Put it all here. Hopeful it drops today...

But now we get to speculate on whether a Kanye/Kendrick/Madlib collab album is coming in the future (#yeahright)

Also, between nearly a half dozen album name changes, tracklist alterings, and last minute recordings, does anybody else feel like this shit could potentially be a mess? This dude doesn't seem like he has any real vision or plan whatsoever. Yeezy has only disappointed me twice (808s, Yeezus) so I can very easily be wrong. I just want this shit to drop already.

No More Parties had little replay value to me. I have had no desire to listen to it again. I thought Yeezus was the shit, but I expect this to be pretty different.

Not so sure his process is any more different than most artists. He's just more transparent about it. Mark of a perfectionist.

>Not so sure his process is any more different than most
>artists. He's just more transparent about it.


Or he already has all this figured out and just used all this as a
free marketing tool.

difference is now he has more pull so he can make the changes on the fly and even announce them (rather than seek approval from a label for example) but this is the same guy who's released singles and gone back to change the drums after they'd been shipped to all major radio outlets. he's always making changes until the last minute...sometimes beyond that.


>Also, between nearly a half dozen album name changes,
>tracklist alterings, and last minute recordings, does anybody
>else feel like this shit could potentially be a mess? This
>dude doesn't seem like he has any real vision or plan
>whatsoever. Yeezy has only disappointed me twice (808s,
>Yeezus) so I can very easily be wrong. I just want this shit
>to drop already.

Wasn't cohesive with the rest of the album like at all.

I played it maybe twice. Never added it to my phone.

werd.

>

It streamed for free just now on tidal.

mike dean is still "tweaking" it.

ye basically suckered niggas into buying tickets to msg
just to hear him plug in an aux cord
and play snippets from an unfinished album
while "models" stand around in full body panty hose.

I'm losing confidence in it with all these last second changes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8G--m0JFgG0

I heard little Instagram clips too didn't like much of it. But who knows maybe the good stuff can block out the crap I heard.

... Dug it and am hoping the album has that sound. Couldn't help but think he's back on the witty stuff, than I heard him and Consequence back on good terms so maybe he's writing for him again or "bounching" ideas?

Which is why it was probably left off. Sounds kind of like yeezus and 808's had a baby to me. If you like those albums, you might like this. I would say its his worst album. It has some bad moments and it has some very good moments. Also, when I say its his worst... I love nearly all of his other albums. This one is a notch below I think.

Also keep in mind...I haven't heard the cdq, just the stream. But these are my thoughts after the stream.

>Sounds kind of like
>yeezus and 808's had a baby to me. If you like those albums,
>you might like this.

My two least favorite Ye albums as well

I was SO WRONG lmao

Don't announce anything. Randomly drop the album and let the music speak for itself. I can do without all the extracurriculars that come with Kanye's music. His self-important immaturity and antics were a lot easier to put up with when his music wasn't a mess.

Like, I don't think he even had an album in mind.

Feels like he had the idea "I should debut an album at MSG..."

then started making the album.


The music seems extremely secondary to the spectacle. An album was an excuse for this mess.

I mean, yeah every artists changes things up to the last minute but this dude changed the title what? twice in two weeks?

I wonder what happened to him. He's always been off, but how does a guy go from

"George Bush doesn't care about black people"...to "Bill Cosby is innocent!!" and beefing with Wiz over Twitter?

?

from Family Business to Roses to Big Brother to...White Dress?

I mean, the Kardashians? Really Ye? That's "Malcom West's" family? huh

Rather than growing, it is almost like he is devolving in front of our eyes. Some strange Benjamin Button type thing because dude is getting less mature and making worse music as time goes on.

While he clearly believes he is making important and great music, I don't think the music is what is important to him anymore.

He wants to make a splash, a spectacle, and it seems to me his ultimate goal is to become an icon/brand that is embraced by the white establishment.

>I mean, the Kardashians? Really Ye?

To quote Schoolboy Q "I can't believe you wifin that"

Again, there is spectacle surrounding her as well.

Dude is just a mess it seems.

I mean, if at any point in your life you have to publically say that you don't like your a$$ played with, you have to look back and realize you made at least a couple wrong turns...

>
>I mean, if at any point in your life you have to publically
>say that you don't like your a$$ played with, you have to look
>back and realize you made at least a couple wrong turns...
>

>
>I mean, if at any point in your life you have to publically
>say that you don't like your a$$ played with, you have to look
>back and realize you made at least a couple wrong turns...
>
>

>The music seems extremely secondary to the spectacle. An
>album was an excuse for this mess.
>
>I mean, yeah every artists changes things up to the last
>minute but this dude changed the title what? twice in two
>weeks?
>
>I wonder what happened to him. He's always been off, but how
>does a guy go from
>
>"George Bush doesn't care about black people"...to "Bill Cosby
>is innocent!!" and beefing with Wiz over Twitter?
>
>?
>
>from Family Business to Roses to Big Brother to...White
>Dress?
>
>I mean, the Kardashians? Really Ye? That's "Malcom West's"
>family? huh
>
>Rather than growing, it is almost like he is devolving in
>front of our eyes. Some strange Benjamin Button type thing
>because dude is getting less mature and making worse music as
>time goes on.
>
>While he clearly believes he is making important and great
>music, I don't think the music is what is important to him
>anymore.
>
>He wants to make a splash, a spectacle, and it seems to me his
>ultimate goal is to become an icon/brand that is embraced by
>the white establishment.

"The only rapper compared to Michael" ("I Am A God")

when you say "Michael", I think "Jackson" first.

and while Kanye BY NO MEANS is an artistic heir to Michael, this spectacle and the (negative) attention it brings reminds me a LOT of him.

and some of those things you wrote were things of which Michael was accused especially in the years following BAD. Some might even say THRILLER.

so Kanye doesn't completely outrageous with lines like this.

SMH I don't know what to expect from this album now.

https://soundcloud.com/kanyewest/30-hours

Is this the one that had a radio leak a couple weeks back ?

http://hippohosted.com/7yx

real short.
but i like the original beat better.
sound like some bass guitar heavy funk type shit.

I hope he found a use for the other one elsewhere, or something. Which may be a little weird but it's been done before and that beat sounds like it deserves usage.

the original beat was more of the typa sound i was hopin would dominate this album.

https://twitter.com/questlove/status/698220451789565952

So what exactly does Kanye do if he's not making beats for the album ?

"but hes an artist" -okp

but whatever.
My issue with the idea that Kanye just slaps his name on other people's ideas is that his body of work is stronger than that of most of his collaborators by far...at least in my opinion.
I'm a decent Rhymefest fan, and up until very recently I woulda told you that Consequence is one of thee very best rappers that no one cares to mention...but even when they were allegedly writing all his rhymes, Kanye's verse's always had more interesting, poignant, and humorous lines than theirs did. Not just when they did songs together, but on any record. Up until Yeezus (which is a good album, but has subpar lyrics to say the least), imo, Kanye consistently rapped verses that were more interesting and enjoyable than almost any rapper that was supposedly better than him (which, to most of you, seems to be about half the rap game).
On the production tip, Ye's done the same thing...he's consistently made what may be the highest quality hip hop of our generation, but his critics swear he adds nothing to the creative process. If I needed my other hand to count the rap albums that were better than LR & MBDTF in the last 15 years (longer, imo), I'd question Kanye's usefulness, but...nope.
I'm not sure how the fact that he gives others credit for contributing means that he himself makes no major contributions. People have been trying to discredit this guy his whole career. EVERYBODY he worked with since College Dropout is said by people who weren't in the studio to have done all the work. I'm skeptical.

around 3:30 mark
http://www.power1051fm.com/pages/onair/breakfast-club/?mid=23116088

“he has all these young producers coming through and he just curates it and just helps put the album together. he helps write songs, he curates the beat selection, all that, song selection and helps with the videos.”


here is a mike dean interview in 2013 where he says the same thing around the 3:00 mark
http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/southern-hip-hop-pioneer-mike-dean/51b0b99d78c90a03d2000198

he called him a couch producer that basically overseas everyone. he gets teams of producers to work under him. everybody puts their parts on a song and ye picks and chooses what he wants to keep.

>ye picks and chooses
>what he wants to keep.

but I think this is a valuable part of the process. I think hip hop created this myth that the producer is not an actual producer unless he "makes the beat with his own hands".
as I've said before, by that logic, George Clinton didn't contribute much to P-Funk; he had the likes of Bootsy, Bernie and Junie actually manipulating the tools that made the music, and George just made decisions. But how did the guys who'd break away from P-Funk from time to time sound without George?

EDIT:
Just watched both vids. I saw the Mike Dean one before.
Around 5:20, J Legend makes the same point I'm trying to make. Charlemagne's not havin it tho lol

>>ye picks and chooses
>>what he wants to keep.
>
>but I think this is a valuable part of the process. I think
>hip hop created this myth that the producer is not an actual
>producer unless he "makes the beat with his own hands".
>as I've said before, by that logic, George Clinton didn't
>contribute much to P-Funk; he had the likes of Bootsy, Bernie
>and Junie actually manipulating the tools that made the music,
>and George just made decisions. But how did the guys who'd
>break away from P-Funk from time to time sound without
>George?
>

I always made the same argument for Dre. Most folks round here would say that Melman, Daz, Scott Storch, Yella, etc., were really responsible for Dre's sound. My retort has always been, then, where's their hits? Where are their classic albums?

I think we need to remember that Ye HAS produced tracks, knows how to work equipment, and can still do so if he chooses to. Nowadays he simply rather employ others to start the foundation and then pick and choose what works for him. A method like that allows for a better product and WAY more product than going at it alone. Now, with that said... Would I prefer that he made most of the beats and wrote all of the lyrics? YES!! Definitely. BUT, there are no rewards for that, only the respect of the serious music fan, which only makes up a small percentage of his buyership.

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/698175350854021120

Oh my god this is gonna be like a bad mixtape.

Album is a mess

30 hours beat was dope. Lyrics were yawn.

werd.

I'm fine with that. That's the story of Kanye's career. So long as the beats are dope I never listened to Kanye for his lyrics anyway.

Plenty of LOL moments, one liners, stuff that you come to expect from Kanye. He's no Nas, but he's plenty good enough that as long as the beats are quality it's should be a great song.

>Plenty of LOL moments, one liners, stuff that you come to
>expect from Kanye. He's no Nas, but he's plenty good enough
>that as long as the beats are quality it's should be a great
>song.

This falls in the newer "confusion" technique, just taken to a whole
nother level!

is giving him all this freedom with the album name and song sequencing changes. How much of a flop was Yeezus? I think I remember hearing stories of how he had problems selling tickets for some of the live shows, which I would imagine is more of a problem than poor album sales.

Not surprising. But LA NY and places like that sold out

and when he came thru for the yeezus show dec. 2013, the Sprint Center was vacant as fuck. but it's kansas/missouri, so...lol

https://s.yimg.com/ea/img/-/131206/kanye_west_empty_kansas_city_yezzus_show_19a2957-19a295i.jpg

LA and NYC are only two cities. There are more cities in the US than there are major media centers like LA and NYC. Losing money from not getting huge album sales hurts, but not getting that money back from touring has to hurt more I would think.

I wanted floor seats but couldn't get them the day they went on sale. Ye gets headlining status at festivals so I'm sure that makes up for not selling well in places like Denver or KC. I'm sure he sold a good amount of tickets in Chicago, Oakland, or Philly.

this will be released today?

>this will be released today?

I hope so. I'm tired of being subjected to the fashion show in order to enjoy the tidal file.

I like that he added the other songs. I'll exec produce and end up with my master version. I've 'rescued' albums with less redeeming qualities.

It sounds like he tried to do all of the Kanyes in one album. I'm old so I like the older ones more but I 'get' all of it. Jokes, absurdity, general purpose good rapping, odd concepts that end up working out most of the time, guests who get to shine, and sweet samples. I'm in.

On his twitter of course https://twitter.com/RHYMEFEST
That's how everybody communicates nowadays. Did they fall out or some shit?

Rhymefest ✔ @RHYMEFEST
@JakeChatty my brother needs help, in the form of counseling. Spiritual & mental. He should step away from the public & yesmen & heal
https://twitter.com/RHYMEFEST/status/698178615175987200

But he also don't seem like the type to tweet about his "brother" like that, so...what do I know

Fest used to cry and bitch and stomp out of every battle he got defeated in. Saw it many times. He's got that petty in him. But I do think he's right on with his criticism of ye. But none of that matters if the music is banging,

He's going to release it during the middle of the Grammy's to make a statement.

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/698395090117644288

I would love to see all the changes and extras (on and off mic) this record has caused and been through.

this enwurd makes shit events all the time somehow

like I'm just WAITING to get word that it dropped.
Even though I haven't been overly impressed with any of the tracks he already dropped. I liked em. Didn't love em.
But for some reason... I am anxious.

Remarkable Def Jam gave dude so much leeway in terms of all the last minute changes. Gotta wonder if other artists will try to bite Kanye since it helped to drive a ton of interest to the album. Kind of cool he was transparent in that regard.

Is this the most 'Web 2.0' album as of this moment?

I'm loving this album more and more after each listen.

*kanye shrug*

No comment on how I know which version of the album you have but there are multiple leaks none of which are the official album.

This shit is god damn beautiful

Definitely not his best album, definitely his least cohesive album, definitely his most rushed album............But still kinda dope.

I was ready for the unraveling of Kanye West. This is not Late Registration, but this is not bad at all. I wouldn't even call this his "to the 5 boroughs." This album reminds me of a quote from ?uesto about the tipping point where he said that it was received poorly because the fan base is used to A+ albums and they dropped a B. This is kinda like that. I don't think there are any bad songs, just bad moments.

Specifically, they are:
-The TSwift line
-The bleached asshole line
-The Ray J line
-The go pro line.

Best Songs:
Ultra Light Beams
Feedback
FML
Real Friends
Wolves

On the 30 hrs adlibs he says that its a bonus track, so everything after Wolves are essentially that ( I actually wonder if it will be labeled as such on the Def Jam release...)

cant believe i just typed that.

album kinda fell off a steep cliff after ultralight beam imo.
they shoulda tucked that track deeper into the album
instead of opening with it.
it dont recover til 30 hours and no more parties in la.

those the only 3 tracks i replay.

kind of amazing that he's doing what he's doing at age 22.

i don't understand the hate for dude at all.

Kanye must really and truly love himself some Mos Def/Yasiin Bey. He probably loves Yasiin more than he loves Kanye West, but certainly more than any of us loves Yasiin.

pre-Pablo ranking

1. Last Registration
2. Graduation
3. Yeezus
4. College Dropout
5. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Porcelain Toilet
6. 808s and Heartbreak (I don't hate this album, btw)


I think this might fall under Graduation, but I don't want to sice it without more time with it

>pre-Pablo ranking
>
>1. Last Registration
>2. Graduation
>3. Yeezus
>4. College Dropout
>5. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Porcelain Toilet
>6. 808s and Heartbreak (I don't hate this album, btw)
>
>
>I think this might fall under Graduation, but I don't want to
>sice it without more time with it
>
>

To me, this is the album he's been trying to make since his mom died.

Pusha T is upset at you for not liking the Kanye album that he was most involved in. Haha.

In today's climate, I like the 'here's the songs, do whatcha like (*scratches in 'I see guys and girls dancin*).' Miss me with that 9 song + brooding instrumentals shit if you have plenty more. I'm glad that expansion happened. And besides, no more parties deserved to live. You can't leave off Kendrick and Mablib...you just can't!

I'm basically a sucker for Kanye's music almost all the time. I still hear the 'trying hard' cat that I rooted for soooooo hoard back when College Dropout wouldn't drop. Yeezus was the only time where I thought he'd lost the stuff that made me like him. Blood on the leaves tho.

Ultra light beam...wow...Jesus walks again.

I don't care about the getting a bunch of help stuff either. I think folks get caught up in that far too much. Maybe people still love to believe the story that legends like Stevie, Prince, and several others just curled up in rooms all alone and cranked out jams. I stopped buying that years ago. Lauren's situation was another exhibit as well. So it's no big. Honestly, cats like Kanye with the resources to get help SHOULD get help! He's insecure enough to want help, but he's a good enough cat deep down to try to give credit. And getting sued prolly sucks. And hell...people show up to help him!

When he sat back on Ultra Light Beam and pushed everyone else out in front, that's the Kanye I'll always care about. When I see him in the back smiling on snl while Kelly and Chance and Kirk and even Mr. Nash go in on their performances, that's when I'm convinced that the dude that rapped his whole first album over again is still worth my time as a fan of the genre. See? I'm a sucker when I think you care about what you're doing...

He's still the clunky doofus mama's boy who is trying like hell to make something that both jams and somehow 'matters'. If we stop rooting for this fool because of the same stuff that we for whatever reason ignored upfront, then that's on us. Everyone can't be cool. Or even normal. Most of our best acts aren't. And 'dude, shut up' just isn't what he does. And...rappers have almost always been trolls...aka saying shit to get reactions/move the crowd.

30 hours is the most early Kanye things ive heard from him in a while. Looped. The song is just gonna get looped when I'm on the toll road. Might miss my exit on that shit.

Earphones back on. Then I'ma listen to that Curren$y and Alchemist. I'm a sucker for that too even I get that worlds aren't changing when Spitta raps about the same 4 and half things for 40 minutes.

>In today's climate, I like the 'here's the songs, do whatcha
>like (*scratches in 'I see guys and girls dancin*).' Miss me
>with that 9 song + brooding instrumentals shit if you have
>plenty more. I'm glad that expansion happened. And besides, no
>more parties deserved to live. You can't leave off Kendrick
>and Mablib...you just can't!
>
>I'm basically a sucker for Kanye's music almost all the time.
>I still hear the 'trying hard' cat that I rooted for soooooo
>hoard back when College Dropout wouldn't drop. Yeezus was the
>only time where I thought he'd lost the stuff that made me
>like him. Blood on the leaves tho.
>
>Ultra light beam...wow...Jesus walks again.
>
>I don't care about the getting a bunch of help stuff either. I
>think folks get caught up in that far too much. Maybe people
>still love to believe the story that legends like Stevie,
>Prince, and several others just curled up in rooms all alone
>and cranked out jams. I stopped buying that years ago.
>Lauren's situation was another exhibit as well. So it's no
>big. Honestly, cats like Kanye with the resources to get help
>SHOULD get help! He's insecure enough to want help, but he's
>a good enough cat deep down to try to give credit. And getting
>sued prolly sucks. And hell...people show up to help him!
>
>When he sat back on Ultra Light Beam and pushed everyone else
>out in front, that's the Kanye I'll always care about. When I
>see him in the back smiling on snl while Kelly and Chance and
>Kirk and even Mr. Nash go in on their performances, that's
>when I'm convinced that the dude that rapped his whole first
>album over again is still worth my time as a fan of the genre.
>See? I'm a sucker when I think you care about what you're
>doing...
>
>He's still the clunky doofus mama's boy who is trying like
>hell to make something that both jams and somehow 'matters'.
>If we stop rooting for this fool because of the same stuff
>that we for whatever reason ignored upfront, then that's on
>us. Everyone can't be cool. Or even normal. Most of our best
>acts aren't. And 'dude, shut up' just isn't what he does.
>And...rappers have almost always been trolls...aka saying shit
>to get reactions/move the crowd.
>
>30 hours is the most early Kanye things ive heard from him in
>a while. Looped. The song is just gonna get looped when I'm on
>the toll road. Might miss my exit on that shit.
>
>Earphones back on. Then I'ma listen to that Curren$y and
>Alchemist. I'm a sucker for that too even I get that worlds
>aren't changing when Spitta raps about the same 4 and half
>things for 40 minutes.

In that, this album on paper sounds like it makes absolutely NO SENSE. But at the same time, it's the complete sum of everything Kanye has done in his career in one album. It also seems to accurately reflect where he is as an artist and a celebrity in his life, which is essentially the bare minimum I ask of an artist before I listen. If I get a whiff of "focus group" in your shit, I'm out.

I'm not gonna rank this in the GOAT tier that a number of 2015 albums did for me, but this is a very, very good Kanye album. It helps if you're not turned off by his Twitter antics though.

He will go down as having the most forgettable discography

>He will go down as having the most forgettable discography

I go back and forth with College Dropout.
Loved the skits.

That album to me is: "Slow Jamz", "We Don't Care", "Through The Wire", "Last Call", and begrudgingly "Spaceship", everything else I can take or leave.

It's about even with Graduation, but I like the high points of that album (one of which is "Everything I Am") more than I like the stuff that I can take or leave from that album.

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Porcelain Toilet is the album I've listened to the least out of his whole (solo) discog. Not a song I take away from it and have to listen to, months away from it. "Power" might be it. And I forget it's on that album, I keep associating it with Graduation. He made better versions of those songs on Yeezus.

Yeezus was an album where it felt like he was gonna piss off the world. It's brief, it's hilarious, and he doesn't let songs go longer than they should. the album clocks in in about under an hour (I think), and I only dislike one song ("I'm In It"). Kanye was getting Kobe-type reviews. No fanfare, no "OLD KANYE IS BACK!!", just Kanye showing you where he was in that ridiculous life he was and taking you along for the ride. The motherfucker got me to actually listen to a song with Chief fuckin' Keef. He should get a Grammy off that alone.

As for Pablo. Too soon, but it reminds me of what I liked about Yeezus, while not being Yeezus Pt. 2. There's some stuff for "the outside world" to like on it too. Very disjointed, but combines everything from every stage of Kanye's career on one album. "I Love Kanye" might be the most hilarious thing I've heard recorded in years, not unlike his "I Am A God" from Yeezus.

just grabbed my attention
cuz i never seen anyone not put at least cd or mbdtf among his top albums.

i hated the artwork at first but now i think it fits the theme well.

my only complaint is that the album should've ended after NMPIL..the last 2 tracks are pure garbage

but the song sticks out like a sore thumb on this album. I wonder how off putting the track will be to folks that aren't familiar to Madlib. Hats off to Kanye for introducing Madlib to the masses though, there is something positive in that regard.

I suppose I sound like an oldhead and I should know better before making this critique, but I can't get pass all the autotune to give the album another listen.

I'm still kind of amazed Def Jam gave him so much freedom to go through all the changes and social media transparency with the album.

*disregard this post*

I liked these albums but after 808s (which was more like auto-tune emo R&B), MDBTF (which was this huge overblown artistic statement), and Yeezus (which is more like an electronic album more than anything), it's nice to go back to a Ye album that's just a rap album. I mean it's all over the place at times and has a few groan worthy moments but I can definitely see just letting this groove in the car for an hour or leaving on over a BBQ... when if you threw Yeezus on at a party you could scare half the party away.

It feels like the album that Ye had to get out of his system and I'm happy it's here.

there is auto tune all over this thing (too much if you are me lol). it's a rap album, sure, but it's not a rap album like say, his first three records or MBDTF

my first listen through and i was sitting here thinking about how much singing there is on this and so little rapping.

>I liked these albums but after 808s (which was more like
>auto-tune emo R&B), MDBTF (which was this huge overblown
>artistic statement), and Yeezus (which is more like an
>electronic album more than anything), it's nice to go back to
>a Ye album that's just a rap album. I mean it's all over the
>place at times and has a few groan worthy moments but I can
>definitely see just letting this groove in the car for an hour
>or leaving on over a BBQ... when if you threw Yeezus on at a
>party you could scare half the party away.
>
>It feels like the album that Ye had to get out of his system
>and I'm happy it's here.

I'm not a fan of the auto-tune Kayne - it sounds like Buck Rogers is mouth fucking Twiki.

Last night's SNL performance was filled with it and I am not a fan of the sound.

What's the ratio here?

It's so played, but he's still going strong with it.

>It's so played, but he's still going strong with it.

I agree

this album would be so much better, Kanye's vocals kills a lot of this for me.

also can some one inbox my a DL

i signed up with Tidal just to listen to it, but don't wanna buy from them

???

....

https://soundcloud.com/lifeofdesiigner

He's a mix of Fewtcha and Young Thug but coming out of Brooklyn.

---------------------------------------


---------------------------------------

I guess I like three songs (Real Friends, 30 Hours, No More Parties), maybe five if I'm being generous (I'm so-so on Wolves and Fade).

I can see why some are going to eat it up. Y'all have at it, I'm cool. I don't feel compelled to listen to it again.

after my first listen I'd say this album is kinda like a mix of 808s and the more grandiose, very pop-ish, moments of my beautiful dark twisted fantasy. Lyrically I'd say it is marginally better than Yeezus, which I thought was a poor album but in particular was HORRIBLE lyrically, but it's not like, outside of the one song that was most definitely recorded around that period ("No More Parties In LA") we are getting Kanye lyrically circa 2010 and definitely no where near his earlier work, the lyrics aren't good - but that's expected. Musically I'd say this record is kind of a mess, in the sense that there are often beautiful moments juxtaposed with things that annoy me, like the decision to have autotune absolutely everywhere, for example near the end of FML there are some really cool sounding keys added to the song, but then more vocals come in and ruin it. Near the end of "Wolves" there is a very cool guitar-ish sound that sounds awesome, but before that I've had to sit through Kanye's autotune. I think this is a better album than Yeezus, but it seems kinda weirdly sequenced and is overall is kinda meh-ok

songs I enjoyed:
Ultra Light Beam: maybe the best track on the album, Chance has THE BEST verse on the album
Real Friends
No More Parties In LA (that beat is dope as fuck madlib)
30 Hours (great first half and the second half almost plays as if it should be the outro to the album)

HAHAHAHA!

This, nigguh...lol...smh

>HAHAHAHA!
>
>This, nigguh...lol...smh

It's not done so that would be about right. There's a few liftoffs on this one.

Unfortunately, the information we received from him just made us all fill in the remaining blanks with more 'this prolly wasn't done' thoughts. If we woulda just stfu, maybe we wouldn't hear this album the same.

I have no idea how waves almost didn't make it. Even Nas is like 'man, you can't leave that song off'. At least Chance was there to cuss at folks until something happened.

30 hours...if we don't get 3k on that at some point, I'll be sad. Tip and Rawse and Frank were able to get something out of Mr. Been Jammin. Him casually cooing '30 hours' ain't gonna cut it for me. At all. He'd roast the hell out of that song. Cons did his thing too but cmon Dre...haha. It reminds me of that time JayZ was 'supposed to be on' We Major. The beat stopped, I thought it was on, then Kanye adlibbed for a minute...with echoes. Damnit!

ha! I didn't even know Jay was supposed to be on "We Major"...that woulda definitely been the best Jay/Nas collab (even tho Nas only went medium hard on his verse). "Success" was real dope tho.

...

Get Tidal to pay for one million albums and soft release it there. Then come back a week or two later with the deluxe edition finished with another bonus disc.

Nobody.

Flashing Lights
Street Lights
All of the Lights
Ultra Light Beam
Low Lights
Highlights

werd.

Album sounds thrown together. He's letting the young dudes guide him instead of being a leader. Never thought that would happen with Ye. So far I'm liking this less than Yeezus

Yeezus got 9.5

There's some very good songs here. Too much bad autotuned singing and vocals though. I'm amazed that shit is still not only acceptable, but actually LIKED by some people. SMH. Was hoping it was just a phase that everyone would look back and cringe at once the newness wore off, but nope. It's still here.

Overall the album is ok, but could've been a lot better. Same problem Dr. Dre's last album had....too many terrible vocals.

no idea what the obsession with autotune vocals is about, has always sounded terrible and Ye' has a terrible singing voice anyway..

I was thinking the same thing. Who likes that shit? Even auto tune can't cover up terrible singing. And I get that it's not about being a strong vocalist but more of a style choice, but that style is the pits.

>Put it all here. Hopeful it drops today...

Start at around 3:25 and at 4:50...that's the good stuff right there.

http://www.factmag.com/2016/02/14/kanye-west-samples-the-life-of-pablo/

I expected nothing less, but yep...grand source material is a hallmark throughout Kanye's sampling career. He's hella reliable for that no matter what.

With no Kanye vocals

- no autotune
- a cohesive theme
- no Kanye vocals period, like you said

I didn't like Acid Rap really, found it to be quite meh outside of a few key moments (much like this album), but there is clearly some great talent there, "Ultralight Beam" is an amazing song and Chance was the highlight, if they are capable of making music of that quality together I'm all for it....

Right now, Chance's third mixtape is probably my most anticipated 2016 release.
And he absolutely murdered Ultralight Beams

No surprise, we're all talking about the Kanye album. I've always been a Kanye fan (.../defender...) but he makes it pretty hard here. But, there are still moments that are great. Is this what it feels like to be in an abusive relationship? Some bullet notes:

-Most misogynist thing he's done. Like, over the top. It's not usually a big consideration for me, I can look past the occasional quip, but some of this is ridiculous. Especially when you think "He has a beautiful wife! He has 2 kids!"

-Some of it sounds like "Kanye visits the trap." Or otherwise, not fresh. Young Thug doesn't need to be on here.

-How does he outshine Kendrick Lamar!!!

-The production is great

-It's bloated. A lot of unnecessary elements to songs (I love Frank Ocean, but Wolves doesn't need his outro), and some tracks are not carrying weight. Here's the playlist I put together and I'm enjoying it a lot more.


WAVES
Producers: Kanye West and Dro

1. Ultralight Beam
2. Pt. 2
3. No More Parties in LA
4. Famous
5. I love Kanye
6. Real Friends
7. Wolves
8. All Day (Yes, an addition... I consider it part of the TLOP suite)
9. Silver Surfer Intermission
10. Waves
11. 30 Hours (Bonus Track)
12. Fade (Bonus Track)

This way its a more focused statement. +/- 45 mins. Try it.

>No surprise, we're all talking about the Kanye album. I've
>always been a Kanye fan (.../defender...) but he makes it
>pretty hard here. But, there are still moments that are great.
>Is this what it feels like to be in an abusive relationship?
>Some bullet notes:
>
>-Most misogynist thing he's done. Like, over the top. It's not
>usually a big consideration for me, I can look past the
>occasional quip, but some of this is ridiculous. Especially
>when you think "He has a beautiful wife! He has 2 kids!"
>
>-Some of it sounds like "Kanye visits the trap." Or otherwise,
>not fresh. Young Thug doesn't need to be on here.
>
>-How does he outshine Kendrick Lamar!!!
>
>-The production is great
>
>-It's bloated. A lot of unnecessary elements to songs (I love
>Frank Ocean, but Wolves doesn't need his outro), and some
>tracks are not carrying weight. Here's the playlist I put
>together and I'm enjoying it a lot more.
>
>
>WAVES
>Producers: Kanye West and Dro
>
>1. Ultralight Beam
>2. Pt. 2
>3. No More Parties in LA
>4. Famous
>5. I love Kanye
>6. Real Friends
>7. Wolves
>8. All Day (Yes, an addition... I consider it part of the TLOP
>suite)
>9. Silver Surfer Intermission
>10. Waves
>11. 30 Hours (Bonus Track)
>12. Fade (Bonus Track)
>
>This way its a more focused statement. +/- 45 mins. Try it.

Do we really need a 45 sec interlude (5. I love Kanye)?

Wanted same thing as dro — a more concise, focused album.

However we don't seem to agree on what those tracks should be.

Here's mine:

1. Ultralight Beam
2. Father Stretch pt 1
3. Pt 2
4. Famous
5. Feedback
6. Freestyle 4
7. Fade
8. FML
9. Facts (CH version)
10. I Love Kanye
11. Real Friends
12. Wolves
13. 30 Hours (Good fridays version)

First 5 tracks work for me; from there I thought it needed to be focused and I think this alt version does that. I'm also back and forth on FML, that could be taken out.

Thoughts?

ps — I Hated Facts v1 — but there's something about this beat that totally changed my mind.

Guess I won't own this Ye album

KANYE WESTVerified account
‏@kanyewest
My album will never never never be on Apple. And it will never be for sale... You can only get it on Tidal.
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/699376240709402624

I listen to most of my music on Spotify these days and buy vinyl. If I can't hear it on Spotify chances are I will only hear it when someone else plays it for me. I hate Kanye and his recent output hasn't made me feel it's necessary to actively seek him out so chances are pretty good I won't hear this for a long time.

I like when decisions are made for me.
I didn't know whether i'd cop the vinyl or not...I dig it, just wasn't sure how much yet.
I'm not subscribing to Tidal tho.

I don't see a label being into not selling (one of the most anticipated) albums.
All this hoopla, and it's just going to stream?
Nah, I don't see it. Surely it will be for sale, at some point.

I'm asking out of complete ignorance because I don't mess with getting musically digitally for the most part.

Rihanna's new album was a tidal exclusive for a week and then other outlets got it

*leaves thread*

Lots of benefits to streaming, but the penchant for exclusives is a terrible development. I don't service hop anymore - and more often than not, what isn't on the service I use I just don't check out (unless it's a tried and true artist for me, at which point I'm buying the record asap anyway...).

I also have no idea why he would forego a hard copy altogether? Even just make it a limited edition run or something...


-thebigfunk

~ i could still snort you under the table ~

looks like I will never know if your album is good or not, it's probably okay.

I love Kanye, but he's handling this like a tool.

Just begrudgingly popped this album in. Is he trolling with this garbage? His music has always been bad but this is next level doofy. No wonder he was too pussy to release it for sale. Those diminished returns would bury this idiot for good.

You have a cleft asshole.

You'd be hard pressed to find a bigger Kanye stan than myself, but I've listened to this enough through the weekend to deliver a pretty objective review I think.

Echoing a lot of what others have already said and what you'll see in a lot of other reviews - this album is terribly uneven but close to being arguably his best work.

Getting the bad out of the way:
- There's about a handful of actually bad songs. He hasn't made many of those to date, but there's an abundance of filler and trash here. "Highlights" is sugary sweet and not nearly as good as he thinks it is, "Father Stretch My Hands" is pandering, "Facts" is the worst song he's ever put on a record.

- It's totally possible that he's not right mentally, but even then lines about nailing Taylor Swift and bleached assholes are still unforgivable. Him being a 38 year old father of two now makes them even more perplexing. Those two lines in particular are reminiscent of Eminem's worst moments and take me completely out of the moment on both occasions.


Now the good (and there's a lot of it):

- Ultralight Beam is a top 10 Kanye song, maybe top 5 even. It harkens back to the warm and extravagant production of Fantasy and Late Registration while never veering into cheese. Similar to Nicki's verse on "Monster", Chance makes a star turn here. It's easily the best song on the album and will make its case as one of the best records in his discography when all's said and done.

- No one has ever used guest appearances better than Kanye West, and nearly every role player here makes a statement: Frank Ocean's tender and muted delivery on Wolves is stirring, and though Post Malone will never be mentioned again after this album he's the primary reason "Fade" goes from being good to being special.


This album was close to being something brilliant, it could've been a live look at a wild man settling down and actually liking it. That would've been a great story to tell coming off of the violent hedonism of Yeezus. When he said this was a gospel album, he was actually closer to being right than this album would leave you to believe. "Ultralight Beam", "FML", "Waves", "Wolves", "Real Friends", and even last year's "Only One" shine a spotlight on a formerly torrid soul accepting the domestic life and ultimately relishing it. Scattered underwhelming interruptions like "Freestyle 4" hinder the potential of the narrative. But that's ok - the highs still far outweigh the lows, even if this his first non-concept album. In the end, Kanye's "really good" is still far better than what the majority of his peers are capable of on their best days.

I was wrong; you have a canyon asshole. Kanye stans are actually redefining what a song/album is to justify his stupidity.

1. Graduation
2. 808s
3. MBDTF
4. TLOP
5. Late Reg
6. CD
7. Yeezus

the strangest thing about Ye's discog is that every one of his albums has been called a classic or trash by some one. there is very little grey with his career work.

personally, none of his albums are masterpieces top to bottom, but i enjoy all of them and he always has 2-5 songs on them that are just indispensable to my playlists for that year

dude is a legend and without a doubt the most important mainstream artist of the past decade.

where if you poll a room full of 100 fans what their true favorite Kanye album is, every one of his album would at least get a few votes. Like you said, even albums some fans think are rubbish (for me that's 808s) others swear by (you have it at 2). My pick for his best overall quality album without any bias for nostalgia or any other personal opinion would be Graduation, but so many people consider that an average album.

It's a great catalog, and IMO one of the best in hip hop. It's certainly a very interesting one to say the least.

1. Late Registration
2. College Dropout
3. Graduation
4. MBDTF
5. TLOP
6. 808s
7. Yeezus

....he pretty much talked his way into classics rather than necessarily making them, if that makes sense.

For Jay, he said "I'm the greatest rapper alive" so many times, the media started pushing that narrative which resulted in a lot of the fans believing it.

In regards to Kanye, he proclaims every single album he makes to be the best ever made, so I think reviews tend to be slanted because of the grandiose expectations and larger-than-life stadium sound he tends to employ, on top of his braggadocio, which again results in the fans maybe overstating an album's importance at some point as well.

That's not to say that he doesn't have great albums, he definitely does, and several of them....I just think that the way you put it is apt in regards to his catalogue: he hasn't dropped a top to bottom masterpiece, yet every one of his albums has like 4 or 5 INCREDIBLE songs, amazing pieces of art that no one but him could create, then a few really good tracks, then a couple duds. Which to me means most his albums (808s and Yeezus excluded) are really, really good, but not necessarily the perfect, flawless front to back classics that he wants us to believe they are/the media portrays them to be.

My favorite example of this in his catalogue is MBDTF. When it dropped, everyone in media immediately certified it a classic album and perfect front to back. Meanwhile the expectations were so high that when I heard it I was TOTALLY underwhelmed and besides 2 or 3 songs didn't really touch it for like a year. But then when the hype died down and I decided his talent and history made every album he drops worthy of a second chance, I gave it a chance with unbiased ears and really liked it. I still think the narrative surrounding it is a little overblown ("Monster" is a song that people rave about that I'm kinda "meh - really?" about) but outside of 2-3 songs I find it to be a really good album with replay value.

Anyway I just typed a whole lot of words to try and say that I think Jay's influence on Kanye's ego may be understated a bit. Obviously Kanye had a universe-sized ego to begin with but I do believe that Jay's penchant for proclaiming himself to be the best rubbed off on Kanye as well.

music is such a subjective thing - like many have touched on, people love 808s and that's easily my least favorite album. So if you don't dig Fantasy I can believe it because that's your opinion. But it seems most regard that at as his finest work. It's not my favorite, but I would agree that's the best front to back album he's ever put together.


My personal favorites list:

7. 808s
6. Pablo
5. College Dropout
4. Graduation
3. Late Registration
2. Dark Twisted Fantasy
1. Yeezus

>music is such a subjective thing - like many have touched on,
>people love 808s and that's easily my least favorite album. So
>if you don't dig Fantasy I can believe it because that's your
>opinion. But it seems most regard that at as his finest work.
>It's not my favorite, but I would agree that's the best front
>to back album he's ever put together.

And Kanye, like you or someone else already said, is certainly one of the more polarizing in regards to his discography because every person you speak to has a different favorite and a different order. Which really speaks to his talent in my opinion.

And yes - you are correct in that MBDTF seems to be his most consistently celebrated album. I only used that album as my illustration because it seemed to me to be the first time he came out and said "I'm dropping the greatest album ever" and made it a narrative rather than just dropping the album and letting the work speak for itself.

What's interesting too about MBDTF is that while you and many others hold the belief that it's his best front to back album (again, all subjective), to me it was his least *cohesive* in sound to that point. College Dropout had a similar feel throughout with the soul samples and the kind of backpacky/underground feel it employed. Late Registration was all tied together by the stretched out orchestral instrumentals; even if it was a little long it had a consistent feel to it. Graduation was his most focused effort, short and to the point but had that "stadium" feel to it throughout, never really venturing from that sort of grandiose soundscape. 808s was (shitty) auto-tune and singing. MBDTF was, to me at least, the first time to that point that a Kanye album felt like just a collection of songs rather than a cohesive artistic statement. To this day I listen to that album and still don't feel that it has any kind of identifying theme or consistent soundscape. Which may, in addition to the media's knob-slobbing about it, be a big factor in why I was so lukewarm about it my first few times through. Like I asid I've come to appreciate it because a lot of the songs are insanely good, and I also love the Hawaii story about *how* it was created ("Rap Camp")...all I'm saying is that I don't feel that it has any kind of cohesive feel to it.

that seems to be his most polarizing work, but ironically I think that's the most cohesive front-to-back sound you'll hear across any of his albums

I agree that it's cohesive, but it hurts my ears to listen to that album. Lyrically it's atrociously misogynistic and boring from a technical standpoint (pretty standard for him but this album went above and beyond his typical shit) and the production is everything I hate about modern hip-hop.

But as I've often said in regards to Kanye and other artists of his ilk, I'd rather have him continuously push the envelope and create something I may not necessarily like than to keep dropping the same album over and over again, so from an artistic standpoint (production-wise, I never really judge his albums on his lyrics) I can at least appreciate what he was going for even if the sound isn't my cup of tea.

over Last Registration and Graduation, which had more hits? College Dropout, even?

I think people hated 808s that much they were just glad to hear him rappin' again. Yeezus >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

>RE: I don't get why people like that album so much, man....
>over Last Registration and Graduation, which had more hits?
>College Dropout, even?
>
>I think people hated 808s that much they were just glad to
>hear him rappin' again. Yeezus >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

From Most to Least Favorite:
1. The College Dropout
2. Graduation
3. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
4. Late Registration
5. Yeezus
6. The Life of Pablo
7. 808s & Heartbreak

Top 4 are all 4.5 to 5 star albums, Yeezus is a 3, Pablo is a 2 and 808s are 2s.

Switched the order over the past few weeks

7. The Life of Pablo (2016)
6. Yeezus (2013)
5. The College Dropout (2004)
4. 808s & Heartbreak (2008)
3. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010)
2. Graduation (2007)
1. Late Registration (2005)

Except depending on mood I swap 808s and college dropout and also swap graduation and late registration.

College Dropout changed my world
Late Registration changed my life
808s has grown so much on me
Dark Fantasy is hip-hop's "dark side of the moon"

>Dark Fantasy is hip-hop's "dark side of the moon"

>College Dropout changed my world
>Late Registration changed my life


How do you even quantify that? Lol

College Dropout came out when I was a sophomore in college I believe. I was up on Ye as I had supported his mix tapes and he was one of my favorite producers. His goals almost seemed in fathomable by becoming a successful artist as well as bridging the underground and mainstream hip hop worlds. Here was someone being true to themselves, someone somewhat like me, that almost in a blink of an eye, everyone around me LOVED. I went from receiving questions from retailers when I tried to cop his mistakes, to watching Ye in sold out venues with everyone knowing all his words and wearing his merch.....
Changed my world.

I copped an MPC a month after Late Registration dropped.... Changed my life

Peace,
6

We have a very different concept of the phrases "changed my life" and "changed my world".

None taken.
I was speaking somewhat cerebrally.
I thought I might have further explained it.

But

"Changed my world" has literally only to do with me. Not anyone else. My world, my view.

1. MBDTF
2. Late

3. Dropout
4. Throne

5. Pablo
6. Yeezus
7. Grad









8. 808s <The only wack one.

Perfection
1. MBDTF
2. Yeezus
3. Late Registration

Classic
4. 808s (when it's all said and done this will be considered his greatest contribution to music)
5. TLOP

Great but flawed
6. Graduation
7. College Dropout

Albums that I think are great

1. Late Registration
2. MBDTF
3. College Dropout

Albums that I think are ok/meh

4. The Life Of Pablo - though the jury is still out obviously as it just came out

Albums that I think are poor

5. Graduation
6. Watch The Throne
7. Yeezus
8. 808s

Here are mine

1. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
2. Late Registration
3. Graduation
4. 808s & Heartbreak
5. The Life of Pablo
6. Yeezus
.
.
.
.
.
7. The College Dropout

i think it just shows that he has an album for everybody really.

1. Late Registration
2. 808's
3. Graduation
4. TLOP
5. MBDTF
6. Yeezus
7. Watch The Throne
8. College Dropout

and its crazy that an album i like as much as CD is his worst album.

1. Late Registration
2. Dark Fantasy
3. College Dropout
4. Graduation
5. TLOP
6. Yeezus
7. 808s

...

1. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy: 9.72
2. Late Registration: 8.93
3. The College Dropout: 8.65
4. Watch the Throne: 8.31
5. Be: 8.00
6. Graduation: 7.95
7. Yeezus: 7.79
(The Life of Pablo)
8. Cruel Summer: 6.73
9. Finding Forever: 5.68


Includes the two albums he majority produced for Common because that's just how my system worked. I've still only had a couple full listens to Pablo but it's been my walk around joint since it came out and I've convinced my girlfriend to keep it running in the car even though she kind of hates it so I've heard several of the songs several times. Musically interesting but has a severely unfinished feel, and for every great line there's two bad ones. I don't think the score would be too far off from Yeezus as of right now but it's a far less enjoyable album overall than that one was.





~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

>1. MBDTF
>2. Late reg
>3. 808s
>4. Yeezus
>5. College Dropout
>6. TLOP
>7. Graduation

1. Graduation
2. Late Reg
3. MBDTF
4. College Dropout
5. 808's
6. TLOP
7. Yeezus

>personally, none of his albums are masterpieces top to bottom,
>but i enjoy all of them and he always has 2-5 songs on them
>that are just indispensable to my playlists for that year
>
>dude is a legend and without a doubt the most important
>mainstream artist of the past decade.

and I agree with this.

anyway... I keep changing my ranks with him, but here's how I feel about them now. I'll do like BrooklynWHAT here and group them into how I feel about them

Indispensable
1. Last Registration

Good to Great
1. Graduation
2. College Dropout
3. Yeezus
4. 808s and Heartbreak
5. The Life of Pablo

It's Cool... I Guess
1. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Porcelain Toilet

I tried to listen to DTPT again and now I realize why I don't go back to it often.... them songs are LONG AS SHIT with all this UN-autotuned singing and bullshit... and they don't have the nerve to be good enough to be that long! "Power" was the shit, but everything else... rrrrgh.

I feel the same way about that album the way y'all thought about Cherry Bomb (which, by the way, has become my 2nd favorite Tyler album... I wish "ALONE" and "FUCK IT" were songs on that album or end up on some Ultra-Deluxe Edition in the future)

Or is it exclusive to Tidal?

I can't imagine that actually being the case though.

---------------------------------------


---------------------------------------

That Tidal exclusivity plan to push new subscribers sure is working.

http://www.engadget.com/2016/02/16/kanye-west-the-life-of-pablo-piracy-tidal-exclusive/

It's been either the top or second to top free app download since the album came out

i'd like to see what their retention numbers are a month or two from now

if anything that just shows how far torrents have fallen

Guess CyHi is still one of Ye's main writers

http://www.kanyewest.com/credits/

My memory could be wrong there I suppose. Also appears Drake got some writing credit on one of the songs as well. Dude is everywhere it seems.

I really want to know how Kanye's mainstream fans react to Madlib's contribution. I love the song, but it sounds completely disjointed form the majority of the sound on TLOP.

http://www75.zippyshare.com/v/zbg4lVac/file.html

http://www.teamkanyedaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Screen-Shot-2016-01-28-at-5.22.57-PM.png

with less fat and the tracks in that order it sounds soooooo much better now

I know that's considered "coppin pleas" around here though, so I just kept it too myself

yeah I'd be conflicted about leaving that song off just because that "ghetto Oprah" moment is a side of Kanye we don't see enough of anymore. I know similar jokes have been made, but I love that moment on the album.

>http://www.teamkanyedaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Screen-Shot-2016-01-28-at-5.22.57-PM.png
>
>with less fat and the tracks in that order it sounds soooooo
>much better now

I wonder if Dre3k was really supposed to have a full thing on 30 hours but somehow didn't get cleared or done in time. Getting a dope verse from him and Kendrick on back to back songs woulda been silly nice. Sticking that duo of songs in the middle of the album would change some negative opinions. That's two wouldas...

I'm so in love with No More Parties (and Susie Thundertussy AND how the two songs go together in crazy ways).

I think this thing has good songs on it, but there's impressively questionable/bad stuff too. And yep...the sequence is an issue.

I'll try this Waves edition with some adds.

Jimaveli

Now if there was a way to delete the "bleached asshole" line off Father Stretch My Hands....then we'd really have something.

Never have I gone from enjoying a song to "WTF???!!" status so quickly. This nutbag needs someone in the studio to check him on his dumb shit in the worst way.

The first verse of Waves needs a do-over also..
And the first verse of Famous...

and this is officialy in my top 3 kanye albums ever..too bad the retail version is such a mess

He's not on the song, it's not exactly remarkable musically even if it is a bit feel good and grand...why did he essentially convince Kanye to delay the album, and what did he do to that song that made it fit for the album? He's got a writer's credit and that's it, but the photo they put out with his tweet made it seem pretty clear he was working the boards...

I don't know why I'm so fixated on that one aspect of the album right now but that's where I'm at.

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

was this before the album name changed?

And I suppose the answer is, Kanye went ahead and put out the original version anyway?


http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2016/02/chance-the-rapper-waves-alternate-version/


This fucking album release, man.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

On his IG, he has the verse written on the SWISH tracklist...
It sounds like him if you think about it.

Waves could be a GREAT fucking song if it didnt have that dumbass first verse

https://www.reddit.com/r/Kanye/comments/46fhqk/all_180216_leaks/

Currently:

(OG) Highlights (feat. Young Thug):
http://www55.zippyshare.com/v/wUPjK1Oi/file.html

(OG) Waves (feat. Chris Brown):
http://www79.zippyshare.com/v/rjufajcU/file.html

(OG) FML (feat. Travis Scott & The Weeknd):
http://www79.zippyshare.com/v/dQFgnrNm/file.html

(OG) Fade (feat. Ty Dolla $ign & Post Malone):
http://www44.zippyshare.com/v/cFTRsxXp/file.html

(NEW) Fall Out of Heaven (feat. The-Dream & Bon Iver):
http://www104.zippyshare.com/v/MYe3Pnzg/file.html

(NEW) New Angels:
http://www34.zippyshare.com/v/8rphpl7d/file.html

(NEW) The Mind Is Powerful (feat. Swizz Beatz):
http://www79.zippyshare.com/v/MnBa8vWe/file.html

All tracks + some more DL:
http://www55.zippyshare.com/v/eRWgjs88/file.html

s/o to /u/evangelix, for full zip tracklist:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Kanye/comments/46fjjz/fucking_hot_fresh_leaks_full_zip_of_the_og_tlop/

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

lol..this shit is rediculous...a lego album

http://www7.zippyshare.com/v/AvbGCeLB/file.html

>http://www7.zippyshare.com/v/AvbGCeLB/file.html

Thanks sir. Wow. This project is a compelling mess. Here my Dear.

He could pull a Capcom and redrop TLOP with different sequencing, songs and edits, and we'd take it...especially if it is much better than the thing on Tidal right now. This is like those Marvin 2-disc remasters with far less coverage for Kanye (all the flubs and stuff). Or like a Nas album release when a bunch of songs come out later that make you wonder wth everyone was thinking when Braveheart party is on the scene.

Give me the lyrics from that long-winded Highlights..I enjoyed that much more than what felt like 40 seconds too much of Dream trying to convincingly lay out that absurd cat call to 'every bad bitch up in Equinox'.

Okay okay...I even like Only One even if it is in that Hey Mama 'too cheesy/honest to deny it' type of way.

This could be a supreme double CD. First disc would be the last gasp at being single and the 2nd disc could be the domesticated + turning spiritua...let me stop. None of this is happening.

Pusha T, Big Sean, and Cyhi need to get to writing and help him finish The Mind is Powerful too.

I can't even describe how much I love that Waves OG sample.

Can't decide on the title. Dualing sensibilities. God is in. God is NOT in. People are starting to REALLY wonder what's going on with the artist personally more than ever. Weird interviews/promotion. Drugs. Scrapped ideas, songs, and lyrics. Worried about the future. His own future. There's even a fake imaginary future...hehe. Going from one heavy relationship to another and popping out kids. And it could easily be unraveling behind the scenes since you know...dude is going/gone outta his mind. Oh...and the kids. Yeah that's closer.



>>http://www7.zippyshare.com/v/AvbGCeLB/file.html
>
>Thanks sir. Wow. This project is a compelling mess. Here my
>Dear.
>
>He could pull a Capcom and redrop TLOP with different
>sequencing, songs and edits, and we'd take it...especially if
>it is much better than the thing on Tidal right now. This is
>like those Marvin 2-disc remasters with far less coverage for
>Kanye (all the flubs and stuff). Or like a Nas album release
>when a bunch of songs come out later that make you wonder wth
>everyone was thinking when Braveheart party is on the scene.
>
>Give me the lyrics from that long-winded Highlights..I enjoyed
>that much more than what felt like 40 seconds too much of
>Dream trying to convincingly lay out that absurd cat call to
>'every bad bitch up in Equinox'.
>
>Okay okay...I even like Only One even if it is in that Hey
>Mama 'too cheesy/honest to deny it' type of way.
>
>This could be a supreme double CD. First disc would be the
>last gasp at being single and the 2nd disc could be the
>domesticated + turning spiritua...let me stop. None of this is
>happening.
>
>Pusha T, Big Sean, and Cyhi need to get to writing and help
>him finish The Mind is Powerful too.
>
>I can't even describe how much I love that Waves OG sample.
>

Properly labelled and tagged. I have mild OCD and I felt like giving back.

May I get a copy too?

Por favor?

Inbox Please?

And thank you.

can I get that inbox?

Inbox if you don't mind.

Thanks

Appreciate it.

________________________________________________________________

You cannot conquer what you will not confront.
_________________________
being a company man never pays off.
you can love the company, the company will never love you. � okp illegal

.

plz

peace.

__
I don't like the beat anymore because its just a loop. ALC didn't FLIP IT ENOUGH!

Flip it enough? Flip these. Flip off. Go flip some f*cking burgers.(c)Kno

Allied State of the National Electric Beat Treaty Organization (NEBTO)

Please, sir may I have inbox?

i can't believe some of the mixes that ended up on TLOP

the versions of Wolves, FML and 30 Hours in this zip are so much better. I mean the whole atmosphere of Wolves feels fuller and stronger and Ocean part is def better to begin.

"new god flow" and "don't like" didn't need to be added, but in retrospect "All Day" def should've been on the album. with the performance no longer looming so large over the song, the CDQ is actually pretty damn dope and fits with the feel of TLOP

the version of "waves" is ehh, but i def need it with the Chance verse

Half of these joints are sketches of actual songs. Some dope beats here and there. Guests I couldn't care less about. But then again I'm old do I guess it's not for me.
But a track like Wolves is useless to my ears. No direction. Dumbed down lyrics. I like more actual hip-hop from my hip-hop. Real Friends, No more parties and 30 hours are sick.

5/10.

My thoughts exactly when listening to the album. Most of the songs really feel like sketches, or sometimes even a couple of song sketches thrown together. Kanye's worst album lyrically too - it has some moments, but a lot of it is really dumbed down compared to something like MBDTF.

This album feels like an attempt to be post-modern with no real direction - half ideas just tossed together.

30 Hours and no more parties are really the strongest offerings on the album...

and what is with all of these super brief vocal cameos? do we really need 10 seconds of El Debarge or of Andre 3000? It just leaves the listener begging for more with no direction to the song. I don't understand why Kanye thought "disjointed and helter skelter" was art this time around. Yeezus was just way more cohesive.

>Kanye's worst album lyrically
>too - it has some moments, but a lot of it is really dumbed
>down compared to something like MBDTF.

>>Kanye's worst album lyrically
>>too - it has some moments, but a lot of it is really dumbed
>>down compared to something like MBDTF.


Considering the atrociousness of Yeezus' lyrics, that means this
album is toilet residue. He even said Yeezus was more cohesive LOL.
But hey, I listened to both albums, and I'd have to say TLOP actually
has a couple of songs I *might* keep in my collection, so I do
disagree slightly. I don't think either album is very much worth a
damn tho.

Why didn't he give this beat to an actual emcee?

I'll give it another spin or 2 before sticking to that, but the good ones are among his best, but the bad ones are definitely among his worst.

Pic of the test press:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BB-ohd9GPIM/?taken-by=madlib

I'm not sure how to treat it now that there these extra tracks. I might just do the "released" tracklisting and then add the rest as BONUS songs.

1. Ultralight Beam _ Great song, great opener.

2. Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1 - (the asshole lines are so bad, but I like the rest of the song)

3. I Love Kanye - sometimes I give this a listen. It's funny, though it obviously doesn't have much replay value.

4. Waves - This grew on me.

5. Real Friends - Best Kanye song in many years. This is the Kanye I love.

6. Wolves - Cool instrumental....Kanye is unbearable on this song though. Really stupid lyrics, but I think he really thinks he's being deep or something too. I tolerate the first 2:50 or so of the song to get to the last minute which is great.

7. 30 Hours _ Like others have said, if Andre spit this would be so much better. But it's cool.

8. No More Parties in LA _ Good song, dope beat.


That's it for me. Would make a solid EP, which is an improvement on everything else he's put out this decade.

yall wanna play hardball? I only wanted a piece of the action.
apple gonna only have drake.

this could get ugly.

album is REALLY DOPE. funny Ye back. electro pop gospel.

and a KILLER Swizzy banger.

people are tripping over that line but i find it funny and enjoy saying it.

the line that bugs me the most is on 30 hours.

"I wake up in the morning accessing the damages"

smh. just like the 300 Romans line on Black Skinhead, this lyric proves Ye is either surrounding himself with yes men or idiots in the studio.

I miss the old Kanye ghostwriters.

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

I love 30 Hours. Struggling to work out what is wrong with that line? "I wake up, assessing the damages."

>I love 30 Hours. Struggling to work out what is wrong with
>that line? "I wake up, assessing the damages."

he clearly says access, NOT assess.

Ahh ok, I wondered if that was the problem. I guess he is trying to make "ex says" rhyme with assess by pronouncing it "axe-sess". Doesn't really bother me but I can see how it could annoy someone.

there were a good number of songs i really had to struggle to finish. not a good showing by ye.

Some thoughts if anyone cares...

I love and hate this album. I love to listen to it, parts get stuck in my head crazy. He really made a cohesive-sounding project. Some of the cringeworthy lyrics are the best ones. The others are the worst ones.

I definitely skip around on this.

I do not play this album out loud because it's embarrassing to listen to around other human beings. It's like your subconscious got mic'd up.

I love hearing this and thinking about it in the context of a married man.

The misogyny is really painful to listen to at times. Lyrically it is largely pretty stupid. Musically, directionally, moodwise it's pretty amazing.

But great painters don't necessarily make work that is beautiful or easy to look at. Maybe that's a cop out, but I have been obsessed with listening to TLoP. I wish the rollout was better. But that is pretty fascinating, too.

Hearing the album after those head-scratcher SNL performances was jarring, as well.

>Some thoughts if anyone cares...
>
>I love and hate this album. I love to listen to it, parts get
>stuck in my head crazy. He really made a cohesive-sounding
>project. Some of the cringeworthy lyrics are the best ones.
>The others are the worst ones.
>
yuo

>I definitely skip around on this.
>
yup

>I do not play this album out loud because it's embarrassing to
>listen to around other human beings. It's like your
>subconscious got mic'd up.
>
lofl. what an excellent description

>I love hearing this and thinking about it in the context of a
>married man.
>
>The misogyny is really painful to listen to at times.
>Lyrically it is largely pretty stupid. Musically,
>directionally, moodwise it's pretty amazing.
>
agreed

>But great painters don't necessarily make work that is
>beautiful or easy to look at. Maybe that's a cop out, but I
>have been obsessed with listening to TLoP. I wish the rollout
>was better. But that is pretty fascinating, too.
>
again, agreed

>Hearing the album after those head-scratcher SNL performances
>was jarring, as well.

i still haven't watched them

...skip the snl performances...

Somewhere around 4 a.m. in the quiet hours of an early January morning, Andrew Dawson's phone started ringing. When the longtime producer and recording engineer answered, Kanye West was on the line asking Dawson to come to West's home studio in Calabasas, Calif. to work on his forthcoming seventh solo album. Dawson didn't even wait until daybreak. "I went out and started working on the record every day with him since then," he says over the phone from his Los Angeles recording studio. "Answer those 4 a.m. calls, everybody."

Dawson, 35, had gotten those calls before. As a young engineer, he helped mix West's debut album, The College Dropout, winning a Grammy before age 25. He's worked on each of West's albums in some capacity since, from chipping in on a pre-Rick Rubin Yeezus to manning the boards for nine months straight while West crafted My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. West isn't the only blue chip artist Dawson has worked with, having engineered for Beyoncé, Rick Ross, Snoop Dogg and Nas, among many others. When he got the call this time around, he stepped into a work environment that was in constant motion. "Noah , main engineer, was just getting tired being up 24 hours a day," Dawson says. "He was like, 'We need you to come in and take kind of a shift,' so to speak. I would usually show up to the studio around midnight and then leave around noon the next day. And there was definitely stuff still happening at six, seven, eight in the morning: writing, laying down verses, trying out beat ideas, that sort of stuff. So it was kind of a round-the-clock operation. Makes it pretty intense."

West had been working, in his words slowly, on the follow up to 2013's Yeezus, but he kicked things into high gear in the new year. On Jan. 8, he released the single "Real Friends" featuring Ty Dolla $ign and tweeted "SWISH February 11 16," suggesting a release date for the album that would eventually be re-titled Waves, then The Life of Pablo. At the time, the album was still a collection of ideas; some songs, like "Fade" and "No More Parties In L.A.," were essentially done, while others had yet to be created. With a deadline set, Kanye began bringing in producers, rappers, DJs and singers, shifting operations from his Calabasas home to Ameraycan Recording Studios in North Hollywood. On Jan. 25, he tweeted a photo of a track list handwritten on his now-famous notebook and declared, for the first time, that the album was done.

It wasn't, course -- and it still isn't, despite the fact that it was released, sort of, in the early hours of Sunday morning (Feb. 14), one hour after West's performance on Saturday Night Live. But that Jan. 25 track list -- all 10 songs on the notepad made it onto Pablo -- was the first clear point of reference for what would make up the core of the record for Dawson and the rest of West's team of engineers and producers. Over the next two weeks, Kanye changed the title twice, updated the notebook -- steadily filling up with collaborators' signatures -- three times with new track lists, and announced that Feb. 11 wasn't the day Pablo would be made public, but instead the debut of his adidas-funded Yeezy Season 3 fashion show at Madison Square Garden, where he would premiere the album for the first time.

In the week leading up to the show, West moved his operation to New York City, setting up his team at Jungle City Studios in Manhattan as 12-hour shifts morphed into 20-hour (or more) days. The album, or at least the "partial version" that currently exists as a stream on Tidal, eventually stumbled out into the world three days after the main event in Madison Square Garden. This week, Billboard spoke to Dawson -- who has production and writing credits on Pablo in addition to his work as an engineer -- about that final frantic week, the "spontaneous, collaborative" feel of the studio sessions, and watching Kirk Franklin arrange the choral section on "Ultralight Beam" in 10 minutes flat.

What was the past week like for you?

Even though we initially decided to do the shift thing, all of us were pretty much at the studio 24 hours a day. I'd maybe go home and sleep for four hours, so doing the 12-hour work shift didn't really happen these last two, three weeks. And it was pretty intense to be honest with you. When Chance came in and wanted "Waves" to be on the record that last night, it was intense just finishing it up and getting everything done and polished the way it needed to be. The added songs on the track listing were cool, too; I was like, "Cool, let's give the fans more." I was actually kind of happy to see that more stuff was getting released rather than less, because it was all songs that we had been working on.

Were there any particular memories that stick out in your mind from those sessions?

When Kirk Franklin came in with the choir, they actually cut that at my studio across the street from Ameraycan. So he came in and got his choir going and was listening to the song, and in about 10 minutes -- maybe even less -- of him just listening to the song and figuring out the arrangement on the piano, he sat down his choir and he goes, "Tenors, here's your line. Altos, here's your line. Sopranos, here's your line." And he had the whole arrangement worked out in his head in less than 10 minutes. And obviously when you hear the result (on "Ultralight Beam"), it's a great choral arrangement, and the choir adds a super impact to that song.

And then seeing all the people's contributions when they would come in with straight fire. Like Charlie Heat, dropping straight fire on drums; it's great to be there in that moment when he's programming his drums and he plays you his new shit for the first time and you're like, "Ohhhh that's perfect!" Because you're looking for that lost element of the song that makes that song done, you know what I mean? The exclamation point on it. And to be around for all that was really great.

Everything was super spontaneous -- collaborative moments where you have Hudson Mohawke and Sinjin Hawke and DJ Dodger Stadium and Charlie Heat and all these people contributing all the production, and then all these people contributing vocals and writing, and Chance; this last month was kind of like a rollercoaster ride where you're blindfolded and you just gotta hold on, you don't know if you're gonna go through a tunnel or you're gonna go upside down, but when you come out it's an amazing ride, you know? And I think that kind of translates into the content of the album, too. It's kind of like an "art is a reflection of life is a reflection of art" sort of moment.

At the MSG show, the album was still unfinished.

Yeah, because he went back in and did "Waves" the following night with Chance in the studio. I actually caught the last half of the MSG show because I was working at the studio. I wanted to hear how the mixes sounded in the stadium. 'Cause he was like, "I want this to work in the stadium and be very minimal," and that's part of the aesthetic of stadiums, is that if you have all these instruments and all this instrumentation it doesn't translate well in stadiums. It's such a big, cavernous room you need one or two things to just dominate the sonic landscape. So he very much wanted us to hear how it sounded there.

What was your experience hearing it at MSG?

It was loud as hell. When I got there I was on the floor right next to Kanye, and it struck me as a really kind of cool, intimate moment. He played it from his laptop, and it was almost like he had a listening session as if you went to the studio with him, except for 20,000 people in Madison Square Garden. That night, we went back to the studio and made revisions based on hearing stuff in the stadium. And then the next night, Friday -- it's kind of a blur, because one day melded into another when you're living at the studio for a week-and-a-half straight -- Friday night was the night that he worked on it with Chance, and then Saturday he had the Saturday Night Live performance. Talk about packing it into one week, though. Seriously.

I was going to say -- the pressure must have been crazy with the goal of putting it out after the SNL performance.

Yeah, and it hit Tidal like, what, an hour after the SNL performance? Making sure to get "Waves" on it and getting the album re-sequenced to be able to fit that on the album was definitely something we were intensely doing on Saturday. (Laughs)

So how did it feel to finally wash your hands of the whole thing and be like, "Well, it's gone now"?

Well, especially because the day we finished (Sunday Feb. 14) I flew back out to L.A. and got out of the three degree weather, it was nice; I just sat at home on my back patio and listened to the birds and watched the wind and didn't do anything for about two hours. So it was like a decompression moment. For me, as far as listening to the album, it takes me some time for me to be able to appreciate or judge work that I've done because I'm so close to it and trying to deliver the best possible thing that I can do that I have to sort of sit back and wait a few months to approach it with fresh ears. Maybe later this spring I'll be able to be out and listen to it and reflect on it a little bit more. But right now I'm just kind of breathing again. (Laughs)​

Source: http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/6882758/engineer-andrew-dawson-kanye-west-life-of-pablo

.

I also imagined that because he has the ability to get really talented people in the same room, dope stuff was bound to pop off, with our without Kanye.




**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

http://cheaptrickfan.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/cheap-trick-logo-white-on-black.jpg


werd.

Awful, awful music for the past few albums now. Shame...

please?

>please?


__
I don't like the beat anymore because its just a loop. ALC didn't FLIP IT ENOUGH!

Flip it enough? Flip these. Flip off. Go flip some f*cking burgers.(c)Kno

Allied State of the National Electric Beat Treaty Organization (NEBTO)

homie never disappoints.

(lol at that duck/"drake" reference, too)

like... this album on paper? is some BULLSHIT.

but actually listening to it, it's pretty enjoyable for me.

and I think a lot of it comes from that I kind of feel like this an honest reflection of Kanye.

I've always felt that way about his work. even the one I don't dig the most (for the record: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Porcelain Toilet, which I listened to again)

but, i can't.

it's true. esp. if he wrote the lines in question. and it seems like he did.

the lyrics are downright distracting at points.

https://youtu.be/69_4BvHnCWA

https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/702566224304152576

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4k20kuCUVzQ

(never knew til now that he made a video for that track)

i want a clear mix of it.

LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I love this
(y'all knuckleheads who chief the freeze dried pubes won't)

https://soundcloud.com/dj_premier/kanye-west-i-love-kanye-tlopreemix

I enjoyed the first couple listens.

I've had it in the car and have listened to little else while driving.

This is my own shortened, re-edited version, but still.

I was highly skeptical at first and now I am surprised how much I've been enjoying it.

I'm not jumping through any fucking hoops to hear anyone's album.

with Ye, it aint out til you can buy it

so i aint even treating this like its final yet

Ye reuploaded the entire album to Tidal and it sounds a lot better and a few things changed. I suggest re-downloading it because I think this will be the final version.

List of changes:https://www.reddit.com/r/Kanye/comments/4cn9v5/tidal_updates_thread/

Also if you haven't heard it and was waiting for the final version to drop now is the time to jump in.

I want to hear it though.

Ultra Light Beam: The choir is mixed better. Everyone’s vocals except Chancer the Rapper have a lot more reverb. There’s also new lyrics from Chance the Rapper and Kirk Franklin.

Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1: Background vocals at the end of Kanye’s verse and a little on the hook. The snare isn’t as loud as the original release. Beat is a lot more clear.

Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 2: New mix includes the addition of a bass line beginning at the 1:08 mark.

Feedback: It’s shorter. Kanye’s vocals are more balanced with the beat now. The bass is also a lot more mixed. Beat is a lot more different in general.

Highlights: Vocals now sit behind the beat. Young Thug’s vocals are a lot more clear and less harsh.

Freestyle 4: Vocals clarified, weird ass noises and strings added to the background, bass added right before Desiigner verse at 1:31 mark.

Waves: Kanye’s first verse is re-recorded. Lots more echos. The snare doesn’t make you deaf anymore!

FML: Vocal’s are more mixed. They sit on top of the beat now. Background vocals added.

30 Hours: The shoutout/adlib outro isn’t in time with the beat like it is in the original. He added the pause from the SoundCloud version for the Victoria’s Secret line.

No More Parties in LA: Transition to Facts is smooth. Not as jarring as it was before.

Facts: Piano line from MSG is back but is barely noticiable. Synths are a lot louder.

Fade: Way more minimal. The bass line is back too. More like the Yeezys SZN 2 performance. Doesn’t have all the cool sounds from the previous album version and the transitions aren’t as clean as before. It actually ends with an outro instead of cutting off.

If this were anyone else, it would be the hallmark of incompetent album planning/releasing. I know I'm preempting people's impression of all this, but you know it's true.

So many people are praising him already. I still haven't heard a single note outside of the songs that were released before the album release. Just don't care.

>If this were anyone else, it would be the hallmark of
>incompetent album planning/releasing. I know I'm preempting
>people's impression of all this, but you know it's true.

Hipsters who think they are being outside of the box with
their hyper ironic, skeptical views

I know I'm preempting the general opinion on the matter, but I've heard enough overbearing opinions on anything that Kanye does that I can safely assume some people will spin this into something "creative" where in reality it was a rushed project with a disjointed result.

Have been holding off downloading before the finished product. Anyone who has the hook, I'd greatly appreciate it.

I Love Kanye now available on Apple Music & Spotify.
Will the whole thing eventually move to other platforms?

which, to me, implies this is the final cut.

but who knows how much sway dude really holds.

it isn't a SIGNIFICANT change, but the bass and backdrops to most songs are more interesting, and the reverb does help the vocals sit in the beats a little more comfortably even if songs like "Pt. 1" lose a little manic energy in the process of getting more comfortable within itself.

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz