Opinion: Kanye's 'The Life of Pablo' is lost potential

Kanye West is accustomed to grabbing headlines outside of his music.

But during the peak of his artistic creativity (2003-2010), the music normally came first. The College Dropout and Late Registration were both breaths of fresh air, Graduation was a shift in sound that brought Kanye’s mainstream popularity to the next level, 808s & Heartbreaks was essentially his Kid A, and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was a triumphant return that put the industry on watch.

Since MBDTF, Kanye the Artist has taken a backseat. He is – in this order – Kanye the Kardashian, Kanye the Narcissist, Kanye the Erratic Wannabe Fashion Designer, and then Kanye the Artist.

That pecking order shows. If Kanye’s musicianship is playing fourth fiddle, then it’s no surprise that his last two projects (Yeezus in 2013 and now The Life of Pablo) are his most fractured.

But at least Yeezus wasn’t a grandiose, bloated hodgepodge of half-baked ideas. It’s a more condensed version of that. And at least it’s cohesive. Taking away the context that Kanye failed at his attempt to be “different” (although I would argue at a mainstream level Yeezus was radical), Yeezus is actually an enjoyable listen. I can have fun with it, and occasionally, Kanye flashed off his charm on that record.

Occasionally.

Now, onto The Life of Pablo.

Kanye’s seventh studio album accomplishes what Yeezus failed to accomplish: It’s genuinely weird at several points.

The outro to “FML” sounds like it came straight from the Kid A playbook, “Freestle 4” is a nightmarish track, the instrumental on “Feedback” sounds like an enhanced version of a Yeezus instrumental, and “Ultralight Beam” is a stunning gospel track that features an oddball, spacious instrumental.

“Ultralight Beam” opens the album, and its impact was immediate, as it made me believe Kanye was back.

It also helps that Chance the Rapper hopped on that track and executed a monstrous verse, with the line “I laugh in my head cuz I bet that my ex lookin back like a pillar of salt” sending me into an alternate universe. That’s the line of the year, and it’s only February.

Then, “Ultralight Beam” bleeds perfectly into “Father Stretch My Hands, Pt. 1.” It opens with a dramatic sample before transforming into a crescendo of distorted fuzz before Kanye flexes his compositional muscle: Just as the intro reaches its highest point of intensity, it drops, allowing Future to mumble “If young metro don’t trust you, I’m gonna shoot you.” Before he can finish saying “you,” in comes Kid Cudi on a fantastic hook paired by a twittering hi-hat that sends this album’s momentum into the stratosphere.

And then, Kanye pulls a Kanye.

“Now if I fucked this model, and she just bleached her asshole/And I get bleach on my t-shirt, Imma feel like an asshole.”

This is how I would describe The Life of Pablo: A bleached asshole.

Because even though this album is bleached with moments of genius, it can’t distract from the fact that this album is littered with shitty ideas.

The song “30 Hours” would’ve been a great track IF KANYE HAD PUT ANDRE 3000 ON A DAMN VERSE INSTEAD OF A MUNDANE HOOK. Additionally, the second half of the track is utterly pointless.

“Highlights” is a song that uses Young Thug properly and features a great party vibe, but the lyrics are trash and the song itself feels incomplete. There’s no arch, no climax, no nothing. It happens, doesn’t really affect you, and you move on.

“Wolves” is a cluttered mess. Kanye keeps saying it isn’t finished, but I’m not certain he’s aware of what direction he wants to take it.

Like I said, there are moments of genius on this album.

“Famous” is hilarious and has one of Kanye’s greatest outros. “Real Friends” is a throwback of sorts for Kanye and is one of his more genuine tracks in a long time. “No More Parties in L.A.” is a fun track all-around jam-packed with personality and wonderful production from MadLib.

But these moments aren’t enough to save the album. There are too many pointless skits and forgettable songs. Even though I could listen to this album front-to-back and enjoy it, when I put my critic cap on, I can’t call this album great. Like Kanye, it’s too unfocused, and it leaves me with more questions than answers.

Verdict: Like

Recommended Tracks: Ultralight Beam, Famous, Feedback, FML, Real Friends, No More Parties In L.A.

Tracks to Stay Away From: Wolves, Fade

Featured image courtesy of Jason Persee obtained via creativecommons.org

The opinion of our writers/bloggers are not a reflection of the opinion of the Tennessee Journalist as a whole.

Edited by Jessica Carr