Kanye's highly anticipated latest album finally went on Spotify last week, and here is a summary of my reactions and thoughts.
1. Is that Rihanna? Is that Chris Brown? Is that SIA?
Even though most of the tracks include voices of people who are definitely not Kanye, the entire album on Spotify is devoid of their names. It's probably some artistic statement that's beyond my comprehension, but what I took away from it was the different experience in listening to the album without knowing beforehand who I was going to hear on a song. I went through stages of wondering who it is, sudden recognition and then seeing the entire song in a whole new light with the guest artist's reputation and personality adding flavor. Know what I mean? For example, once I recognized SIA's voice on "Wolves," I subconsciously reimagined the visuals from her music videos.
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2. Speaking of "Wolves," that track is damn beautiful.
This song features SIA, Frank Ocean and Vic Mensa and one of its producers was Cashmere Cat. How can anything go wrong when you put all that talent together? The song also has an eerie vocal background by classical singer Caroline Shaw that is sometimes accompanied by chirping birds. The whole thing is so different from Kanye's past music; it's emotional, honest and completely bare. He also refer to his two children by name and raps about his fear that they are "surrounded by wolves".
Cover Nori in lambs' wool
We surrounded by the f*ckin' wolves"
(What if Mary) "What if Mary
(Was in the club) was in the club
'Fore she met Joseph with no love?
Cover Saint in lambs' wool
(And she was) We surrounded by
(Surrounded by) the f*ckin' wolves"
3. Kanye's actually kind of deep and meaningful.
"Ultralight Beam," to me, is a call for world peace. It opens with a child's voice speaking Gospel and also mentions the Paris Bombings. It's quite refreshing whenever a hip hop artist who's associated with narcissism and sexually explicit lyrics dedicates a song to the wellbeing of people other than himself.
4. And then there's "Famous."
This song dethroned the 2009 MTV Music Video Awards as the epitome of the ongoing Kanye vs, Taylor beef. Even though this song sounds great, it's a little tricky to try and enjoy it without noticing the misogyny a little bit. If you haven't heard yet, all the fuss is over these lyrics:
5. "I Love Kanye" is Kanye in a nutshell.
"I Love Kanye" is 44 seconds of Kanye rapping, without any musical accompaniment at all. The lyrics encapsulate his entire being, talking about how there's an "old Kanye" and a "new Kanye" and how he's catalyzed different generations of rappers that are inspired by him that he calls "Kanyes." I get the impression that he's not into being inspirational and over the top anymore; he wants to stand among all the other Kanyes and think about who he is.
6. Pablo... Escobar? Picasso?
Who the hell is Pablo? From what I gather from the internet, there are two main theories as to what Pablo's last name is: Escobar or Pablo.
In "No More Parties In LA," Kanye raps "I feel like Pablo when I'm working on my shoes/ I feel like Pablo when I see me on the news/ I feel like Pablo when I'm working on my house/ Tell 'em party's in here, we don't need to go out." When notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar was negotiating his own arrest, he got his government to let him build his own prison, which ended up basically being a party mansion. For this reason, fans speculate that this is the Pablo that Kanye is referring to.
The alternative hypothesis (heyo, Psych Stats) is that Kanye is referring to Pablo Picasso, having compared himself to the artist on multiple occasions. Both Kanye and Picasso were known as megalomaniacs who eventually settled down with one muse; for Picasso is was Jaqueline Roque and for Kanye it's Kim K.
Kanye,
