Kanye West is a very polarizing figure in today's pop culture landscape. He is arrogant and whiny, but his music is commercially and critically successful. His first album was hailed as a break through debut hip-hop album and his second album was considered to be a land mark in pushing the envelope musically about what is hip-hop. Some people found the second album to be a bit too self indulgent and if anything,, Kanye listens to the critics and tries to correct his mistakes. So now we have his third album and gone are the obnoxious skits and gone is the over the top elaborate production. Instead we get a 13 track, tight album that finds great producer/average rapper finding his real groove.
Good Morning- The album opens with a pretty somber cut, which struck me as odd, but it also symbolized to me that Kanye wants people to pay attention to the lyrics this time around. In that regard Kanye has already stepped it up as he rips the track with more energy than he usually has when rapping. He is still on his anti-college trip in the second and third verses, but I can over look it with funny, if not corny punchlines like "A fly Malcolm X, by any jeans necessary." He will always be an emcee stuck between the material and conscious rap worlds. The song ends with a Jay-Z sample that fit perfectly with the mood and tempo of the track. 4.5/5
Champion- Kanye will always have this chip on his shoulder and that chip gives him his arrogance. He believes no one expects him to succeed and every time he does he gets a bigger chip and a bigger head and this song kind of explains where it comes from. It comes from his father and his father's abilities to find a way to succeed in life no matter what happened. It is nice to see a rapper big up his father since so often rappers don't have both parents. West also gets a few dope lines in like "Lauren Hill says her heart is in Zion but I wish her heart was still in rhymin." The sample in the hook fits perfectly with the song and this sounds like your typical dope Kanye produced track. His repetition at the start of each verse is an effective method he has used in the past and why fix what is not broken. 4.5/5
Stronger- A Daft Punk sample with drum patterns programmed by Timbaland make all the difference in this futuristic, cocky, dope track. This is the one get-amped-up track on the album and serves as the perfect single to re-introduce the man to radio. Everything about this song is crazy amazing. Every time I hear I just get hyped to go out and make my dreams happen. Kanye keeps the rhymes fairly simple because he knows his production with Timbaland drums and a sick sample are the stars of this bad boy and sometimes there is nothing wrong with taking the back seat for a song. The bridge is funny as he name drops Prince and O.J Simpson in true Kanye fashion. 5/5
I wonder- This beat makes me think Kanye spent some time on the west coast because this thing hits like a Tupac song circa 1996. It is a hard beat with some crazy Casio keyboard sounds and Kanye switches his flow ridiculously here. Instead of going line by line non stop, the first two verses are short and feature only about 4 bars of actual rapping as he emphasizes each line with his cocky, defiant swagger about chasing dreams. Then after he makes his point he goes back into his usual flow and it is a very effective change half way through the track. The hook is a simple sample, but because it sounds out of place in such a ahrd sounding beat, it works perfectly. The third verse is rapped over a bit of an over the top lack-of-bass beat, but then it settles back into the dopeness and Kanye spits beautifully here and he really seems to believe people should follow their dreams. 5/5
Good Life- I hate T-Pain. I think he may be the most obnoxious figure in music today and the fact that every rapper is using him on hooks makes me ill and when I saw him featured on this song I was outraged. It is probably the weakest track on the cd, but it is not totally bad. T-Pain is barely noticeable as the sample through the song kind of covers T-Pain's brand of sucky singing. The sample, P.Y.T by Michael Jackson, is flipped so sick I didn't even notice what song it was until about my 7th listen. The song is about living lovely from acquiring his dreams and it feels pretty simple but at point he does use a dope AAB/AAB/AAB rhyme scheme that is different for him. 3.5/5
Can't tell me nothing- When he was preparing to gauge what people would think of the album this was the song he leaked because he felt it was his strongest cut and the one most indicative of his album and boy was he right. Everything in this song is seriously dope. The beat is hard and menacing in an abstract way and his sing-songy hook blends into a defiant call at the end of the hook. The song is about how he can't seem to get his head right. He is one of the few rappers to really understand that he should stop being so arrogant but he can't seem to help himself. He is almost like an abuse victim who knows he/she should leave but just can't. His voice blends perfectly with the beat and is not overshadowed by the voice sample that works as the melody of the beat. 5/5
Barry Bonds- This is one of the few tracks to not feature a sample as part of the hook and since the song is more of a mixtape, pure lyrical track, it works. Kanye features Lil Wayne on the track, but it seems like he did it just to prove that he could out rap the kid all the critics are saying is the best young rapper out, because Kanye just murders him on this track. While Kanye claims to be top 5 here and he is obviously not, I like the confidence he is getting in his own skills as a rapper. This is the only song featuring a guest rapper and Kanye is proving he doesn't actually need it. Kanye's flow is still pretty simple but this song really plays into that because the beat is pretty simple, for a Kanye beat. 4/5
Drunk and hot girls- This is the song people are either loving or hating. I love it because it is hilarious and intentionally so. Kanye adopts a singing style of rap so popular these days and recounts how much he hates but loves really drunk and hot girls. The beat is awesome (as all of them are) but the way Kanye spits it, it sounds like he is actually at a bar a bit tipsy and actually talking to a drunk and hot girl. Mos Def does some random singing when the beat breaks down before Kanye really lets loose on the hilarity in the third verse. It is probably not the best song ever, but it has serious comedic effect and for that I love it. Everyone thinks Kanye takes himself so seriously but this proves he has a sense of humor. 4.5/5
Flashing Lights- The topic of a girl obsessed with material things is nothing new in hip-hop and neither is the second verse's topic of a failed relationship due to stardom, but Kanye finds a way to make it seem fresh with a nice Neptunes sounding beat, a nice hook by Dwele and some slick rhymes like this: In my past, you on the other side of the glass/Of my memory's museum/I'm just sayin, hey Mona Lisa come home
/You know you can't +Rome+ without +Caesar. The song is relatively short which is unusual for Kanye but it does everything it needs to do in a compact amount of time. If it had been longer it would run the risk of being boring. 4/5
Everything I am- Kanye produces this incredibly heartfelt beat laced with sick pianos but he lets D.J Premier get on and rip some serious scratches with a Public Enemy. The scratches really add some serious dopeness to a track already brimming with the sickness. Kanye gets real on this track about life in general and how not being perfect has helped mold him into the star we see today. Each verse seems to have a very distinct point, like each verse is a little story but the third verse seems the most ambitious as he takes on murder and it seems like it is a failure when he proclaims in corny fashion "Killing is some wack shit" but he follows it by "Oh except when n*ggas is rapping." Of course it is a simple statement but speaks volumes on the current rap landscape. 5/5
The Glory- Here we have another song celebrating where he is in life. It seems a bit repetitive and perhaps it is, but never before has someone who started specifically as a producer done this much in front of the mic, so he has a reason to be so celebratory. He also is not afraid to let us know that he does it for the glory, for the fame. It may ring a bit shallow, but the honesty is refreshing. He is also at his funniest here again when he talks about the powder blue tuxedo he wore at the Grammy’s saying "With my ego I could be on stage in a Speedo and still be looked at like a hero." With how big he is in the game, it is hard to disagree with him. He also mentions how even when he was poor he cared about clothes and how foolish it is but he just can't help himself. 4/5
Homecoming- Kanye went and got himself Coldplay's Chris Martin to sing the hook and play piano on this highly metaphorical track. Hip-hop, drugs, cars and other things have often been expressed in raps with the metaphor of a female but here Kanye calls his city Wendy (windy, Chicago)and while the metaphorical use of a female has been used often, Kanye puts his own fresh spin on it, as he is known to do. Where you come from has always been a huge deal in rap music and since he helped really bring Chicago to the forefront of rap music, it is nice to hear him really big up his city and express his love for the place that brought him up. Martin adds a nice touch on the vocals as he sounds more soulful than a typical Coldplay track and his piano is always welcome on a track. 4.5/5
Big Brother- Kanye saved the best for last. In fact, this may be his best track ever. It is brutally honest, stripped of his ego and the beat is magnificent. The hook gets you right off the bat and will leave you singing it over and over. The song is about Jay-Z and the affect he has had on Kanye. We get a fly-on-the-wall look at the inner workings of this friendship as Kanye puts his insecurities in his lyrics and also explains the ups and downs the two friends have had. It is an interesting honesty to listen to and it makes the song rise above and beyond what it could have been if it had stayed superficial. Kanye talks about feeling slighted by Jay because he didn't get to come on stage during Jay's farewell tour and then feels even more burned when Jay stole his idea to put Chris Martin on a track, However, there is an absolute sweetness to the song because Kanye knows that Jay was always trying to push him to make him better. Rarely do rappers admit another rapper bested them on a track but Kanye does it here but the entire song can be summed up in the final measures of the song:
If you admire somebody you should go on 'head tell 'em
People never get the flowers while they can still smell 'em
A idol in my eyes, god of the game
Heart of the city, Rocafella chain
Never be the same, never be another
Number one, Young Hov, also my big brother. 5/5
Kanye manages to drop his most conventional album but manages to stay fresh while doing it. He has really come into his own as a rapper and I hope that this signals great things for the next chapter of his career. I can listen to this thing from beginning to end and be entertained at the very least and at the very best it allows me to think about life, about hip-hop and about hoping that some day I can feel the joy he feels by accomplishing dreams. He is still not a top 5 rapper, but very few rappers have put together 3 albums on this level right out of the box. Dude is doing something right!
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