Kanye West’s ‘The Life of Pablo’ review

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Last week during Saturday Night Live, Kanye West released his highly anticipated 7th solo album, The Life of Pablo. After several changes to the title, from So Help Me God to Swish and later, Waves, West landed on this one not honoring Pablo Picasso or Escabar, but St. Paul of Tarsus, a biblical figure.

Compared to his last album,Yeezus, released almost three years ago, West’s most recent album is more soulful and maybe his most personal album to date. With songs like “FML” where he raps about the antidepressant Lexapro and alludes to what maybe a manic episode, and “Father Stretch My Hands” a song in which West admits the same workaholism which caused his father to become a distant figure in his life may be consuming him and separating him and his family, The Life of Pablo is perhaps the clearest look inside of West’s mind and soul yet.

There are still many moments of Kanye’s super-celebrity ego taking center stage throughout the album. On “30 Hours” he raps “My ex said she gave me the best years of her life/ I saw a recent picture, I guess she was right.” West’s behavior was not just wild within the album, but over the past several weeks his tweets have also sparked controversy and outrage. During the rollout of the album, he tweeted, “BILL COSBY INNOCENT!!!!!!!!!!”as well as clashing with fellow rapper Wiz Khalifa, saying “I own your child!!”.

Despite of all this, Kanye’s pleasing, deeply Christian music once again triumphs over all of the chaos. The Life of Pablo has a unique and contagious energy from beginning to end and captures what has made Kanye West one of the most enigmatic and talented artists of his generation. Although it is only available on kanyewest.com and Tidal as of now, this is an album certainly worth the wait and worth the listen.