7.5
Disclaimer: Long winded post about Kanye West follows.
Being a fan of Kanye West the artist, not the person (or at least the persona) has always been something that I've been comfortable with. I can separate the two. I was an early Kanye adopter, running out to grab 'The College Dropout' back in 2004 after reading an article that discussed the respect he had garnered in the world of Hip-hop as a producer/studio and beat wizard. But what really sold me in the article was Kanye's appreciation of music that was outside of his Hip-Hop comfort zone. He was a fan of music, all types. As the years have gone on and his media "incidents" have piled up - I always recalled that article (I wish I could remember which publication/website I read it in). When Kanye releases a new album, I approach it from that perspective -- the Kanye the musician, artist, appreciator of music perspective.
Listening to his latest - 'The Life of Pablo' it's interesting to see where he is musically. Kanye appears to be in his Brian Wilson 'SMiLE' phase. Lots of snippets and ideas, some of which really don't go anywhere, some of which feel unfinished. 'The Life of Pablo' is like a sketch pad. The compositions that feel finished are the ones where Kanye takes a backseat and lets his guest stars shine over the sonic landscape he's created. There are times here where Kanye's rhymes are the worst part of the record -- where it feels like he has nothing new to say, so instead goes for the most cringe-worthy, stupid and immature couplet he can think of. Some of the beats on 'Pablo' feel basic, demo-like -- where other tracks bring forth some of the choral/choir work that albums like 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy' and 'Late Registration' used so well. Overall, it feel like a palate-cleanser. An album that he struggled to make, material he struggled to write that he just needed to get out of his system. For many of his hip-hop peers it would feel like a career-making album -- for Kanye it feels like a jumping off point. An album he's probably relieved is finally finished so that he can move on.
After the 'SMiLE' sessions failed to culminate in the album he truly wanted to make, Wilson turned to drugs and started to become absorbed into his paranoia and his obsessive nature of competing with The Beatles. Interestingly, Kendrick Lamar, who has pretty much snatched the Hip-Hop crown from Kanye's head, appears here in a duet with Kanye on "No More Parties in L.A.". Lamar had all of the hype last year, recording what most music critics believed to be the Album of the Year with 'To Pimp A Butterfly'. It already seems obvious that 'The Life of Pablo' is not on the same level as that record, and it will be interesting to see how Kanye handles that over the next year. My hope is that Kanye goes underground for awhile. Lays low. Retools. Writes, discards, writes some more and moves his process forward while out of the spotlight. Unfortunately, his public persona almost makes that impossible at this point.
I still root for Kanye the artist, the musician and music fan I read about some 13 years ago. I probably always will.
