Kanye West finally released his highly anticipated album “The Life of Pablo” on Sunday. TLOP is Kanye’s seventh solo studio album in his impeccable discography. The album has been talked about a lot due to numerous album title changes, tracklisting changes and many rumors circulating with little credibility to them. Kanye first debuted several songs during his “Yeezy Season 3” fashion show, which took place in the sold out Madison Square Garden last Thursday. After his show, many news outlets got to speculating about which songs were which and tried to put together an official tracklist, with the guest features included. The album was supposed to be released last Thursday, but last minute changes delayed the project’s debut for another two days. Yeezy had been tweeting information about his album up until its release, and he even described it as a “gospel” album. We soon learned he wasn’t kidding.
“The Life of Pablo” starts with a child praying on the intro of “Ultralight Beam,” which came from a video that went viral on Instagram. Kanye sings a soulful chorus, which is followed by a bridge sang by The-Dream. After a beautiful first verse from Kelly Price, Chance The Rapper delivers a fire rap verse. Chance The Rapper fits “Ultralight Beam” perfectly, and it’s dope to see the two Chicago artists come together, especially because Chance has been very vocal about how Kanye has always been his idol. The song closes out with a gospel outro from Kirk Franklin and the choir, and it goes into “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1.” “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1” starts off with a quick intro with the help of a choir. This song has one of the hardest beat drops I’ve heard in recent memory. After a quick ad-lib from Future, the beat drops with an awesome pre-hook from the former G.O.O.D. Music artist Kid Cudi. Kanye spits his first verse with a little auto tune effect, which then transitions into the second part with a sample of Pastor T.L. Barrett that continues the “gospel” feel.
“Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 2” is the first true banger on “The Life of Pablo,” with a feature coming from the latest G.O.O.D. Music signee Desiigner. The feature from the Brooklyn artist is actually a part of his breakout song, “Panda,” but sounds crazy on this beat. The beat builds up with a clapping effect and an intense verse that Kanye quickly spits until the beat switches into Desiigner’s verse, which super lit. The song ends with a soothing outro from Caroline Shaw that brings energy back down and goes into “Famous.”
What’s a Kanye West album without a number of controversial lyrics and suggestive remarks? Well it only took four songs to cause a stir. “Famous” features Rihanna, who absolutely kills the hook, and Swizz Beatz on production, who adds some vocals throughout the song. On this song, Kanye says he thinks he still might have sex with Taylor Swift because he made her famous, which he low-key did if we’re being real. “Famous” is a soulful track with a flawless beat switch and creative use of a sample coming from Sister Nancy’s “Bam Bam.” A strong start to “The Life of Pablo.”
Kanye absolutely rips “Feedback,” which has a cool beat with some hints of “Yeezus” production. However, my personal favorite part of “Feedback” comes at the end when Yeezy abruptly stops the music and calls himself the “Ghetto Oprah.” “Lowlights” is sort of an interlude, which has an uncredited woman giving a sermon of sorts. Again, gospel album. After a quick break from the music, Ye gets right back to it on “Highlights” with the help of Young Thug on the intro. If there’s someone who knows how to use the help of artists that most people aren’t used to, it’s Kanye West. Look at what he did with Chief Keef on “Hold My Liquor.” Like most songs on this album, “Highlights” goes through a few different beats. On “Highlights,” Kanye calls out Ray J, saying, “I bet me and Ray J would be friends if we ain’t love the same b---h.” The-Dream re-surfaces for the outro, and we go into “Freestyle 4.”
“Freestyle 4” is a brash song where the bass is deep and the vocals are leveled, and it builds up to a crazy drop after Ye’s first verse. The song features Desiigner, and it definitely has a “Yeezus” feel to it. The next song is something we all joked would happen but was actually done. “I Love Kanye” is a satirical song that is playing off the “Kanye loves Kanye” meme, and he shows that he knows how to joke about himself.
The next song is “Waves,” and it just might be my favorite on “The Life of Pablo.” The song has an epic sound to it and features Chris Brown on the chorus and bridge. The meaningful lyrics and sincerity in Kanye’s voice with Chris Brown’s singing and some Kid Cudi vocals on the bridge come together to transcend you into another world. Songs like this remind you that Kanye is easily the greatest of all time, in case you ever forgot.
On “FML,” Kanye delivers a raw verse and demonstrates his honesty over a simple beat. After the hook coming from The Weeknd, the beat has somewhat of a drop, a bass line and echoed effect that stays until the last minute where the song completely switches and Kanye is singing in a raspy voice over an auto tune effect.
“Real Friends” was a song released a few weeks ago as part of Kanye’s “G.O.O.D Fridays,” where he drops a song on a Friday leading up to his album. The song is too real and will really make you question the people you surround yourself with. Kanye talks about how he’s experienced losing friends who were never really down for him, and how he now knows who’s really there for him. Ty Dolla $ign also raps and sings throughout the song. “Real Friends” is vintage Kanye West rapping over a simple soul beat.
“Real Friends” goes into “Wolves,” which Kanye first debuted on his SNL performance back in 2015 and originally featured Vic Mensa and Sia. “Wolves” is a super dope song that is very dark, has heavy bass and has the sound of wolves howling in the background. The final version of “Wolves” features Frank Ocean at the very end, which is kind of random, but it’s good to know that Frank Ocean is still alive.
“30 Hours” was dropped the Friday before “The Life of Pablo” was released. “30 hours” is about four minutes of straight bars over a groovy beat. After a couple verses, Kanye talks over the beat as an outro with the help of Andre 3000, who’s only part is saying “30 hours.” “30 Hours” is a cool song because we’re not too used to Kanye rapping over a simple beat that has no tempo changes or beat switches.
The next song is “No More Parties in L.A.,” which was another song released as a part of G.O.O.D Friday’s and features Kendrick Lamar. “No More Parties in L.A.” has an old-school rap feel to it where Kendrick and Kanye trade two of the hottest verses we’ve heard in a long time. Kendrick kills his part, but Kanye absolutely bodies the second verse. Ye spazzes out and raps for about three minutes without missing a beat.
The album ends with “Fade,” which was first played at Kanye’s “Yeezy Season 2” fashion show. “Fade” has a catchy beat with a funky bassline and features Ty Dolla $ign and Post Malone. All the vocals are echoed, and “Fade” is one of the cooler songs on TLOP. Post Malone’s heavily autotuned verse transitions the song into a dope beat drop but returns to the funky beat before the song and album ends.
“The Life of Pablo” is Kanye’s first album in nearly three years, and it was well worth the wait. However, there’s a catch. Kanye tweeted that his album will never be for sale, and it will only be available to stream on Tidal or his website (a Tidal embed). I don’t think that was right to do, especially because of how Kanye preaches he wants everyone to be inspired by and enjoy the stuff he creates, whether it be clothes, shoes or music. This could change but, in the meantime, head over to Tidal and start your 30-day free trial to listen to the greatness that is “The Life of Pablo.”
