Kanye West: ‘Ye’ Album Review
In Kanye’s most divisive release to date, my attempt to review the album reveals my own hesitations to enjoy it as a fan.
When I began writing this, it had been roughly three days since Kanye West dropped his latest album, ye.
Since then, I had an extremely long and boring car ride where I had the chance to listen to ye at least five times all the way through. After my first listen, I thought to myself such things as:
“Finally”
…and
“Kanye’s delivered the goods; again.”
However, after the fifth subsequent listen, I am not so sure about my initial thoughts.
The Production is A+
Without going too deep into Kanye’s lyrics on this release, a passive first listen can make it easy to feel like this album was a return to form as far as the production was concerned. His ear for sampling is, in my opinion, perfect. But perhaps that’s because I’ve always been drawn towards boom-bap era, jazz/soul inspired hip hop instrumentals. (Being a classically-trained musician myself, I don’t fault myself too hard for that.) And while Kanye doesn’t rely solely on samples for his beats, his ability to blend a diverse selection of sounds with his layered compositions is why I believe he is such a revered and respected figure in music.
From top to bottom, ye is carefully constructed and executed as an album. Tracks flow from one to the next and the instrumentals feel as if a lot of care went into them to sound just right. But when I came back to the album for multiple listens, it just seemed like none of the tracks were all that special. The songs on ye have the polish and sonic qualities you’d expect from Kanye West, but they also give me the feeling that we’ve been here before.
If there’s one thing I could comfortably say about Kanye’s discography, it’s that every album sounds like Kanye, but they are all unique in their own right. There are little signatures and recurring themes that you may hear across multiple albums, but they rarely feel recycled. Throughout his discography, you can hear Kanye West grow as an artist.
For example, some of ye features contributions from Kid Cudi and Charlie Wilson. We’ve heard these two many times before, but because of how pared-down this album is, these features take up an awful lot of musical real estate. The features tend to outshine Kanye, but they also feel a bit too familiar.
Why I’ve Always Focused More on The Music Than The Lyrics
As an avid listener of hip hop since I was nine years old growing up in Flushing, Queens, I was never drawn to the genre because of the lyrical prowess of its greatest MC’s.
I know how this looks — it sounds counterintuitive to love a style of music where its most significant quality is secondary in consideration. To me, lyrics are worth squat unless they are being delivered alongside a beat which complements them. I don’t mean to discount lyrical ability, but the music always comes first. Top-notch beats in combination with captivating lyrics is what will always have me keep coming back.
But even when looking at this album from a production standpoint, there’s just not enough here to judge against everything else Kanye has done to date. I will eventually get to how ye stands on its own as an album, but Kanye has made too many good albums to not make the comparison.
Lyrically, It’s Kanye’s Weakest
As far as ye goes, it does explore some interesting territory. In particular, I appreciated how he touched on his struggles with opioids and bi-polar depression that often goes hand in hand with the addiction.
As someone who has dealt with depression and ADHD my entire adult life, I know the pain of both having a high opinion of myself while also harboring feelings of contempt for the person staring back at me in the mirror every day. The spoken word segment on the album opener “I Thought About Killing You” feels less like a homicidal rant and more of the internal monologue someone with mental health issues may find themselves obsessing over. The reflective feel of ye is further established when Kanye admits that his problems are the result of his own doing:
Got too many bad traits, used the floor for ashtrays
I don’t do shit halfway, I’ma clear the cache
The song also has the first mention of his opioid addiction, as this becomes a fluent transition into the next song, “Yikes,” where Kanye begins to rap about the effects of hallucinatory and prescription drugs.
Shit could get menacin’, frightenin’, find help
Sometimes I scare myself, myself
Then after a few lines where he addresses rumors surrounding his hospitalization and his status in music, Kanye has a brief moment at the end of the song which breaks the immersion to talk about the manic feelings that come with bi-polar depression.
You see? You see?
That’s what I’m talkin’ ‘bout
That’s why I fuck with Ye
See, that’s my third person
That’s my bipolar shit, n****, what?
That’s my superpower, n****, ain’t no disability
I’m a superhero! I’m a superhero!
Agghhhh!
After hearing Kanye proclaim at the end of the track that being bi-polar makes him feel like a superhero, I feel like Kanye and I are kindred spirits — if only for just a moment. Despite my flaws, my mental health and disorders make me invincible. And if you felt like I did after the first listen, the album was sure to be a wild ride.
Kanye continues throughout to focus on some of the financial and emotional troubles he experienced after his 2016 stint in the hospital. While a shorter tracklist further cements the introspective theme of ye, it also makes these lyrics seem “one note” since Kanye has fewer songs to expand these ideas further.
To close it all out, Kanye West dives into the feelings of worry he has for his children as they start to grow up on the song “Violent Crimes.” The track starts out with some atmospheric synths and a beautiful vocal intro from 070 Shake with an almost lullaby quality to her voice. The song signifies how Kanye’s perspective of women has changed after raising two young girls of his own while also being fearful that they will be exposed to the harsh reality that the illusion of childhood is quickly fading away.
My biggest problem with Kanye West’s lyrics — his wordplay. Too many times do I hear Kanye try to come off funny or witty when what we get instead is worthy of an eye-roll or groan.
Please see exhibit A from “I Thought About Killing You”:
All you gotta do is speak on Ye
Don’t get your tooth chipped like Frito-Lay
Also, this pro-feminist line from “All Mine”:
Let’s have a threesome with you and the blunt
I love your titties, ’cause they prove
I can focus on two things at once
Worth picking up on vinyl?
Now comes the biggest bone I have to pick with Kanye West, and that is his mission to prevent any pressing of his music after MBDTF. I kind of see where he’s coming from in that he thinks himself a forward-thinking man of the future, so why bother perpetuating the old-fashioned idea of physical releases.
The problem is that music is unique in that you can appreciate the art form in multiple ways, meaning that people have the freedom to enjoy music as they please. For me, vinyl is my preferred medium, and it makes me sad that ye will probably never see an “official” release on wax. I give ye my personal endorsement if you can get your hands on an unofficial vinyl pressing, which we will undoubtedly get at some point. In fact, I’ll put on my bootleg copy of Yeezus while we wait.
Is The Album Any Good?
Well…it’s complicated.
In my opinion, ye is just too short. I was engaged from beginning to end, but some of the album’s glaring problems were made worse by the fact that there wasn’t much time to make up for those missteps. And in comparison to some of Kanye’s other albums, ye one of the weaker entries in his discography.
Overall, ye is a brief look into the current mental and emotional state of Kanye West, which should be a good enough reason why anyone gives this album a listen. The production is Kanye at his best — everything feels tight and polished. Looking at the album itself without even thinking of Kanye West’s previous work, ye is solid.
Kanye West is Master Bullsh*tter, And I’m Sick of It
Now that I’ve gotten the review out of the way, I think it’s time to air a few grievances regarding Mr. West.
While the Kanye-hype cycle is nothing new when he’s about to drop a new album, it’s starting to get really old.
When this all began over a month ago, I tried to remove myself from any conversations in my office about Kanye’s insane Twitter antics. But then he had to go and drop “Lift Yourself,” a joke track wherein his lyrics are comprised of the following turns on the word “poop”:
Poopy-di scoop
Scoop-diddy-whoop
Whoop-di-scoop-di-poop
Poop-di-scoopty
Scoopty-whoop
Whoopity-scoop, whoop-poop
Poop-diddy, whoop-scoop
Poop, poop
Praying, I hoped Kanye was just trolling everyone and this was not going to make its way onto an official album release. Thankfully, my prayers came true. But then the media frenzy just didn’t seem to stop from there between his wearing of a MAGA hat and his absolutely insane interview on TMZ.
This being the eighth album where I’ve eagerly been awaiting for something to drop from Kanye, my feelings had always been that the mind-numbing media free-for-all was all worth it if we got a good album in return. While ye was good, we had to endure an awful amount of bullsh*t for what we got.
Everything Kanye does is extremely calculated and he knows exactly what he’s doing when it comes time to promote an album. With every fiber of my being, I do not think that Kanye West believes even half of the crap he says in interviews and Tweets leading up to an album. He’s very good at manipulating the media to give him a soapbox, and he will continue to do things this way until the day comes when we say that enough is enough. But that day will probably never come.
Drake vs. Pusha T
Kanye’s madness isn’t reserved for himself as he now has looped in Pusha T into his formula to create a media circus following the reinvigorated beef between him and Drake. As we know, Kanye West produced every track on Pusha’s recent album Daytona, including the diss track “Infrared.”
Without going into that story too deep, Drake shortly after released his response diss track, and then Pusha T took it to an insane level with “The Story of Adidon.” A line was crossed not only when Pusha took swipes at Drake’s parents, but also suggested Drake has an illegitimate child with a pornstar that he has yet to embrace as a committed father.
With no response as of yet from Drake, let’s fast forward to the release of ye, where Kanye spends a good part of “No Mistakes” sending a message of his own to Drake.
The true soul of Ice Cube
Too close to snipe you
Truth told, I like you
Too bold to type you
Too rich to fight you
Calm down, you light skin!
With Pusha-T putting forth the acid-rich “Story of Adidon” and Kanye’s “No Mistakes,” the timing just seems really convenient with these two albums being released so close to one another. And then I came across this video of Peter Rosenberg stating that Drake was left uncredited for writing the hook on “Yikes.”
It’s no mystery that Drake and Kanye have worked together in the past, and we also know that Drake has been involved in Kanye’s album creation process since MBDTF. Is it really hard to believe that Kanye provided the dirt on Drake so Pusha could put him on blast?
Not only does Kanye West readily burn bridges with friends in the industry, he’s also willing to do whatever it takes to ride the hype train to sell a few more copies and squeeze out a few more streams.
Will You Stop Listening?
Unfortunately, I still believe that it is possible to separate the artist from their art. But at this point, I sincerely wish Kanye West would just stop his manipulative b.s. and focus on the music.
At the same time, to assume that our favorite artists are inherently good people leading happy lives is an extremely naive point of view.
From what it looks like, critics are having some harsh feelings towards ye, but I doubt this will change his behavior. The question is how low he will stoop for his next album.
Thanks for reading!
