Ye – Kanye West

Before I start, I have to say that I am a huge Kanye West fan; am I a deep tracks guy…eh. Not on all the albums, but I do love his stuff. With everything happening to him lately, I am not going to dive too deeply into his political leanings or his mental state. Let’s just focus on the music at hand and jump in.

Kanye’s entrance to Ye is just weird, plain and simple. “I Thought About Killing You” is just an odd song, from his dark soliloquy to dreary beat in the background. However, there is this sudden switch in the middle to a more regular Kanye rap. I can’t say I know much on bipolar disorder, although this sudden shift may be Kanye’s artistic impression of bipolarity. Throughout the song, you get a very Life of Pablo-esque and it continues right into “Yikes”.

Easily one of the more popular songs off the album, the beat starts in a very similar way to “Wolves” from Pablo. And similar to that song, its really good. The beat is just so strong and quite the head banger. In a sense, it is his true entrance to the album. He is here, his “disorder is a superpower”, and he, as always, loves himself.

“All Mine” loses it for me though. The production is not bad at all but the lyrics just kill me. Kanye is such a genius and this is just corny. It just isn’t anything special, however, those low key shots thrown at Tristian Thompson is hilarious.

And then, just when I think the album (really an EP, let’s be honest) is lost after that song, Kanye absolutely kills the beat on “Wouldn’t Leave”. To be honest, it’s actually a really beautiful piece about finding that one girl who is loyal no matter what. He also explains his side of the story on all his publicity over the last few months very well. Plus those background vocals are what make that song, no questions asked.

Using Slick Rick as a sample I feel is risky. If you use one of the godfather’s of rap vocals in a song, its got to be close to perfect. To be honest, Kanye does really well living up to that expectation, with great rhythm in his verses on “No Mistakes”. This is probably the closest sounding piece he has on the album to that old school Kanye vibe. However, he follows it up with a absolute banger in “Ghost Town”. It is the best song on Ye by far and its truly made by the faetures he used. Kid Cudi absolutely and the 070 Shake comes in with beautiful vocals that make you just want to sing-a-long. Plus the samples of electronics and guitars mixed in just add to the perfection. Don’t forget that:

“Nothing hurts anymore I feel kinda freeeeeeeee”

Kanye wraps up the album with a beautiful piece about his daughter. Writen by Nicki Minaj, “Violent Crimes” is an amazing song from start to finish. You don’t often here about a rapper talking to his kids in songs, especially in today’s rap. The closest we got recently was J. Cole’s 4 Your Eyez Only but that wasn’t even about his own child. I am not a huge Nicki fan but she seriously did a great job with this song.

Overall:

I am not gonna lie. Ye has grown on me over time. I am truly impressed by the production and vocals on it. The only thing that brings it down for me are the corny lyrics on some of his songs. He is such a genius when it comes to production and lyrics and those verses just don’t sound like him. All in all, I was impressed with Ye and give it:

Solid 8

Stay tuned for my review of Kanye’s part two of this album. Hopefully going to drop it in a few hours.

-Heff