A brilliant album... but the same features that cause its brilliance also cause it’s flaws.
One thing I have always found interesting about Kanye is the mans child like temperament. This is a man who can feel so strongly about something that he just can’t keep it inside. And this is one reason for his brilliance because he is always trying to find ways to express these feelings. But also a reasons for his flaws because sometimes he just cannot keep his mouth shut and know when its appropriate to say/not say things. Like his incident at the VMAs for example.
On the first few listens of this album, it appears to be absolutely incredible. It is something that meshes together very well because it comes together legitimately as a whole peice of music rather than just a collection of tracks. The production has a somewhat rugged feel in places, which gives the feeling that it is not over produced. This is a style I have rarely heard in mainstream hiphop before. Such as on ‘Monster’ the beat just trundles along in the background, letting the mcs talk their hardest over the top.
It is Kanyes childish character that makes the album in this way. Throughout the album, it feels that kanye is trying to do something different, break the mould of those gone before him by bringing something different to his music. Before ‘hip hop’ has been influenced by many things : rock, pop, comic books, science fiction, politics. However here you feel it is being influenced by art, classical music, ballet, poetry, history. It is now how Kanye West tries to express himself by relating to history, anchient Pharoahs, greek mythology, Picasso etc. Kanye’s short film ‘Runaway’ conveys a character that is so beautiful yet misunderstood and therefore not welcomed by the world because she is different, which I can imagine is Kanye portraying the way he feels about himself, and it comes out in his lyrics. Songs such Gorgeous, Monster, Runaway and Hell of a life had me gripping my seat.
However in places Kanye gets over ridden by fear of being played down, and the childish fear of needing to prove himself and big himself up. It is here where I feel the album falls down. They say many leaders fall down by becoming power hungry and paranoid, and I feel kanye most certainly comes across this way, especially when talking about women. This is conveyed beautifully in the chorus of ‘Gorgeous’ but lyrics such as:
‘If we die in each others arms, at least I’ll get laid in the after life’
‘god dammit I’m killin’ this shit, I know full well, you’re feeling this shit, I don’t need your pussy bitch I’m on my own dick’
‘MJ gone, that nigga dead, I slap my bitch she call the feds, I did that time, I spent that bread’
‘The day that you play me, will be the same day mtv plays videos. That was a little joke voila. Praises due to the most high allah. Praises due to the most fly prada.’
I find laughable and overwhelmingly self indulgent and they ruin what would otherwise be beautiful songs. I mean these are funny comments, but in the most stupid, unintelligible way imaginable. How can the majority of people even try and relate to or appreciate such lyrics?
So overall this is an inspired album but in my opinion not a classic. If Kanye had taken a bit more time to write his lyrics, however, it may be a different story. The lack of depth in Kanye’s lyrics takes away the replay value of the record, and means the album will get tiresome, not quickly, but quicker than it should do for an album with so many high points.
8.5/10
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