights and Highlights placed perfectly one after the other: Lowlights brings back the gospel feel of the album and seamlessly goes into Highlights with Young Thug and The Dream. We also get some pretty decent bars from Kanye addressing Ray J and the media coverage of Blacc Chyna and Rob Kardashian’s alleged relationship. Freestyle 4 is just great to me though no substance, no real bars, it’s just Ye spazzing “What if we fucked right now?” Going into I love Kanye which was also a part of a SNL skit. We get one of the best songs 11 tracks into the album being FML which has The Weeknd feature and Kanye talking about securing things for his kids, not falling to the temptations of other women which goes perfect with the hook of wishing he would fuck his life up. Although I was disappointed while watching the live stream to see that Vic Mensa was off Wolves I was pleasantly surprised to hear from the elusive, ghost-like Frank Ocean to close out the song. First debuted at Yeezy Season 2 we finally get the CDQ of Fade where we get vocals from Ty dolla sign and Post Malone, we get a different vibe from Kanye on this track which is great to hear.
All and all, Kanye held true to his word of giving us his version of a gospel album. Some may not like the way the album was rolled out this time around but you have to admit that Ye had your attention and you were curious as to what the album had to offer.
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