Kanye West’s eighth solo album, ‘ye’, is a hastily assembled seven-track brain fart covering themes of superstardom, current affairs and mental fragility. While there are some superb moments, the album is thinly spread over its 24 minutes and lacks a centre. Put simply, it feels unfinished.
Let’s get the obligatory disclaimer out of the way: West is a true innovator and a musical visionary who has elevated the craft of hip-hop production while presenting an often revolting image of the American psyche. But for the past few years West the brand has outstripped West the artist, and his commercial agenda, rampant narcissism and thirst for attention have tested even his strongest fans.
But that fandom has been justified. Historically, new West albums were perceived as kind-of alternative ‘state of the nation’ addresses. His proselytising appeared to offer a ground-level view of what was going on in people’s heads.
Furthermore, his bars are relatively classless. He operates in a hip-hop culture where - as the child of a middle class academic household - he is an outsider. But with ‘ye’ this perception feels outdated.
While a baseline of quality exists in the composition and production (particularly on Yikes and All Mine) West’s messaging feels loud, charmless and reactionary. He’s not gone full Morrissey in his choreographed political rage, but that is certainly the direction of travel. The lyrical content of 'ye' is so overloaded with bludgeoning monomania that it's frequently exhausting.
That’s not always the case, though, and the murder fantasy of I Thought About Killing You and the highly testing bars of album closer Violent Crimes are both noteworthy. On this latter track, West discusses the future sexual awakening of his four-year-old daughter, North. It’s a difficult listen that is unlikely make it onto many playlists, but its conceptual boldness is tangible.
The high point is Ghost Town, with its John Legend-led intro and a sung chorus from 070 Shake. Here the different performance elements work extremely well together, and it could easily have appeared on any of West’s first three records.
But overall ‘ye’ is weak (by his high standards), and here’s the rub: while that baseline of quality is probably here to stay, this record may demonstrate a sea change in the perception of Kanye’s music as his essential platform when viewed next to Kanye the brand's agenda. To put it another way, it’s as though West has released an album to promote his latest series of controversial proclamations.
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