Album Review: The Life of Pablo

Yeezus has rose again ladies and gentlemen, and this time it’s with his seventh solo album release titled The Life of Pablo, which is a reference to the legendary artist Pablo Picasso. Now in order for someone to self proclaim their own greatness and compare themselves to the great Picasso, they must have an outstanding track record of ground-breaking work that highlights their immense level of creativity. With that being said, if anyone in the hip hop industry should have the confidence to make such proclamations it would definitely be Kanye.
The first track on The Life of Pablo called “Ultralight Beams” starts with the vocals from a viral video of a young black girl having somewhat of a spiritual awakening, which is both comical and cohesive with Yeezy’s statements during an interview with Big Boy radio when he called his new project, “a gospel album with a whole lot of cursing.” The track also features the highly anticipated first collaboration by Kanye and Chance the Rapper who both hail from Chicago and it does not disappoint one bit, especially on Chance’s end. The tracks “Father Stretch My Hands pt1/2” (which were written about Kanye’s father) are almost polar opposites as far as the vibe and sound is concerned. Part 1 feels vibrant and colorful beginning with a smooth sample and flowing into a beautiful hook sang by Kid Cudi who left the Good Music label a few years back for personal reasons. Good to see him and Yeezy back in the studio making more magic. Part 2 featuring Desiigner (who many listeners had mistaken for Future) harbors a more up-tempo style of production with a bombastic sample to initiate an auto-tuned Yeezy rapping a quick 8 lines over a trap build up about his personal issues, with a snare clap that rolls into Desiigner turning up once the beat drops.
Swizz Beat’s production comes through clutch on “Famous,” giving Yeezy the platform to talk that braggadocios bravado he’s become famous for and although her part was short, Rihanna’s rendition of the sample used in the production adds more pleasure to the song. This transitions into a 5th track that Kanye continues his lyrical flexing on as he tells listeners to “Wake up,” as he comes back to claim his throne as the greatest artist of our generation, also referring to himself in the 1st verse as Pablo. Ye tweeted on Valentines that he put the “Low Lights” interlude on the album because he was, “just thinking about all the moms driving they kids to school then going to work.” The production used for the interlude flows right into the beat for the song “Highlights” featuring Young Thug and The Dream which sounds like it would fit in perfectly with 808’s and Heartbreaks. The album’s production then shifts to a style reminiscent of his last album Yeezus with track 9, which uses a more ominous, almost spooky sounding vibe. A satirical early 2000’s Kanye comes out on “I Love Kanye” with an acapella verse about the love/hate relationship he has with his fans. The next 3 cuts, “Waves, FML, and Real Friends” are all single worthy with 3 of the industry’s biggest R&B artists featured on all 3 songs. Kanye also credits Chance the Rapper with the last minute addition of “Waves” to the track list (Thank you Chance).
Before the album’s release when Kanye was still flip flopping through possible album titles, he received heavy backlash from many people including an altercation with Wiz Khalifa for changing the title to Waves. Many thought that he was biting or copying the infamous Max B who initiated the popularity in the hip hop industry with the term “waves” or something cool being “wavey.” Well with the addition of the “Silver Surfer Intermission,” Yeezy directly addresses those critical of him using waves in his album concept by having the Wave God himself, Max B leaving a voicemail cosigning Kanye’s work and giving him his blessing to continue the wave. Yeezy then enlists the elusive Andre 3000 to sing the background vocals for “30 Hours” while he raps a quick verse then talks over the last 3 minutes giving shout outs until the song fades out similar to how his famous “Last Call” was structured on College Dropout. He then double teams “No More Parties in LA” with the new 5 time Grammy winner Kendrick Lamar in an exchange of lyrical expertise over one of his classic soul samples.
Cocky Kanye is back like he never left on “Facts” with him repeating the phrase, “Yeezy, Yeezy, Yeezy just jumped over Jumpman.” This song epitomizes the coming together of Ye’s famous bragging and him actually doing the numbers and putting up the accolades to back it all up. The last song “Fade” which to me is one of the weaker songs compared to the rest of whole project is still a good listen with a nice beat that contains multiple samples including another gospel sample that all mash together for an innovative blend of sounds. However, Kanye doesn’t really do too much lyrically, only just enough with this track.
After multiple run-throughs of the entire project front to back, I think it’s safe to say that The Life of Pablo is definitely a step above his last solo project Yeezus. It is a brief but vivid look inside the life of an artistic genius and the internal battles faced by Pablo (a.k.a. Kanye) from the death of his mother, to relationship issues he faces with his friends and significant other past and present. This feels like the start of something new for Kanye now that his life is heading in a new direction with his family, fashion, and music, and I don’t know about the rest of the world but I’m eager to hear what else he has in store for all of us.