This article was originally published upon the release of The Life of Pablo. 

When I texted my friend that I was thinking about reviewing The Life of Pablo next, he responded with a brief, traumatized warning.

“NO. DON’T. SO BORING. DON’T DO IT.”

I don’t like when people tell me what to do, so I brushed this off initially.

But as I geared up to listen to the album, apprehensive thoughts dwelled in the back of my mind. What if he’s right? What if this is a total letdown?

But then I thought about it some more, and realized that even if the album were to suck, it would make for a good review.

Then I thought even more, and realized that I had a lot of homework to catch up on that day and that I should just stop thinking about it and listen.

Let me start off by saying that I do consider myself a fan of Kanye West. I’m not as diehard as the other members of my generation, but I’m definitely a fan. The College Dropout, Yeezus, and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy are the three albums I’ve listened to all the way through, and I like all of them.

So I figured I’ve heard enough Kanye to dive headfirst into his latest effort. I would’ve reviewed this a lot sooner, but it was very recently released on Spotify, and I never felt like taking thirty seconds out of my day to download Tidal.

Ultimately, The Life of Pablo is pretty flawed. At times it’s very dull. It treads the same thematic ground that MBDTF did six years ago. A lot of the tracks are relatively unmemorable and go on for too long.

But the good things oftentimes shine through just as much as the bad. Let’s discuss.

The Lyrics

The lyricism on this album is usually a standout, skillfully balancing humor with depth in a manner so subtle and oftentimes confusing, it reminds me of the works of Stanley Kubrick.

One thing I’d like to say right off the bat about the lyrics is that there are some amazingly funny one-liners on this album.

“I stuck to my roots/I’m like Jimmy Fallon,” Kanye says on “Facts.”

“Make me believe in miracles/Buddhist monks and Cap’n Crunch cereal,” he raps on “No More Parties in LA,” easily the best song on the album.

There’s another great line that I probably would get in trouble for writing about on here in which Kanye laments that we wishes he had a GoPro attached to a certain body part of his.

Is it stupid? Yes. But I’m a sucker for that stuff.

As I mentioned before, a lot of this offbeat humor is woven in with deeper meaning, which is great. But this also tends to be a problem, as the themes presented on this album seem to have been used up in previous releases by Kanye.

The ruminations on the destructive nature of fame and excess seem to be at the forefront here, which annoys me. Not only were those themes already used as a central player in MBDTF, but does Kanye really expect us to believe that he’s still adjusting to fame? The controversies he faces everyday should be a walk in the park for him at this point, I would think.

Lastly, what would this section be if I didn’t address the controversial line from “Famous,” about how Taylor Swift owes Kanye sex because he “made that bitch famous.”

When i first read about all the controversy regarding this line, I shrugged it off as a bunch of idiots getting up in arms about something they don’t realize is a satirical joke.

Then I read some of the things Kanye himself has said about the matter, specifically that people are afraid to hear the truth, implying that the line was, in fact, not a joke.

It goes without saying that in that case, I disagree with the line and think that it’s wrong. But in today’s culture of extreme political correctness, an artist speaking his mind, no matter how wrong it may be, is always an interesting thing to behold.

The Production

Kanye West has always had a knack for grand, cinematic production, and this album is no exception.

A lot of other critics point out that the album’s production is oftentimes glitchy and unfinished-feeling (intentionally, of course,) but I don’t see that at all. I think the production feels very professional and complete, especially with the gospel-inspired tracks.

So that all sounds cool, right? No. It’s actually really uneventful.

The production oftentimes feels like it’s going nowhere, as nothing exciting is being done with the already bland beats.

This is especially obvious  in tracks like “Waves,” “Wolves,” and “Fade” none of which left any sort of impact on me whatsoever/.

It’s been also pointed out by critics that a lot of the album’s production functions as homage to previous incarnations of Kanye, with auto-tune (808s And Heartbreak,) soul samples (the Graduation trilogy,) and industrial elements (Yeezus.)

But I don’t think so. What these people may be calling homage, I simply call being uninspired.

The Verdict

TLOP at its best is funny and uncompromisingly honest. But that’s not enough to make this album good, especially seeing as how this is Kanye West we’re talking about. The project is almost always boring, unmemorable, and repetitive in the grand scheme of Kanye’s discography.

Eh. The cover art is cool at least.

Rating: C+