Louder, the reviews are looking — oddly — kind of negative. Fans seem to be loving t across the board (“OMG the old Ye is back” or some such is on several Youtube reviews), but critics seem to be saying, “He didn’t apologize or address the Trump thing, so I’m going to review his half-baked politics instead of this obviously brilliant album.”

Makes me nervous. But whatever. Album is objectively good.

Sad, but I stopped taking them seriously when they crowned those mediocre SZA and Cardi B albums.

This album was the perfect response to everything in the last couple months..

Nah. I disagree.

If people are looking to the album for a response to Trump/slavery, they’re lookkng in the wrong place. It’s a great album that almost makes that awful stupid bullshit worth it.

Did you hear he scrapped the album he was working on and made this in the time since the TMZ interview? He threw this together in a month, and it’s his most concise effort in a while. That’s something.

Wonder what those other songs were like though.

Yeah. That album probably wasn’t going to be as good as this one. Kanye said that he had to ask himself if those songs make him feel something, if they make him cry. Since he scrapped it, the answer was clearly no.

interesting record.....re-crystallises my thoughts on him, where it's not voyeuristically looking into some genius process but instead something far more pedestrian, a very regular person thrust into a resolutely irregular position whether by accident or as a byproduct of ego/self-validation through a system that he knowingly realises is toxic? trying to watch him work it out isn't some act of auteurism and to look at it that way I think negates a lot of the power of what he's doing.

regardless this is the first time where the dichotomy of him as a person (not as an artist) is actually appreciable, like the internal conflicts that made him so difficult to negotiate/appreciate are actively what we're listening to now. for a 23 minute record it's got a fuck-tonne of filler but ghost town and violent crimes together are very, very powerful.

the whole genius debate is moot but this much is clear when comparing him to other contemporary popular hip-hop artists: he shits on them.


not as good as the last record but combined these are by far his most interesting albums.

Wow. This is kinda of... nice. You’re not usually nice. Especially about things I like. Cheers.

The title is “ye” because there’s no God complex, right? He got rid of the “-ezus”. I also think the title is in lowercase letters to put an emphasis on how he’s humbled down.

More thoughts..

On “Ghost Town”, Kid Cudi portrays the depression phase and 070 Shake portrays the manic phase - in the state of euphoria. When “Violent Crimes” comes on, the manic eposode is over and Kanye cools down and goes back home to chill with his fam. However, the anxiety is still there as he wonders about the future of his daughter.

A similar transition is present on “Yikes” but in a different way; Kanye goes from feeling anxiety on the hook to having grandiose thoughts on the outro.

“All Mine” is about Kanye feeling hypersexual which is another symptom of bipolar disorder.

So Drake just vanished?

How Pusha-T’s “The Story of Adidon” Viciously Undercuts Drake’s Celebrity
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cu...akes-celebrity

He explained the meaning behind behind the title. “Kanye” means “Only One,” and “Ye” means “one.” He’s trying to communicate that he’s everyone, anyone. That’s what he says anyway.

Think you’re onto something with the absence of the God complex, and that’s part of the thesis on this shit you know I’m writing.

But I’ve been working all week and all weekend and I’m fucking tired of writing and doing anything other than watching Westworld and going to bed.

More later

Haha.
Did you pick up on the Drake subs on “ye?” They’re there. They’re subtle but they’re there.

Pitchfork viciously tears Ye apart, gives it a 7.1 for some reason, and talks about MAGA and slavery and disappointment for like 10 graphs. Songs are an afterthought.

Fuck.

Oh well, he asked for it. Repeatedly.

Of course. :)

Oh, I got dirt on my name, I got white on my beard
I had debt on my books, it's been a shaky-ass year
Let me make this clear, so all y'all see
I don't take advice from people less successful than me, huh?
Ain't no love lost, but the gloves off
And we up in this bitch until they turn the club off
Had to tell the dogs, "Turn the snubs off"
Plus they already mad that the Cubs lost
(The Lord still shines on you)
(Believe it or not)
These two wrongs'll right you
(Believe it or not, the Lord still shines on you)
I was too grown in high school
(Believe it or not)
The true soul of Ice Cube
Too close to snipe you (the Lord still shines on you)
Truth told, I like you
(Believe it or not, the Lord still shines on you)
Too bold to type you
(Believe it or not)
Too rich to fight you
Calm down, you light skin!

Talib! No!! He got metoo-ed.

I don't know if he actually did anything. Interesting drama tho.

https://pitchfork.com/news/talib-kwe...assment-claim/

http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2018/06/t...-paying-debts/

Only track bangin in my foreign whip is PLUG WALK baby!!!!!!! https://youtu.be/ToY6sjSV8h8

Already a sad situation, no matter who loses.. :(

Those lyrics are WAY too good for the shit ass review the pitchfork writer gave.
Wow.

There’s another subtle sub in the first track. Listen for Drake’s signature flow. Kanye apes it for a sec. deliberately.

That review was probably the worst I've ever read from Pitchfork, and that says a lot. It read like a 0 out of 10. NYC Ghosts & Flowers treatment.

"Drake, here's how they gon' come at you
With silly rap feuds, tryin' to distract you"

HOV warned him.

I'm glad Kanye never released a full blown diss track in his life.

I know. I wrote Pitchfork about it and actually got a response.

I said I’ve never been more disappointed in the content than I was while reading the celebrity slam playing dress-up as an album review for “Ye.”

The response was something like, “Please share your thoughts. I’d be happy to talk more about them.”

So I shared more thoughts. We’ll see.

The reviewer isn’t even a Potchfork staffer. She’s a freelancer wth an axe to grind. And the score was decided by editors. She pitched a lower score. No idea why they let that trash review run though.

Any other year it would have been a 9.

I'm surprised they'd give something so high profile to a non staff. Huh.

I read that NYC review annually to laugh.

NeedleDrop gave it an 8/10.

Higher than MBDTF and Yeezus (he re-reviewed Pablo later and gave it the same score).

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ixElcxn6PlQ

I know he re-reviewed Pablo and gave it an 8. Kinda like you, huh ;)

Yeah, Fantano nailed it where Pitchfork fucked the dog

You heard this shit yet motherfucker? Don’t make me wait on you AGAIN

Nope. I'm honestly not all that interested at the moment. It would be wasted on me as it's not what I'm in the mood to hear. Itd be like me suggesting you listen to this Smashing Pumpkins live show instead of Ye. That wouldn't hit the spot for you, ya dig?

Haha yeah, looking back, I think all those litlte updates Kanye made helped me enjoy the album a lot. Especially in the mixing department.

For me I got a seratonin blast to the head from the livestream that didn’t stop for a year and a half. I actually like the original “Fade” better... the one that doesn’t end with a vamp, but with a final, pleading “I can feel it!” *drool*

Same vibes rush from new album.

Though I will say I wouldn’t mind if there was more.

Nope. I don’t understand this at all. This is not how I operate or think. When something new drops from an artist I love, my brain says it’s time to hear it.

So no. I don’t get your weird ass :D

This hip-hop brotherhood we’ve forged is not long for this world I think. We’ll be lucky if we make it to hip-hop cafe X.

Believe it or not I tend to still read the cafe even if I'm.not listening along.

Love this video clip from the listening party in Wyoming so much:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LIDttsxFbU

070 Shake on "Ghost Town" is amazing. Thank you Kanye for this discovery; hope they will work together again in the future.

"Kids See Ghosts album art"




Is this the cover though? Not completely sure because it's not a square.

I don't feel obliged to listen to stuff from artists I don't love anymore though. Playboi Carti dropped an acclaimed album, I sampled one song and that was it. Never listened to the Cardi B album in full either. I don't know if it's because hip hop has changed for the worse or I'm just older. :(

Don't say that. The cafe will live on!

I don't get it; Kanye gets criticized for misogynistic lyrics, but Future and Playboi Carti can get away with it. It's like there are different standards for different artists.

Kanye claims to be a genius who is woke and deep and in tune with some sort of higher consciousness. so when he raps his stupid shit people call him on it.


Future has never claimed to be anything other than what he is. Kanye holds himself up to a higher standard (in his head) and so he gets judged differently. that's how shit works.


if you claim to be a thug, no one will decry your thug lyrics.

Well, everyone knows Future is inconsequential. Utterly. Completely without consequence in the grand (and even not so grand) scheme of things.

But yeah ... been loving the irony and hypocrisy of that.

Half the bad reviews on iTunes just say “I refuse to support this because of Trump/slavery” ...

Which is fine, but then you’re cutting yourself off from a lot of art. If we’re gonna boycott everything unethical, let’s be equal opportunity about it...

Prince glorified domestic violence. Michael Jackson diddled kids. John Lennon beat his wife. Jimi Hendrix was a dreadful misogynist and overall asshole. Ditto for Miles Davis. Bob Dylan denounced Jesus publicly (I don’t care, but surely that should ruffle a feather or two). Bob Marley has like 1,000 (literally — no exaggeration) bastard children all over Jamaica who he never cared for. Kurt Cobain was a sexist in some weird backwards ways, and left his beloved daughter in the care of a known and documented heroin addict who he claimed he was afraid of.
Chief Kief - Home invasion
Freddie Gibbs probably raped someone (honestly, probably)
Talib Kweli has assault charges looming (Talib!)
Jay-Z cheated on his wife with hookers, peddled crack on the streets, and probably murdered people
2 pac literally raped a stripper
Dr. Dre beat his ex-wife so badly so many times that she needed to have facial reconstructive surgery
Kanye said some words that were ill-advised, and people wanna boycot him.
Should we boycott every musician guilty of doing something unethical or controversial or criminal?
Does art not matter?

WTF, Amurica?

Fuck, “Mein Kampf” is the second most published book in the history of the world. Yeah, the book by Hitler.

But Kanye should probably be “canceled” (Jesus fucking Christ)

Because it’s so dumb it’s funny

Future claimed to be inconsequential nothing-powder? Good for him, owning that.

Nobody’s even mad about what he’s rapping about. This is easily his least offensive album. They’re mad that he “loves” Donald Trump in a non-political way (still gross).
And they’re mad because apparently white people get to determine how black people can and cannot interpret/discuss/process/analyze slavery.

*eyeroll*

I’m more pissed about his dumbass public comments than anyone, but pretending like his music is a reflection of some alt-right agenda is moronic and ignorant and goddamn stupid.

That’s the cover according to Cudi

Dude, the 070 Shake debut is one of the five GOOD music albums that are part of this 7-song album summer series. It’s comin’