Review on The Album "The Life of Pablo" by Kanye West

It has been a long 2-year hiatus for Kanye since his last critically acclaimed album “The Life of Pablo”, stormed our listening charts. Finally, he brings us the self-titled album, “Kids See Ghosts”, crafted from his time and locked away in the hyperbolic time chamber he named the “Wyoming Project”. With projects spanning from DAYTONA, NASIR to his album “ye”, it is apparent that Kanye’s preferred album structure has become 7 tracks with a total runtime to be under 20 minutes

The apparent chemistry within the album is of two old friends who no longer second guess each other’s motives and actions. This is an album about brokenness, fragmentation of thought and societal cut. It resonates with a lot of the things that Kanye has been saying in media, most notably, “slavery is a choice”, which is highlighted as part of his song, “Wouldn’t Leave” in ye.

There’s arguably a reason why “Reborn” is the longest track on the already beautiful album; it has become an anthem for exposure of Cudi and Ye’s troubled past and their escape and rebirth from the pits of their personal issues. It’s particularly inspiring to hear Cudi repeatedly sounding so distant from his past troubled self which was exposed in his confessional 2016 Facebook post highlighting his neverending struggles with depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts.

The standout moment within the album was past the midpoint of the album with the song, “Cudi Montage”. Using a call-and-response echo, Cudi calls through the lyrics of “lord shine your light on me”, while the backing vocals provides the response of “stay strong”. To highlight the issue of the cycle of violence in our modern day world created by gang mentality in struggling areas in the United States, it shows how being freed from that requires a much higher power. Resorting to crime has become a way to survive in Kanye’s hometown of Illinois as highlighted within the song: “All growin’ up in environment, where doin’ crime the requirement, they send us to prison for retirement.”

Most people will arguably complain about the lack of tracks within this album but I feel that the deeply rich and the refined seven tracks are far superior to what Drake has been releasing recently with his most recent album, “Scorpion”, which is jumbled and full of filler tracks that lack the finesse that Drake’s previous albums have possessed. These two musicians have created something absolutely beautiful which is equal parts raw, honest and touching which has lead me to continuously hit the replay button in my daily singalong drives to school.