Review Summary: Imperfectly perfect: The Life Of Kanye West
Before this album came out, you can confidently look into Kanye West's career and think, 'what can Ye really make next?'. From the evolution of the production from start to finish, to even some of his lyrical content. 'Controversial' is definitely one of the best words to describe it all though. From his crazy rants on Twitter to him cutting off Taylor Swift's award speech, he has made sure his voice was heard every opportunity he gets. Everybody was anticipating the fall of Kanye West on The Life Of Pablo, but instead, we got one of his best albums to date.
The rap game has given Kanye West a lot, and you can tell he's super passionate about what he does. In this album, he shows his appreciation and gives back to the rap game. This album's highlights aren't all from Kanye himself. On 'Ultralight Beam', you will hear Chance The Rappers best verse of his career to date (thats including 'Coloring Book', which I have mixed emotions about). You hear Desiigner's verse from the #1 ITunes hit 'Panda' in 'Father Stretch My Hands Pt.2'. You hear Kid Cudi's show more range he's shown since his debut in the chorus of 'Pt.1'. Kanye West has so much control over the music industry, that he managed to take an artist nobody's even heard of, and make their song #1 on ITunes and brought on a whole new wave of hype for Chance The Rapper.
This album was definitely more personal from his others though. Songs like the easily relatable 'Real Friends' where he covers people who claim to be close to him, but are just there to take advantage of what he has. 'Low Lights' tackles his relationship with Kim and all the banter about the Ray J ordeal. 'FML' talks about what he feels he needs to value, and he admits some of his flaws as a human being. The interludes shows the listener the more flawed and narcissistic side of Kanye. The most personal song, and my favorite song on this album, is Wolves though. This song gets real personal, and is probably one of his most dark and sad releases to date. The 'Wolves' are obviously the media, and it shows that Kanye does listen, and the words can hurt sometimes. 'If mama knew how you turned out, you too wild, and I need you now' showing that the media thinks his recently deceased mother would be ashamed of Kanye as a son because of the 'negative' role he plays in society. "We surrounded by the ***ing wolves' basically covers it though. There is no real escape for Kanye or Kim from the media. Every move they make and word they speak is held against them.
The transition of this album is really sloppy with all of the interludes rudely interrupting the tunes that are around it. But the album is best described as 'imperfectly perfect' because despite of how sloppy it transitions, all of the production values seem spot on and timed perfectly. 'Ultralight Beam' is one of his best produced songs he's had in his career. This album is perfect because of its imperfections and flaws. Its human and venerable, and I feel like a lot of people can relate to the message he is trying to create here. You can tell what his values are: Family, Friends, and his career. I look forward to seeing Kanye prove us all wrong on his next album, and seeing what he creates next. This one was a great listen!
