So, I know this album came out in December of last year, but it is an album that has offered up such a diverse set of opinions, so I thought I would offer up the reasons why I love this album, even though everything about it seems like I would hate it. I do not enjoy it when rappers try and sing. I loathe the auto tune that T-Pain has made far too popular and I do not like entire albums where every song is essentially saying the same thing, yet, I find myself totally entranced by this album.
1. Say You Will- Production wise, this is song ls flawless to me. The track is so haunting and weird. I feel like this is song is the soundtrack to a tripped out romantic nightmare. The random "flashing light" sounds add to this weirdly crafted creepy lullaby. Lyrically the track is a bit all over the place, but it works for me. It works as a broken hearted guy working his way through some serious stuff. Plus it has one of the dopest personifications with "Take off your cool." I love the idea that cool is something that can just be removed like a hate or a coat. The song really sets up where the album is going. 5/5
2. Welcome to heartbreak- It is a thin line for famous people to complain about their perfect lives. No one wants to hear a rapper complaining about how lonely he is. However, it works for me here because Kanye offers up an interesting side of this coin when he says "My friend showed me pictures of his kids and all I could do was show pictures of my cribs." I rarely think of rappers as wanted to be domestic. I mean many rappers have many children, but this line is different to me. The beat is again, kind of a walking romantic nightmare, but a little more bouncy. Kanye's voice is a lot more distorted on this track as he loses grip with humanity and what it means to be human. It is good shit, really. 5/5
3. Heartless- By now you have heard this track and seen the awesomely odd animated video a few dozen times, so you are familiar with the train like sound of the beat. The beat is in constant motion, like Kanye's brain as he tries to figure everything out as to why is girl broke up with him. His claim that "he lost his soul to a woman so heartless" is an interesting one because we just do not assume rappers have these kinds of emotions. Rappers are always so hard and so brash and confident, this peak into the inner demons of someone as cocky as Mr. West intrigues me to no end. Lyrically I am not an enamoured with this track as I am with others and I think I would have liked this better without the auto tune voice distortion. 3.5/5
4. Amazing- I am not sure why I think this beat is so funky, but it is. I like the feel of someone beating sticks together to give the beat the bounce. It is a bit more raw than I am used to from Kanye. His stuff usually sounds so clean and crips and this is almost lazy. I dig it. The song does not actually make a whole lot of sense in fitting with the theme of the album nor to the lyrics make sense. I guess this is Kanye's "I'm still cocky song" as he rattles off couplets like "I'm a problem That'll never ever be solved." There is a long break before Young Jeezy begins his guest verse and it makes you really excited for Jeezy and Jeezy's voice sounds perfect over this lazy beat, but I still do not like him. 3.5/5
5. Love Lockdown- Here is Kanye's big number. With African sounding drums and his most awesome voice distortion, this is Kanye at his broken hearted best. The singing is almost void of emotion. That is how cold and distant Kanye sounds as he lays his heart out with this awesome lyric "I'm in love with you, but the vibe is wrong and that haunted me, all the way home." Kanye is really in a groove with this song. there is something almost freeing in how crazy the beat goes, yet Kanye is still trapped by his broken heart. He is cold, but the beat is on fire. I like it. 5/5
6. Paranoid- Future Kanye beat alert! Here is a futuristic and Euro sounding beat and Kanye really makes it his own with robotic sounds and usually I hate lines being repeated constantly but his "You worry about the wrong things" repeated over and over at the top of the song works for me. This is his most rapped track and when the best gets going, Kanye is right on the beat and he attacks it with more energy than the rest of the album. Here is his "I am blaming my girl" song. I do not know step of the break up this tracks is, but I feel like Kanye is finally fed up on the track. he is tired of being sad. Now, the rest of album will disprove that theory, but this song is almost danceable, which is cool on a break up album. 4/5
7. Robocop- I like that on an album void of sounding like a human, Kanye can have a song where he thinks his girl is not human. If the album is Kanye questioning his own humanity, this song might be what caused this question. I love the violins that are all over this track. Hip-Hop has kind of an odd relationship with violin sounds, but here there is a perfect marriage or violins, distorted bass sounds, robotic sounds and wicked flashing light sounds. His girl is crazy, as he likens her to "the girl from misery." He also says he likes that she is crazy, at least for a while. This is the most interesting sounding song, I think. 5/5
8. Street Lights- This is the most depressing song on the album. It is the most break up worthy song on an album of break up songs. There is no real chorus and it feels like just a stream of consciousness track as a guy is just wandering down an empty street as his girl broke up with him. He get crazy distorted as the beat almost goes totally away and he sounds incredibly defeated as he sighs out "Life's just not fair." Again, this is Kanye West doing this. The guy is the ultimate cocky jerk and here is showing just how insecure he can be. I think this intimate look into the soul of Mr. West is what makes him such an engaging figure. 5/5
9. Bad News- This is my least favorite song on the album. The beat is totally derivative of a few of the other tracks and his singing is at its weakest here. I understand that the song is about Kanye finding out his girl cheated on him, but I was hoping he could muster up a bit more power to mask the weaker lyrics. The distortion is pretty effective, but I actually want to hear his humanity on this track. Maybe the weak singing would not bother me if he was not distorted on a track like this. 2.5/5
10. See you in my Nightmares- I wish Lil Wayne was not on this because he almost ruins a seriously dope track. The reoccurring theme of a beat that sounds like a romantic nightmare is back. There is something almost resolute in this track. As if, Kanye is leaving his girl and he knows that he will see her when he sleeps, but when he is awake, he is soldiering on and he has a bit of his confidence back. he is nearly brash as he proclaims "Okay, I got you off my mind." This actually works because this is the final track dealing with his break up. This is the end of the concept of the album. Lil Wayne is not as annoying as usual and his voice actually works for the hook, but when he starts rapping, I just do not get the guy. I like the way his voice bends, though, by using the auto tune. 4/5
11. Coldest Winter- When I saw Kanye he nearly broke down in singing "Hey Mame" right after his mother passed on. This is his song to his mother and it is utterly heart breaking to me. It really shows how much he depended on his mother for things. It may sound stupid to have to say that, but I like the idea of this song. I like the idea that he is still being sheltered by his mother by his memories. I like that he questions whether he can love someone else after going through the agony of losing his mother. I like that there is a rapper who has gone essentially a whole album discussing his inner monologue of insecurities. 5/5
12- Pinocchio Story- This is a live "freestyle" that does not actually make much sense, really. He is rapping over a very sparse piano for the most part. Well, is singing, really. The song is about what it means to be real. I like the concept and have enjoyed watching and listening to other things that tackle this theme. I am just not sure I need this particular song. First off it is far too long and it is pretty meandering. He repeats himself often and the crowd cheers get a bit annoying. I want to like it, because he sounds like he is being so earnest on every word, but it rings a false to me. 2/5
Kanye West is not afraid to take risks and he is at a level where he can do it and stay profitable, which is kind of cool. He is a man who has built his entire persona on being crazy outspoken and saying the most ridiculously cocky things, but here he releases an album that is almost void of it all. Yes, it is a self indulgent, but is that really such a bad thing? Typically interesting or crazy art is spawned from some sort of self-indulgence and I happen to like things that are self indulgent!
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