A Track By Track Review of Kanye West’s "The Life of Pablo"

After all the antics and shenanigans, Kanye West’s seventh studio album, ~~So Help Me God~~ ~~SWISH~~ The Life of Pablo is finally here. If you have TIDAL, you’ve been enjoying this album with no incident. If you don’t, then you’re probably one of the 500,000 people who illegally downloaded this one, as it isn’t available in stores, on iTunes or anywhere else. I ain’t mad at you. While I won’t reveal how I’m personally listening to it, it has, in fact been in heavy rotation since it dropped and I’ve decided to pick apart each song one by one, for your reading pleasure.

1. “Ultralight Beam” featuring Chance The Rapper, Kelly Price, The-Dream and Kirk Franklin
Everyone I’ve talked to about this song seems to be totally blown away by it. They also rant and rave about Chance the Rapper’s guest appearance on the song which features a show-stealing verse, indeed. However, I’m not really a fan of Chance and the Sunday morning altar call music, didn’t really move me. Lastly, the Kirk Franklin feature was just… odd; because we all knew Kanye was about to get into some ratchet shit for the remainder of the album.

2. “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1” featuring KiD CuDi
Never in a million years did I think I’d enjoy hearing KiD CuDi on a track again, but Metro Boomin has apparently brought him back from the dead. The hook is one of the most amazing things I’ve heard in a while, and as for Kanye? Let me just say that he’s the most reckless rapper alive, with that bleach line. “If I fuck this model/and she just bleached her asshole/and I get bleach on my t-shirt/I’ma feel like an asshole” Man what?! Who would even think to utter a line like that?

3. “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 2” featuring Desiigner
Although I love this record and think it’s an absolute party (mostly because I’ve been playing “Panda” for weeks now), I have no idea why this is on the album, other than to say “Hey, guys! Meet Desiigner! He’s the newest signee to G.O.O.D.” Speaking of Desiigner, he has been in the center of a bit of controversy, lately, due to sounding similar to Future. I have a lot to say about that, but that’s for a-whole-nother time.

4. “Famous” featuring Rihanna and Swizz Beatz
There’s so much going on with this song, and I love it. You got Swizz’s unmistakable ad-libs. Of course, Rihanna. And in addition to the outlandish line about Taylor Swift, my favorite part is the flip on Sister Nancy’s timeless record, “Bam Bam”. Good grief!

5. “Feedback”
Bruh! Leave it to Kanye West to drop a song called “Feedback” that has actual microphone feedback worked into the beat! Who does that? That’s insanely genius! This song gave me a feeling of Yeezus, so I thoroughly enjoyed it.

6. “Low Lights”
For whatever reason, it almost feels wrong to not listen to this before you listen to “Highlights”. This is a flawless intro to one of the more fun records on the project.

7. “Highlights” featuring Young Thug and The-Dream
I remember watching a Breakfast Club interview with Kanye West a while back, and in it he mentioned that he had a song with Young Thug and Rihanna. Upon hearing that, my head exploded with anticipation. Whether or not a track featuring all three of them is still in existence is a mystery, but Yeezy did manage to snag Thugger (and The-Dream) for “Highlights”, and I couldn’t be happier about it. I haven’t felt this good listening to a Kanye West song since “Good Life”.

8. “Freestyle 4” featuring Desiigner
Another confusing and pointless record, seemingly put on the album to showcase Desiigner. It’s cool I guess, but skip.

9. “I Love Kanye”
For years people have been complaining about Kanye no longer being “the old Kanye”, which to me is pretty stupid. I like seeing an artist evolve and make music that’s consistent with the times; but apparently, a lot of people don’t, and this song is a brilliantly clever message to those people.

10. “Waves” featuring Chris Brown
Skip.

11. “FML” featuring The Weeknd
This one had a real 808’s & Heartbreak feel to it, which was super dope, to me and Travi$ Scott’s contribution to the track made it that much better. This is definitely one of the more intimate cuts on the album. He could’ve kept that “indian/in the end” line, though.

12. “Real Friends” featuring Ty Dolla $ign
I liked this song when it first dropped. Then it burned out, pretty quickly. It’s a good listen, but it’s not something I’d run back more than once.

13. “Wolves” featuring Frank Ocean
First off, kudos to Kanye for being the one to dig Frank Ocean out of whatever cave he’s been hiding in. HOWEVER, the OG version of this song with Vic Mensa and Sia is a million times better and should’ve been kept. Fix “Wolves”, Kanye.

14. “Silver Surfer Intermission”
For everyone who was so thirsty to create a rift between Max B. and Kanye West.

15. “30 Hours” featuring Andre 3000
Might be my favorite song on the whole album. Drake came through with the major assist and the production is impeccable. He sampled Arthur Russell’s song, “Answers Me”, and turned it into a whole banger. An actual verse from Andre 3000 would’ve been dope, but I guess we’ll take what we can get.

16. “No More Parties In L.A.” featuring Kendrick Lamar
Madlib completely spazzed on this beat and K. Dot did his thing, like we all knew he would, but it was Kanye who surprisingly stole the show on this one. “No More Parties In L.A.” is a smash. Hopefully, more tracks surface from Kendrick and Yeezy.

17. “Facts”
I don’t care. Kanye West’s Nike breakup song, aka “Facts” is awesome. I remember when it first dropped and people were crucifying Kanye for it, because it wasn’t “the old Kanye”. Who cares? He went off, on this one.

18. “Fade” featuring Post Malone and Ty Dolla $ign
I like this song, but it’s not super exciting. I think Post Malone is what saved this song from getting skipped when it comes on.

Overall, I can honestly say that I enjoy The Life of Pablo. It’s not too often an artist can constantly reinvent himself, as Kanye West has.