Album Review: The Life of Pablo (T.L.O.P.) - Kanye West

     Hey! It's been a while since I took the time to review an album. So it's only right that I dust off my blogger cape and bring back my reviews for Kanye's highly anticipated The Life of Pablo (T.L.O..P). I rate each song on a 5 star scale also assigning quarters and halves where I see fit. I also didn't give tracks that weren't songs star ratings instead I assigned either below, meets or exceeds standards on its placement on the album and how it assisted the transition. I also give detailed looks at my opinion of each song (if it warranted such). So check it out!! 

The Life of Pablo (T.L.O.P.) 

1. Ultra Light Beam - Phenomenal song that transcends this album, like other classics before it, that takes us to church both literally and figuratively. The addition of Chance the Rapper, Kelly Price, The Dream and Kirk Franklin help to round off what might be one of the best Kanye songs ever. The only gripe I have about this track is that he didn't save it for the end. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5 Stars)
2. Father Stretch My Hands - one of my favorite songs on the album. Simple as that. Beat is awesome, Kid Cudi's on it, and yea that's about it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 (4.5 Stars)
3. Pt. 2 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 Stars) 
4. Famous - A true to form Kanye track with a banging beat that leaves a lot to be desired on the lyrical side but definitely keeps your head moving.  Rihanna's singing and Swiss Beatz on the production end makes a nice addition to this track. ⭐️⭐️⭐️3/4 (3.75 Stars)
5. Feedback - More lyricism and word play on this track and another head knocking beat and one of the harder tracks on the album.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 Stars)
6. Low Light - Solid transitional interlude and adds to the gospel like tone of Ultra Light Beam but isn't as great in the continuity aspect in the overall scheme of the album. It would have been a great Outro to go after what should have been the last track (Ultra Light Beam). (Meets Standards)
7. Highlights - A more dance/party song that plays more to the modern radio worthy songs. I could see this track as a huge radio hit. ⭐️⭐️⭐️3/4 (3.75 Stars)
8. Freestyle 4 Blah. That's about all I could muster to say about his one. ⭐️⭐️1/2 (2.5 stars)
9. I love Kanye - A cheeky track that gives us Kanye in his essence and you can't help but to enjoy it for the buffoonery that it is. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3 stars)
10. Waves - I can imagine this being played in the club. Dope track in terms of production and sound. The usual bravado of Kanye with the melodic voice of Chris Brown makes this the albums resident drunk anthem. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 Stars)
11. FML - This is a more experimental weeknd-ish style of track featuring of course The Weeknd who is as hot as ever right now. Again is a song that plays more to the radio than anything else is still a melodic track nonetheless. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 Stars)
12. Real Friends - Probably one of the best songs on the album and reminiscent of the Kanye that we love the most. Adding both a great sound and message about the friendships that occur and how fame plays a role in them. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 (4.5 Stars)
13. Wolves - Amazing song that is like a happy medium between 808s and Heartbreaks and Yeezus Kanye. My question is: How'd Kanye get Frank Ocean to be on T.L.O.P. before he was on his own album!? ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 (4.5 stars)
14. Silver Surfer Intermission - loved that he actually got Max Bs blessing should have gone before or after waves would have added so much more to that track. (Exceeds standards)
15. 30 hours - reminds us of the late registration/graduation Kanye where he was in my opinion at his lyrical pinnacle and the song that stole the show. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5 Stars)
16. No More Parties in LA - This was the Kanye that was producing beats for Mos Def and common and trying to put himself on. Many mainstream music lovers have no clue who Madlib is but that very well might change because of this track. The combo of Madlib and Kendrick is musical porn to those who lean more on the "conscious" or "underground" style of rap and this song delivers on all levels. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️3/4 (4.75 Stars)
17. Facts - The sound of the times influenced this track. The type of track you could bump when you're trying to stunt or just chilling with the homies. A song that might have easily fit on Watch the Throne, you could call it Niggas in Paris reprised. ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 (3.5 Stars)
18. Fade - A proverbial cherry top on top to the variety of sounds we get from Kanye on this album, Fade tapers us off with a smooth underground house vibe that you can fade off to (pun intended). ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 Stars)

Overall rating: 3.75/5

One subtlety that I loved about the album was his use of sample snippets for virtually every sample he used. We get a peak into the sound of the original song and works as an homage to each of the songs original creators and the style of production we've come to expect from Kanye. Based simply on ratings, the grade I gave the album was a 4 out of 5 but I took off .25 because many of the songs, on their own, make great songs but In the cohesion of this album didn't fit as smoothly as we would expect from Kanye. T.L.O.P. is good but not great. It, in my opinion, just missed the mark and falls somewhere in the lower end of the Kanye albums list. Let's hear your opinion! Let me know what you think of The Life of Pablo! ***T.L.O.P. is streaming exclusively on Tidal. You try Tidal Free for 90 days. After it'll set you back $9.99/month***

Be Exceptional! Live Life!

Sidanii

Contributing blogger,

Visions Of Quest 

Twitter @Sdot_Bell 

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