![]() On the coda, Kanye brings a much missed Frank Ocean out from exile to sing about fame-as-parable – “burn out, cave in / blackened to dark out”. Over shuddering bass and a lone “ooh” vocal, Kanye fashions the story of him and Kim Kardashian as a modern day Mary and Joseph – “what if Mary was in the club/ ‘fore she met Joseph with no love?”. Real Friends then transitions into the haunting Wolves, which takes the biblical themes of prior songs and makes them literal. When Ty Dolla $ign’s voice fills the sides of the mix in the chorus, singing “I guess I get what I deserved, don’t I?”, the effect is revelatory. Real Friends, released as a GOOD Fridays teaser before the album released, displays the most naked introspection Kanye has showed since the beginning of his career – “when was the last time I remembered a birthday / when was the last time I wasn’t in a hurry?”. The hook from The Weeknd shows him at his best, and his voice exudes dread as he sings “I wish I would go ahead and f**k my life up”. It feels like a less celebratory successor to Runaway, tackling similar themes but with the hope removed. FML sees Kanye reflecting on his sins and flaws over a stark, minimal beat – “you ain’t never seen nothing crazier than / this n***a when he off his Lexapro”. As such, tracks 11-13 are the dark and emotional climax to the main record, and they are phenomenal. The actual album proper is actually only the first 13 tracks, with the final 4 serving as glorified bonus songs after an interlude. His positivity radiates through the song, and it sets up the concept of religion-as-saviour that’s crucial to the darkest moments on the album. ![]() Chance seems utterly star-struck working with Kanye, and his enthusiasm is palpable. His wordplay is intelligent and charming – “my daughter look just like Sia / you can’t see her” – and he manages to drop in a call back to Kanye’s verse on Otis – “I made Sunday Candy, I’m never going to hell”. His verse is star-making, as his voice escalates from a relaxed conversational tone to a nasal yelp, before retreating to a whisper as he reaches the climax. It’s nakedly optimistic, and sets up Chance the Rapper as the natural successor to College Dropout-era Kanye. As the opener, the gospel choir, and lyrics about faith in the face of temptation, set the tone for the album. On the note of Ultralight Beam, it’s easily one of the best songs in Kanye’s discography. Instead, the album is kaleidoscopic in its breadth, from the bombastic club hip-hop of Famous, to the evangelic choral arrangements of Ultralight Beam and Waves. Kanye has described the album as “gospel with cursing”, but that’s a reductive statement. In fact, the sound of the album feels quite retrospective, as though he’s making a best-of compilation of his own previous styles, then imbuing them with gospel and trap flavours. However, whilst the sounds themselves may not be the most innovative of his career, the combinations and permutations of them he moulds is propulsive and thrilling, and there is not a single song on the album that doesn’t have a distinctive, outstanding instrumental. ![]() After creating entire genres of music through Graduation and 808’s & Heartbreak, this can be initially disappointing, as the album is seeped in the sounds of its guests. The Life of Pablo is particularly notable for being the first Kanye album since Late Registration that isn’t dramatically ahead of its time. ![]() The album is music-as-collage, and whilst overwhelming, it is exhilarating. Listening to the album, it’s apparent that The Life of Pablo is about any and all of these people, as it exhibits wild tonal and sonic shifts, sometimes within a single song. However, Kanye himself insists that Pablo is in fact the Apostle Paul (Pablo in Spanish), the persecutor who became Christianity’s biggest advocate. Also frequently mentioned was Pablo Escobar, the drug lord, who has been a staple in rap lyrics for years. One common suggestion was Pablo Picasso, the famous artist, to whom Kanye has previously compared himself. Who is Pablo? When Kanye West announced the title for The Life of Pablo, the internet was set ablaze with theories as to who it could be. ![]()
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