Track-by-Track Review Of ye
Track-by-track reviews are typically my favorite album reviews to read, in large part because they leave no stone unturned on the album as a whole. I’m a big ‘album guy’ myself; I love to sit down and immerse myself in a full body of work at once, rather than listen to an artist’s or band’s snippets and singles. This is even more true with artists that are among my favorites, as is the case of Kanye West.
Track-by-track reviews, conversely, are among the most laborious to write, in large part because they leave no stone unturned on the album as a whole. Instead of writing about the general themes that appear throughout the album, and highlighting choice lyrics and musical samples, one actually has to delve into each individual song and discuss its intricacies. Fortunately, at just 7 songs and about 25 minutes, ye is a brief enough listen that it makes a track-by-track review simpler.
Before we jump in, though, it’s of course worth revisiting the fact that ye’s release had one of the most bizarre releases of all time. Where The Life Of Pablo’s release was sloppy due to Kanye The Artist, who kept tinkering with album titles, tracklists, samples, up until the release date, ye’s release was sloppy due to Kanye The Person. Or at least Kanye The Public Persona would be the more accurate descriptor of the enigmatic rap icon, who caused a Twitter fury among fans, celebrity friends, and Ta-Nehisi Coates by seemingly endorsing current President Donald Trump. Still stumbling through that backlash and strange new support from the Fox news crowd, Kanye’s chaser was to proclaim to TMZ that slavery was a choice. The ensuing outrage from that caused West to release two songs, both of which he promised would “explain everything”; the first was the now-infamous “scoopity-poop” troll job, and the second a lackluster performance in “Ye vs. The People”, (link) in which T.I. outshines him both as an artist and a thinker. Needless to say, everyone from ‘Ye fans to general music critics were eager to see whether this was all one big promotion for what would be a phenomenal album, or whether the times had passed Kanye by as an artist and we were witnessing the start of his ultimate implosion. I went into my first listen with that same curiosity.
To make this short review even easier on myself, I’ll try to draw from The Ringer and do a tweet-length (or maybe a 2-tweet-length) review of each individual song. And by the way, this is not the last time I’ll reference their review of ye, because their recap is just so damn good.
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“I Thought About Killing You”
ye’s opener is an honest rumination on mental strength, his bipolar disorder, and love of those close to you. As a spoken word piece, it’s entirely effective; as a rap, there’s not much there, although the beat drop in the last stanza is slightly redeeming.
“Yikes”
Kanye channels some Kendrick in “Yikes,” wherein he raps about the highs and the fears of hard drugs. It’s both a hype beat and an effective takedown of hypocritical high-mindedness. Arguably the best track on the album.
“All Mine”
Yeezy’s back on his bad behavior, rapping, in no censored terms, about infidelity and the dynamic duo of power and sex. Blame the cultural context, perhaps, but the track feels lyrical empty, and is really only worth listening to for its catchy hook and short glimpse of Ty Dolla $ign.
“Wouldn’t Leave”
An unabashed ode to Kim Kardashian West, who stays by Kanye’s side despite such turmoils as a terrifying break-in/robbery in Paris, and her husband’s many public meltdowns. Ty Dolla $ign again resurfaces to join the chorus of praises for the undying loyalty of wives in the spotlight: "For every damn female that stuck with they dude/Through the best times, through the worst times/This for you." Solid track.
“No Mistakes”
“No Mistakes” starts and ends with a bomb refrain from Charlie Wilson and Kid Cudi, and in between is a single, extended verse wherein Kanye recaps for all loyal fans his topsy-turvy life in the last few years. He also jumps into 2018’s biggest beef with a lyric calling out Drake in the wake of the latter’s feud with Pusha T. There’s a lot packed into this 2-minute ditty.
“Ghost Town”
Judging by online write-ups and social media postings, this song seems to have be the crowd favorite off of ye. It certainly is the track most reminiscent of “the old Kanye”; the Kid Cudi influence and Kanye’s verse sounds like a 2018 version of “Runaway.” The most striking feature on this song, though, is the 2-minute outro from 20-year old female rapper 070 Shake.
“Violent Crimes”
Kanye’s closing track, vaguely addressed to his daughter, was clearly intended to be the most thoughtful but instead became probably the most-mocked, with many clucking their disapproval for Kanye’s sudden realization that women are people too. Though I did laugh at the comparisons to Tracy Jordan, I thought the eyerolls were a bit unnecessary. Perhaps I’m just a sucker for redemption and sentimentality, but I’d say a little heartfelt, self-imposed comeuppance is better late than never.
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Some parting thoughts on the whole album: Andrew Gruttadoro of The Ringer offered a sentiment on ye that seems to have been adopted as the de facto review, and it’s a one-sentence synopsis I subscribe to as well. Said Gruttadoro, “[ye is an] album that is both not good enough to gloss over all of the nonsense that preceded it, and not bad enough to ignore altogether.”
ye has bright moments— and few serious missteps —in its short tracklist, and that’s a testament to the fact that in many ways, the rapper’s still got it. In addition, that Kanye was able to avoid the temptation to make this album one big response to or addressing of his ideas on Trump, on slavery, on responsibility for previous words and deeds, is a nice reminder that not everything he does is just for promotion, and he is capable of creating art that stands apart from the rest of his ‘brand.’ All that being said, though making good music would never absolve someone of their missteps, ye as a project does very little to make Kanye’s fans eager to flock to his support again. It’s safe to say that Mr. West has lost the benefit of the doubt with even some of his most ardent fans, and will have to work that much harder to make music that endears himself to the rap populace once again. ye might be a step in the right direction, but it’s the tiniest of baby steps.