A first-listen review, straight from the audience of the album’s Madison Square Garden debut.
New York City’s Madison Square Garden shook under the stress of having to host Kanye West’s Yeezy Season 3 fashion presentation-cum-The Life of Pablo listening party on Thursday. And though the stakes for West—who had promised not only the “album of the year,” but the “album of the life”—were high, the landmark arena was mostly just vibrating with the bass of the almost unbearably loud album playback.
This is a trademark Kanye West move. For Yeezus, his last album, West’s listening party, held in the loading dock of Milk Studios, was so loud that attending bloggers mistook Nina Simone’s version of the sampled song “Strange Fruit” for Billie Holiday’s original rendition. The volume serves at least two purposes: it makes hip-hop production sound powerful, and it makes it impossible for attendees to make their own bootleg recordings.
West walked into the arena on Thursday and plugged in his laptop as though he was playing some music for friends in the studio. It reminded me of when I heard Frank Ocean—who appears on The Life of Pablo and was spotted at the Garden—play channel ORANGE for a dozen music journalists. Except this was Madison Square Garden, and there were thousands of people listening. West hit play. Here’s how it sounded.
The album begins with “Ultra Light Beams,” and a slow build that erupts into a gospel choir and a booming bass line. Chance the Rapper has a verse. Throughout the entire project, West lets the production marinate before jumping on the microphone. It reflects confidence, and gives the album a sense of cohesion and continuity between tracks.
West, a rapper who produced for the likes of Jay Z andCam’ron before taking to the booth himself, has long known how to conduct an orchestra. It’s what made Watch the Throne, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, andYeezus compelling, and it’s what keeps West—who is now, in his own words, “a 38-year-old eight year old”—on the edge. It also helps that he knows how to turn a sample from Rare Earth’s 1970 cover of The Temptation’s “(I Know) I’m Losing You” into a funky, Chicago house vibe, as he does on “Fade.” This is West’s eighth studio album, and there has still not been a Kanye West album with disappointing production.
Every featured guest on the album rises to the occasion. “Father Stretch My Hands,” a two-part song, features Kid Cudi and Desiinger, and the latter—who West announced he had recently signed to G.O.O.D. Music—turns in an in-the-pocket performance that sounds more than a bit likeFuture. Rihanna opens “Famous” with aplomb. Ocean’s album-ending appearance on a new version of “Wolves” is the most listeners have heard of him in more than a year. Ty Dolla $ign does fantastic work on the already released “Real Friends.” The Weeknd and Young Thug jump in without shedding any of their originality. Swizz Beatz andMetro Boomin delivered impeccable tracks that fans of both producers will immediately recognize.
West eventually dips into lyrics that sometimes only seem to exist to provoke (“I still think I’ll have sex with Taylor Swift, I made that bitch famous”), and avails himself of the opportunity to tease “no p----y getting bloggers” and dingRay J (“He hit it first / the only problem is / I’m rich”). He doesn’t shy away from making statements (“Hands up, we just doin’ what the cops taught us”), nor does he forego self-awareness (“I love you like Kanye loves Kanye”).
“This album is really a gospel album,” West said while choking back tears toward the end of the evening. “It couldn’t have happened without God holding me down . . . It’s been a hard struggle, and I feel so happy and so blessed to be able to follow my dreams without people shitting on me.”
Ultimately, The Life of Pablo is where it makes the most sense for West, an artist who never does the same thing twice, to go. It is not as balanced as Watch the Throne, his collection of duets with Jay Z. It is not as polished as My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, or as industrial and ugly-beautiful as Yeezus. It’s not as big a package as the 21-trackLate Registration, and it might lack some of the radio-friendly vibes found on Graduation. It doesn’t come across as purely emotional as 808s and Heartbreak, nor as wide-eyed as West’s debut, The College Dropout.
Instead, The Life of Pablo is an accurate reflection of West as he stands now: capable of measured beauty, brash posturing, collaboration and ego. It explodes with energy. “Did I deliver on my promise of an album?” West asked on Thursday, as thousands of attendees dealt with ringing ears (and before he debuted a teaser for a video game he created, in which his late mother flies to heaven’s gates). The answer seemed undeniable: yes.
Note: as he’s wont to do, West revealed on Friday that he has added multiple songs to the tracklist. He also fell intoan extended dialogue with Taylor Swift about whether or not she approved his mentioning of her on the album.
This is a trademark Kanye West move. For Yeezus, his last album, West’s listening party, held in the loading dock of Milk Studios, was so loud that attending bloggers mistook Nina Simone’s version of the sampled song “Strange Fruit” for Billie Holiday’s original rendition. The volume serves at least two purposes: it makes hip-hop production sound powerful, and it makes it impossible for attendees to make their own bootleg recordings.
West walked into the arena on Thursday and plugged in his laptop as though he was playing some music for friends in the studio. It reminded me of when I heard Frank Ocean—who appears on The Life of Pablo and was spotted at the Garden—play channel ORANGE for a dozen music journalists. Except this was Madison Square Garden, and there were thousands of people listening. West hit play. Here’s how it sounded.
The album begins with “Ultra Light Beams,” and a slow build that erupts into a gospel choir and a booming bass line. Chance the Rapper has a verse. Throughout the entire project, West lets the production marinate before jumping on the microphone. It reflects confidence, and gives the album a sense of cohesion and continuity between tracks.
West, a rapper who produced for the likes of Jay Z andCam’ron before taking to the booth himself, has long known how to conduct an orchestra. It’s what made Watch the Throne, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, andYeezus compelling, and it’s what keeps West—who is now, in his own words, “a 38-year-old eight year old”—on the edge. It also helps that he knows how to turn a sample from Rare Earth’s 1970 cover of The Temptation’s “(I Know) I’m Losing You” into a funky, Chicago house vibe, as he does on “Fade.” This is West’s eighth studio album, and there has still not been a Kanye West album with disappointing production.
Every featured guest on the album rises to the occasion. “Father Stretch My Hands,” a two-part song, features Kid Cudi and Desiinger, and the latter—who West announced he had recently signed to G.O.O.D. Music—turns in an in-the-pocket performance that sounds more than a bit likeFuture. Rihanna opens “Famous” with aplomb. Ocean’s album-ending appearance on a new version of “Wolves” is the most listeners have heard of him in more than a year. Ty Dolla $ign does fantastic work on the already released “Real Friends.” The Weeknd and Young Thug jump in without shedding any of their originality. Swizz Beatz andMetro Boomin delivered impeccable tracks that fans of both producers will immediately recognize.
West eventually dips into lyrics that sometimes only seem to exist to provoke (“I still think I’ll have sex with Taylor Swift, I made that bitch famous”), and avails himself of the opportunity to tease “no p----y getting bloggers” and dingRay J (“He hit it first / the only problem is / I’m rich”). He doesn’t shy away from making statements (“Hands up, we just doin’ what the cops taught us”), nor does he forego self-awareness (“I love you like Kanye loves Kanye”).
“This album is really a gospel album,” West said while choking back tears toward the end of the evening. “It couldn’t have happened without God holding me down . . . It’s been a hard struggle, and I feel so happy and so blessed to be able to follow my dreams without people shitting on me.”
Ultimately, The Life of Pablo is where it makes the most sense for West, an artist who never does the same thing twice, to go. It is not as balanced as Watch the Throne, his collection of duets with Jay Z. It is not as polished as My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, or as industrial and ugly-beautiful as Yeezus. It’s not as big a package as the 21-trackLate Registration, and it might lack some of the radio-friendly vibes found on Graduation. It doesn’t come across as purely emotional as 808s and Heartbreak, nor as wide-eyed as West’s debut, The College Dropout.
Instead, The Life of Pablo is an accurate reflection of West as he stands now: capable of measured beauty, brash posturing, collaboration and ego. It explodes with energy. “Did I deliver on my promise of an album?” West asked on Thursday, as thousands of attendees dealt with ringing ears (and before he debuted a teaser for a video game he created, in which his late mother flies to heaven’s gates). The answer seemed undeniable: yes.
Note: as he’s wont to do, West revealed on Friday that he has added multiple songs to the tracklist. He also fell intoan extended dialogue with Taylor Swift about whether or not she approved his mentioning of her on the album.
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