Robert Dinkins
Contributing Writer
Started in Nov. 2013, announced in 2014 and finally released on Feb. 14, 2016, The Life of Pablo by Kanye West is finally in the hands of… well it’s actually not a physical copy but is offered by the streaming service TIDAL for everyone to listen to on a free trial (Thanks, Jay-Z) or, of course, for an entry-level membership of $10 a month (Do you take Flex, Jay-Z?). TLOP or LOP, whatever you want to call it, is the seventh studio album by Kanye West and is dividing many people on if it is actually good or bad.
I have listened to this album probably 1,939,305 times (okay, not that many, but you get the gist), and will offer my thoughts. Kanye West stated via Twitter that this album is a Gospel album (just with cursing in it) but I can tell you right now, TLOP is not something you would want to listen with your sweet grandmother (bless her heart).
The album starts off well with “Ultralight Beams” which includes Kelly Price vocals, Chance the Rapper rapping a verse and even Kirk Franklin saying a prayer. One would begin to think, “Oh cool, Kanye West actually said something that made sense, we can play this album in church.”
It should come as no surprise that you will be disappointed in the next song entitled “Father Stretch My Hands pt. 1”; Kanye talks about having sex with a model who has a bleached butthole, getting bleach on his t-shirt and now feeling like a butthole!? (I used so many euphemisms in that previous sentence. Instead of bleach he should be worrying about holes in his shirt.) However, if you can get through the usual obnoxious, fantastic, insane, genius, braggadocious, talented, arrogant and often misunderstood Kanye, you might find a treasure in TLOP. With tracks such as “Famous,” “Waves,” “FML,” “Real Friends” and “30 Hours,” you are strapped in to enjoy a ride with Ye to the destination of his redemption.
As I stated before, I have listened to this album quite a lot and discovered three main acts in the album.
In the first act, Kanye is introduced to the concept of fame and how he indulges in it (“Famous”, “FSMH Pt.1”, “Pt.2”, “Feedback”, “Highlights”, “Freestyle 4”). In the second act, we find Kanye learning about the consequences and responsibilities of fame (“30 Hours”, ‘No More Parties In LA”, “Waves”, “Fade”). The third act is Kanye deciding to put his fame away and choosing to take care of his family (“FML”, “Real Friends”, “Wolves”, ‘Ultralight Beam”). Of course, this requires a reorder of the tracklist. Chance the Rapper even mentions this on Genius.com where he annotated his verse on Ultralight Beam, saying that the song was originally suppose to be the outro instead of the intro. When you listen to it like this, TLOP writes a story of a man who experiences a great deal of success, fell multiple times and decided to pick himself up and continue on by finding God. All in all, I have to say that this is not the best project Kanye has released; however, it is definitely not the worst *insert coughing noise* Yeezus *stop coughing noise*. I have to say that this album is a solid 9/10. You should really give it a listen. There is definitely a song for everyone to relate to.