By Seth Zarura
Kanye West – a man with an entire discography of eras, scandals and classics behind him. In recent years, it has become the norm to refer to Kanye West as ‘Ye’, especially with the controversy surrounding him, ever since the name change and this album. So, let’s take it back to where it all started, eight years later, looking back at the self-titled album Ye.
This project is Kanye’s shortest project to date – seven songs, 28 minutes. If I had one word to describe this project, it would be… mysterious. It was released at such a pivotal time, where Kanye could have easily been a relic of the past. If he had said something bad on this album, I feel like the public would’ve treated that as his last straw. So, at the time of release, I can imagine how nerve-wracking it was for fans… especially with the album cover. Without hearing anything, the album cover greets us with the words “I hate being Bi-Polar it’s awesome”. Prior to this album, Kanye hadn’t really explored these themes but it ends up being a central theme of the album. Lyrics like “I said slavery a choice they said how ye, just imagine if they caught me on a wild day”.
Kanye West has been such a curator throughout his career – often praised for being able to bring the best out of the artists he collaborates with. Some notable mentions for this album are Kid Cudi, PartyNextDoor and Jeremih, who all deliver incredible performances. While all these artists have had more provocative albums, they are seen on this album giving vocal performances more like those you would hear at church or in gospel.
As much as Kanye is one to popularise a lot of the current use of 808s, songs like ‘Yikes’ and ‘All Mine’ are ones that I would rarely listen to, especially if I am listening to the album passively. The instrumentals are both very good but Kanye’s rapping performance fails to match the energy needed for those songs. Instead, the tracks that are highlights come at the latter end of the album – ‘Ghost Town’ and ‘Violent Crimes’. His ear for production has always been incredible, with the guitar in between ‘Ghost Town’ or the eerie start to the album on ‘I Thought About Killing You’. That constant “I Know” in the background kicks off the theme of the album, very strong.
Overall, this album is the creepiest release within his discography and has now aged as another era within his career. However, if we are comparing it to his previous releases it doesn’t compare to the sounds and rapping styles we are used to hearing – less pitched up vocal samples and witty lines. Instead we get these very introspective and personal songs from him. Some would call it bipolar.
