So, I just covered Taylor Swift's album reputation. I may as well cover the album that led to that album, and reignited the feud between two of the biggest personalities of the 2010s. Now, i'm not going to get into all that drama, because frankly, I truly do not care, and it was a while ago. But I think it's worth it to look at the album with the offending track on its own merits. How does it hold up?
I think many people have accepted that Kanye hasn't been at his peak for a while now. You may have liked Yeezus, and you may have even liked this album. But most people would not put these albums in the top tier of Kanye, and it kind of got worse from there. Now me, I liek this album just fine. It certainly could have been a better experience, but there are some really killer tracks toward the end of this thing.
The way you experience time with this album is weird. The songs near the beginning feel too short, but the album feels too long. I think it's because the first few songs don't really feel like songs, more so like musical experiments. They're interesting, for sure, but it's hard to judge them as songs because they almost feel unfinished. This problem gets solved around the second half of the album, where the songs feel more complete and thought out, and we actually get bars from Kanye. The second half of this album is considerably stronger than the first.
Lotta guest voices on this one. Most of them do their part to enhance the songs, but it also feels like Kanye himself gets lost in the shuffle on some of his songs. It's odd to have that happen with one of the most dynamic personalities in music, and while it still feels like a Kanye album, some of that flair that comes with it gets lost. It's still a good album, but I wouldn't put it anywhere near Kanye's best, and this is a clear indication that Kanye's peak may have passed. Maybe I'll get around to reviewing other Kanye albums (barring that gospel thing, because no) to really track what happened.
7/10
Best Tracks: "Real Friends", "Wolves", "30 Hours", "No More Parties in LA"
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