Kanye West has lost his focus, and his message
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Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo is a disappointment, particularly in terms of lyrics.
Kanye West’s newest album, The Life of Pablo, is possibly his most divisive work yet, separating the fans of rap from the fans of music at large.
Like every other album Mr. West has released during his illustrious—and controversial—career, The Life of Pablo revolutionizes the hip-hop genre with a new, unique sound.
“This album is actually a Gospel album,” he tweeted prior to the album’s debut on Feb. 11 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
While you shouldn’t expect to hear “I Love Kanye” playing at your local church, the album is heavily influenced by gospel music. The use of gospel samples and choirs gives the album a relaxed but inspirational mood.
Mr. West continues to be a pioneer in the hip-hop genre, but what the majority of his fans pay attention to is not the music, but the lyrics, and The Life of Pablo is lyrically one of his worst albums, if not the worst. While sex, fame, and his ego have always been a focus of his music, he used to produce songs with a message.
Is Kanye West trying too hard to be like other artists?
The only song with real substance on the new album is “No More Parties in LA,”in which he explains the superficiality of life as a celebrity—and that probably has more to do with Kendrick Lamar’s verse than any of Mr. West’s lines.
Mr. West, the artist behind “Through the Wire,” a song about a life-threatening car accident, and “Homecoming,” a song about the innocence of young love, is now rapping about Taylor Swift and how he “made that [expletive] famous.”
Part of the reason his lyrics have become so nonsensical is a presumed attempt to connect his sound to that of the younger generation of hip-hop artists, many of whom, such as Chance the Rapper, Vic Mensa, and Desiigner, are featured on the album.
The problem is that Mr. West doesn’t quite emulate their sound very well. He’s just not the same type of artist as they are. What has made him such an outstanding artist in the past is that he has always created his own sound. That is why it is so disappointing that he is trying to fit in with younger artists.
The Life of Pablo, like Kanye West himself, is both disappointing and revolutionary, depending on how you look at it—and him.
Sriharish Pingali--known by his friends as Sri--is a member of AMSA’s class of 2016.
In the future, Sri plans on pursuing his interests in computer...
Neal Chadha • Mar 29, 2016 at 6:44 pm
I completely agree with the fact that this album not only contained random and nonsensical lyrics by also that he should have relied more on originality rather than attempting to give younger artists a big opportunity in a “Dr. Dre” type of way. Also, I feel that the album had so much potential stemming from the change in instrumental style from his previous albums. Great article all around.