In my previous post, I focused on the recent drama surrounding Kanye West, and our propensity of having unrealistic expectations of our idols, only to be emotionally destroyed when they let us down. I suggested working on yourself and finding your own answers, so as not to rely so heavily on other people for your inner peace.
Now I want to talk about his latest album, Ye, as well as a few other projects too. You already know that I love the album, and that I knew he would deliver musically. Let me explain a little bit more about why I knew he would deliver musically.
Kanye West, for all his grandiose talk, is a pure artist, a pure musician. Since his debut album The College Dropout came out in 2004, he’s rarely missed, if ever. To me it’s like he knows what I want to hear, whether it’s the melody or the soul. He knows how to make music that will pull at your heartstrings.
Tell me you don’t get a little emotional, or that your heart doesn’t beat a little faster, when you hear the hook on violent crimes, with the beat in the background: “Don’t you grow up in a hurry, your mom’ll be worried, aw, it was all part of the story, even the scary nights, thank you for all of the glory, you will be remembered aw…”
That made me bop my head, then I started thinking about life, which is what great music makes you do. Ye is sonically pleasing: It’s a short (maybe too short?) seven song album, so it`s extremely lean. There`s no time to get bored or zone out while listening to it. There are just enough songs for the album to be considered for the Grammy’s. I only skipped one song while listening to the record.
Production-wise, and this is what makes me really happy, he`s back to basics, at least on this album. He turned into an updated version of the producer he was in the early 2000`s. Sample Kanye, as he was known, because he produced fire beat after fire beat using both classic and obscure soul samples. Watch him at work and see for yourself, the man caught the Holy Ghost every time, no misstep.
A week before his album came out he was the main producer on Pusha T`s third studio album DAYTONA (what an album name). And although I was excited to hear Pusha T rap, because he always brings it, the production on the album wasn`t for me. I liked four songs on it, including Hard Piano, with Rick Ross, where both artists spit luxurious bars like only they can, over piano keys…I`m always here for that.
On a bigger scale, this year has been a great one for hip hop. We’re halfway through 2018 and there are already a few records that are solid contenders for album of the year, and the best news is there are more highly anticipated LP`s on the way! Seeing as hip hop is the biggest music genre right now, that`s what gets the most of my and everyone`s attention. Hip hop runs music, you heard?
Hip hop runs everything and all the already released records, as well as the upcoming ones, will no doubt be solid bodies of work. The only difference is that Kanye West`s album generated an insane amount of buzz, due to not only who he is, but the things he said.
We don`t know for sure if his antics were just promo for his album (and the other ones that were released under his guidance (all seven to eight track albums from Pusha T, Nas, Teyana Taylor and him with Kid Cudi, released in one month), or if that was really his philosophy of thinking. The uncertainty to that question is what is troubling. I just focus on the music and cancel everything else, there’s too much going on right now.