{"id":4329,"date":"2016-02-24T22:12:19","date_gmt":"2016-02-25T03:12:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/?p=4329"},"modified":"2016-03-03T12:44:27","modified_gmt":"2016-03-03T17:44:27","slug":"kanye-west-the-life-of-pablo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/kanye-west-the-life-of-pablo\/","title":{"rendered":"Kanye West
The Life of Pablo"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Kanye<\/a>The Life of Pablo<\/i> (GOOD Music\/Def Jam Records) begins with promise. \u201cUltralight Beam\u201d ekes itself into existence as a minimal and soulful monologue, but Kanye is soon joined by a nine-person chorus, Kelly Price, The Dream, Kirk Franklin, and Chance the Rapper. Chance\u2019s exuberant personality and Franklin\u2019s prayer both manage to briefly lift the song out of its solipsism, but the effect doesn\u2019t last. We\u2019re about to crash head-first into one of Kanye\u2019s most craven lyrics ever. It involves the words \u201cmodel,\u201d \u201cbleach,\u201d and \u201casshole,\u201d but Kanye\u2019s mostly worried about his t-shirt.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an indicative juxtaposition. Kanye is honest as ever throughout the record, but as with the fate of the first track, there\u2019s no hint that these revelations have any lasting effect. That\u2019s in keeping with Kanye\u2019s method on this record, which is loaded with brilliant, half-realized moments. The front-half of the album is a collage of amazing hooks that rarely coalesce into something greater. On \u201cHighlights,\u201d The Dream (or it might be El DeBarge) sings, \u201cWe only makin\u2019 the highlights,\u201d and that\u2019s exactly what the album sounds like: Kanye saved his favorite bars from 40 different tracks and put them in order with no transitions. What does the first half of \u201cFamous\u201d have to do with the second half? Maybe nothing. \u201cWaves\u201d initially has the epic feeling of something like \u201cAll of the Lights,\u201d but the song just sits in stasis. It\u2019s pretty and powerful, and it doesn\u2019t go anywhere. Could this be intentional? Maybe this is his first post-Kanye record. Right now, I can\u2019t decide if it\u2019s more confused or confusing.<\/p>\n

The second half of the album seems like a turn for the better since it starts out with \u201cFML,\u201d Real Friends,\u201d and \u201cWolves,\u201d all of which are excellent and complete songs, epitomizing a dim outlook with their queasy synthesizers. \u201cNo More Parties in LA\u201d might be considered the best the album has to offer, but it\u2019s traditionalism is so out-of-place it almost feels like a mistake. Madlib\u2019s complex and organic production work (not to mention Kendrick Lamar dropping the best verses on the album) has the effect of making the final tracks (\u201cFacts\u201d and \u201cFade\u201d) seem exactly as blockheaded as they are.<\/p>\n

The Life of Pablo<\/i> is a comprehensive demonstration of Kanye\u2019s genius: his technical skills, his ear for melody and sound design, and his ability to make irresistible hooks from the crudest of elements. Moment to moment it\u2019s compulsively listenable ear candy, and it\u2019s difficult to decide which phenomenal instant is the most pleasurable. As an album, though, it\u2019s far and away Kanye\u2019s worst to date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Life of Pablo<\/i> begins with promise. \u201cUltralight Beam\u201d ekes itself into existence as a minimal and soulful monologue, but Kanye is soon joined by a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[34,1601,1600,254],"class_list":["post-4329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-album-review","tag-def-jam-records","tag-good-music","tag-kanye-west"],"yoast_head":"\nKanye West The Life of Pablo - 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