The back story of
Kanye West's 2016 release,
The Life of Pablo, is nearly impossible to put in a nutshell, but it involves an ever-changing album title, including one that offended
Wiz Khalifa so much that a twitter war ensued. Then there was a "Bill Cosby is innocent" tweet, and a consensus among producers and insiders that this was the culmination of his career. There was the Season 3 release of
West's fashion line, a coinciding event that seemed just as important to Yeezy as dropping this LP. More important, maybe, since the runway models all made their cues while
The Life of Pablo missed its release date, and while the idea that this is
Kanye's career in one album can be loosely applied, it's more an angelic-themed LP in the vein of
808s & Heartbreak, with another vicious, trite, spiteful, parasitic release nibbling at its host. The opening masterpiece, "Ultralight Beam," represents the angelic side, offering a complicated emotional ride with the Gospel of
Kirk Franklin fueling the song's jaw-dropping climax. Then, on a smaller scale, there's "No More Parties in L.A." with
Kendrick Lamar and
Madlib as co-producer, plus samples of Junie Morrison and
Larry Graham, all supporting a smooth, rolling soul song they never could've imagined -- one about dropping your own shoe line -- plus "sheets still orange from your spray tan." Add the gorgeous "FML" ("I will die for those I love/God, I'm willing to make this my mission"), which comes with
the Weeknd, and a marvelous sample of post-punkers
Section 25, and the vibrant
The Life of Pablo circles the wagons around family and soul mates in a manner that makes this the most holy of endeavors. And yet, when "Real Friends" explores the flipside, the emotions are tweet-sized and click bait, because paying a cousin a quarter million just to get a laptop back, just because of ex-girlfriend nudes, seems like
G-Unit bragging or yesterday's bossip. There's the much talked about
Taylor Swift diss in "Famous," which is not only callous, trite, and illogical but sits on a sub-Yeezy beat, and yet "Waves" (sounds like
Kraftwerk remixing
Chris Brown), "Highlights" (
Young Thug and Yeezy connect supremely, like
Drake and
Future), and "Low Lights" (nothing but bass and a woman testifying for pure perfection) are all captivating, and make
Pablo a soul-filling, gospel-fueled alternative to
West's vicious, industrial-powered LP
Yeezus. The bleached anuses that ruin expensive t-shirts in "Father Stretch My Hands, Pt. 1" just don't seem as interesting in this context, but the other way to look at the erratic
Pablo is as an "instant" LP, one that was mastered at the last minute and debuted via streaming. On that count, it's a fascinating, magazine-like experience with plenty of reasons to give it a free play, and with "Feedback" adding "name one genius that ain't crazy" to the mix,
Pablo excuses itself from the usual criticisms, although it could have been tighter. ~ David Jeffries