Kanye West New Album Ye Will It Bring Hip Hop Back

After months of rambunctious, outlandish, thought-provoking tweet rants, and photographs,
Kanye West released his eighth studio album, “ye.” Within the last couple months, Kanye has
been engulfed in the media with his various, rapid tweets, disturbing word selection during his
live visit to TMZ, and his announcement of all the expected projects to come this summer (Cudi,
Nas, Teyana Taylor, Pusha T, and himself). While many have deemed the artist cancelled and
have shown their disdain for his thoughts, politics, and overall personality, the “genius” himself
managed yet again to do what he always does, bring attention to himself right on time for his
music release. Following that of G.O.O.D. Music signee Pusha T’s Daytona, ye is also
comprised of only 7 songs making for a 23-minute listen. The cover, shot from Kanye’s phone
mere hours before his listening party, features the Wyoming mountains with a message saying, “I
hate being Bi-Polar it’s awesome.”

Since the album is only 7 songs, it is fairly easy to listen to the project in its entirety. I mean, it’s
only about 25 minutes of your time. Over shadowy instrumentation and production the concise
album begins with a very clear yet disturbing message – “Today, I seriously thought about
killing you… I contemplated, premediated murder.” says Ye. He goes on to reiterate that he has
also thought of killing himself and the fact that he loves himself way more than his adversary
(whoever that is). As the first song begins, the atmosphere is fairly set with what the rest of this
“album” will feel like. The production relays TLOP vibes. Half of the song is just Kanye talking
in a distorted voice, saying this same message over and over. As we reach the second half of the
song, the first thing that grabs your attention is indeed the Ye’s production. DJ Hustle

“Trump-Ye’s” (as a friend of mine continuously has deemed this current era of Kanye)
production skills are clearly still unmatched and immaculate to say the least. The beat switches
midway as Ye swiftly raps about Ye season, being broke, and how speaking on his name will,
“get your tooth chipped like Frito-Lay.” The lyrics are very… fundamental. They do not offer
much of a story, but the highlight would definitely be the production. Trump Ye quickly reminds
everyone, fans or haters that his creativity and composition skills never left.

The next song and the first standout track, “Yikes” echoes vibes from TLOP’s “Wolves” track
with a twist. Continuing this dark, eerie theme, Kanye begins the record singing, “Sh*t could get
menacing, frightening, find help // Sometimes I scare myself, myself.” Again, the production is
impressive. Personally, I feel like Ye was in his bag on this record and was delivering some of
his trademark flow on the track. This time around he does deliver a couple of noticeable bars.
Firstly, he digs at himself and his recent visit to TMZ with lyrics such as, “Yeezy, Yeezy trollin
OD, huh? // Turn TMZ to Smack DVD, huh?” He surprisingly brings up Russell Simmons and
the #MeToo scandal, “Russel Simmons wanna pray for me too // I’ma pray for him ‘cause he got
#MeToo’d // Thinkin’ what if that happened to me too, then I’m on E! News.” Of course, it
would not be a Ye record without a few cocky lines to just remind the people of who he is and all
the girls he’s ever had. He gets personal even discussing being on meds and his bipolar disability
being a superpower rather than a hinderance.

Yeezy really takes it up a notch with his production on “All Mine,” a personal favorite of the
project. With help from Ty Dolla $ign and Valee, the song is definitely a banger. Here Kanye
references the drama between his sister-in-law, Khloe Kardashian, and her baby’s daddy,
Cleveland Cavaliers player, Tristan Thompson. Again, the flow and lyricism deliver trademark
Kanye feels. It’s raw and uncut. He says exactly what he feels in the most unapologetic form

possible. He starts “talking that sh*t” some might say. He was feeling himself and you can hear
it in the song. “Wouldn’t Leave” meshes artists, Jeremih, PartyNextDoor, and Ty Dolla $ign’s
voices all into one harmony. Ye pays homage to his wife, Kim Kardashian-West for staying by
his side through all of his messy shenanigans. He also alludes back to his reckless social media
posts and again, his words at TMZ and how they caused Kim to panic, “Just imagine if they
caught me on a wild day // Now I’m on fifty blogs gettin’ fifty calls. // My wife callin’, sceamin’,
say, “We bout to lose it all” // Had to calm her down ‘cause she couldn’t breathe// Told her she
could leave me now, but she wouldn’t leave.
“No Mistakes” delivers a classic Ye vibe. Another standout from the album, “No Mistake” relays
MBDTF appeal along with a hint of Graduation. Kid Cudi, Charlie Wilson, and Ye make pure
magic with the record. Wilson’s vocals are strong and out of this world, Ye’s production
continues to shine effortlessly and the record is immensely catchy. Kanye’s flow is probably at
its best here. The song is beautiful and definitely one of those diamonds in the rough. “Ghost
Town” makes for a good listen because of the behind the scenes charm. John Legend, Kid Cudi,
and G.O.O.D.’s newest signee 070 Shake come together with Ye to create this grungy,
revolutionary styled record that instantly makes me think of the group, Fun’s “We Are Young”
record. Kanye’s presence as far as rapping and delivery is not truly important here. He acts more
as the engineer here while the others deliver.

Ye’s last song, “Violent Crimes” finds Ye rapping about his baby girl, North. He raps about the
fears of his daughter growing. With the help of Nicki Minaj, 070 Shake, and Ty Dolla, the song
shows a more vulnerable side of Kanye. We not only hear his thoughts but visualize them as
well. He raps about how at age 40, he no longer looks at woman as an item to conquer but rather
a being to nurture and protect. He talks about how men are pimps, players, dogs, and any other
names under the sun. He has some playful lines and some heavy imagery as well. The song ends
with a voicemail from Nicki the Ninja as she tells Ye how she visualized the “I hope she like
Nicki I’ll make her a monster” line to be delivered.
Overall, ye is not a bad album, but I would never jump the gun to call this album a classic…
Having played the album over half a dozen times, it has some shining moments with 3, maybe 4
standout songs. From the samples and beat selection, to the composition and choice of artist for
each tune, the production is flawless. Mike Dean, Benny Blanco, Francis & the Lights, Che
Pope, and Mr. West himself truly outdid themselves here. The sounds stand out more than
anything else on this project. All in all, it’s not that great / monumental as everyone has tried to
make it out to be. As an actual Kanye West fan, it was not what I expected. Maybe my
expectations were set to high but the album did not really grab me by the throat on the first few
listens. Each song has some memorable aspect to it as far as certain lines and bars, but the project
as a whole does not really tell much of a story. Many of the lyrics are basic and repetitive. It does
not really answer anything at all. The “story” here is just a somewhat more in-depth summary of
everything we have witnessed from Ye during these last few months. We see that he brings up
the TMZ situation, his rants, and even family matters with Khloe and Tristan, but besides that,
there is nothing more. No, it does not make you think of any of Kanye’s first few albums. It does
have moments of classic appeal but the entire project falls short of that legendary, timeless
Kanye that we have been so desperately longing for. Now, as Kanye West the producer, the
album gets a pure A+. Besides that, the album is nothing more or less than cool. HustleTV

Written By

Joseph Gaither