‘The Life of Pablo’ Explores the Ambitious and Chaotic Mind of Kanye West

Matt Matasci

Kanye West’s highly-anticipated seventh studio full-length album is finally available for streaming via Tidal as the always outspoken West announced during his appearance on “Saturday Night Live.” The album was originally pegged to drop on February 11 but that day came and went with no album leaving the world wondering when they would finally be able to hear what West initially claimed was “the best album of all time.” He later backed away from that statement switching it up to “one of the greatest albums of all time,” but the events surrounding the release of his first album since 2013 grew to such outrageous and bizarre proportions that they threatened to overshadow the music itself. Despite the braggadocio around the album’s release and recording, it is in fact not one of the greatest albums of all time, it’s not even one of West’s best. What “The Life of Pablo” is most lacking is the cohesion and structure that made “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” and “Yeezus” some of the greatest LPs of the 21st century.

That being said, “The Life of Pablo” has plenty of strong moments and there is no denying that West is still one of the most captivating and unconventional songsmiths in contemporary music. There are many highlights on the 18-song record: the gospel-influenced opening track “Ultralight Beam,” the one-time title track “Waves,” the Kendrick Lamar-aided “No More Parties in L.A.,” and one of the few tracks without a guest performer, “Feedback.” On the other hand, there are some lowlights like the cut-and-paste musical pastiche of “FML,” or “Wolves,” which fails to ever really get off the ground. There are flourishes from many of West’s earlier releases such as the heavy use of auto-tune à la “808s and Heartbreaks” or the epically proportioned “Fade,” which recalls his last LP, “Yeezus.” But where those albums were able to stick to a unifying theme, “The Life of Pablo” tends to be a confusing and too-ambitious effort from Kanye West.

Maybe the lack of connectivity across “The Life of Pablo” can be attributed to its creator’s increasingly head-scratching behavior, pointing to a disjointed and over-spontaneous state of mind. Once announced, West changed the working title of the album three times, adjusted the track listing almost as many times, started online beefs with Wiz Khalifa and Taylor Swift, then proclaimed Bill Cosby’s innocence via Twitter. Finally, following the hosting of his enormous listening party and live stream event at Madison Square Garden in conjunction with the season debut of his newest fashion line, Yeezy introduced a video game of his late mother flying through heaven, yet was unable to put the finishing touches on the album before the long-announced release date.

Perhaps the only reason “The Life of Pablo” fails to succeed in comparison to earlier Yeezy albums is simply the result of an overly grandiose vision. The tracklist is stuffed to the brim with guest performers and co-producers and there are more ideas crammed into the album than many artists come up with over a decade. Too many times, particularly in the case of Chance the Rapper and Kendrick Lamar’s respective appearances on “Ultralight Beam” and “No More Parties in L.A.,” West is outshined by his guests. While Kanye West has always been known for his antics online and in public, “The Life of Pablo” threatens to be the first time in his career that his personal life outshines his artistic output.

“The Life of Pablo” can be streamed and downloaded via Tidal  as of Feb. 13.