Artist: Kanye West
Album: Ye
Genre: Hip Hop
Rating: 4/10
After Kanye’s ugly album rollout which took Kanye’s signature batshit behavior to another level, a level with downright offensive and irrational outbursts, it’s clear that Kanye is trying to compensate for his erratic behavior by claiming to be immensely bipolar on his new album Ye. The album cover even features a text that reads “I hate being bi-polar it’s awesome.” I guess Kanye is selling bumper stickers now. Anyway, this does not excuse the fact that he claimed “slavery was a choice,” and that he will not give any reasonable explanation as to why he supports Trump other than the simple fact that he’s just another outspoken rich celebrity he identifies with, but hey, I can separate the art from the artist, but Kanye’s erratic behavior floods this new album. Even in it’s short length of 24 minutes, this album is insufferable. Sure it’s not as scatterbrained or incohesive as his previous album The Life Of Pablo, but this album is without a doubt his most cringeworthy work. It’s littered with lyrical contradictions and Kanye even has the nerve to wear mental illness as a fashion statement. Yes it is a good message that we shouldn’t judge or shun anyone who who has a mental illness and that it shouldn’t come with such a stigma, but Kanye doesn’t care about your illness, he cares about his illness. He flaunts it in front of us and he truly believes that it’s just another attribute of his genius, genius he no longer has. He claims his bipolar disorder is his superpower on the track “Yikes,” but he’s doing absolutely nothing to help the cause, it’s just more egocentric self worship. The supposed “emotional centerpiece” “Wouldn’t Leave” is a song about his wife and her loyalty to him even after his public meltdowns. He even dedicates the song to all the women who have stuck with their men, but this is really a one-sided delivery that comes from the “boys will be boys” mindset, as if it’s a woman’s role to be dependent on and loyal to a man. Lyrically this album is atrocious, but what about the instrumentation? Well, to put it in the simplest terms, it’s nothing special. Kanye proved he is still a great producer on Pusha-T’s new album DAYTONA, but the production on Ye is quite forgettable, it’s not as ahead of the curve as his older material was. There’s really nothing else to say about this album. Should I mention the unnecessary features? The god awful Kid Cudi vocals on “Ghost Town?” None of that is worth noting. This is just a 7 track stench of narcissism from a artist who once was a talented visionary.
Written By: Steven Sandoval
Date: 06/02/18
