He’s taken over Madison Square Garden to present his third Adidas collaboration, Yeezy Season 3, and host an exclusive listening party for his new album, The Life of Pablo. Art.Today’s a big day for the Kanye West camp. And after sifting through all of the bullshit, Kanye West makes damn good music. But it is one that will inevitably be heard by so many people. It is as imperfect and pretentious and self-involved as an album can be. While it may not be relatable, it is a rewarding journey. Too often genre albums play to their comfort zones. It is actually the first one in sometime that doesn’t represent an artistic shift for him. The Life of Pablo isn’t a perfect album nor is it his best. (Pitchfork certainly has, giving the album a 9.0 a mere two days after its release.) While it is a stiff drink (especially “I Love Kanyeâ€), there is so much personality in the album—a singular vision composed by a thousand contributors. A lot of The Life of Pablo depends on if you’ve already drunk the Yeezy cool aid. But with the exception of album reviews, it’s hard to recall good Kanye press. And while they’re hard to defend, the lyrics got so much press Kanye indirectly interrupted another Swift award speech. Some would say the already infamous Taylor Swift line didn’t either. But they didn’t have Twitter accounts either and his Bill Cosby tweet didn’t do him any favors. Few of the “geniuses†he compares himself to were known for their gentle hearts. On “Feedback†the most Yeezus-like song on the album, he yells “I’ve been outta my mind for a long time†leading into “Name one genius that ain’t crazy!†And he’s probably right. He’s a pop culture villain and he lives up to the character. Kanye is a self-described douche bag, asshole, scumbag, jerkoff. The latter eight mash up bonus tracks (“30â€), songs cut from the album when it was called Waves (“No More Parties in LAâ€), and odd dance heavy numbers (“Fadeâ€). This is his gospel album, primarily the ten songs he premiered at his ridiculously grandiose Madison Square Garden fashion show. Chance’s verse on opening track “ Ultralight Beam†is the album’s best and Chris Brown’s catchy hook on “Waves†takes up more retail space than Kanye himself. More than once he allows a younger star a spotlight-stealing moment. And that’s not including the writing credits or samples. This time around he incorporates Chance the Rapper, Rihanna, The Weeknd, and Kid Cudi, to name a small few. And with each album, the list gets longer. Since MBDTF, Kanye has made a point to collaborate. Again, Kanye acts as the master of ceremonies mashing oldies with shiny new talent. “Famous†uses Sister Nancy’s “Bam Bam†to full effect, and the entire track “Lowlights" gives Kings of Tomorrow’s “So Alive (Acapella)†a full two minutes early on. On the eighteen-track album, Kanye maintains his impeccable taste for sampling. Now we have The Life of Pablo to pick apart and criticize for years to come. Yeezus was a clusterfuck of industrial sounds that still counted as pop music. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy made it okay to publically be a dick if your craft was good enough, a persona that he has kept. His first few albums inspired a generation of backpack-wearing emotional rappers. Mostly, though, it earns the right because of Kanye’s previous output. The Life of Pablo demands to be looked at like a modern art piece, partially because of Kanye’s roll out plan. And very few of them actually involve the music on The Life of Pablo. Very few of them will matter in two months (hopefully). Plenty has been said about Kanye West over the last two weeks. Both challenge what is acceptable and beautiful within their medium. All the signs are there: both artists express themselves in creatively fresh ways. Maybe Kanye West is this generation’s Pablo Picasso.
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