• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Kanye West presents The Life of Pablo |OT| WE ON AN ULTRA LIGHT BEAM

Status
Not open for further replies.
K

Koozek

Member
From KTT:

Fam I'm very well versed in finances. I own a business and have a comfortable net worth. You really don't know what you're talking about, let me show you real quick. Ye does not have a debt ratio of 30%. Guessing you google'd "kanye net worth" to arrive at that figure. Net worth websites overestimate greatly, sometimes 2-3 times what's real. But, let's use that figure for the sake of argument. First subtract half for taxes. Next, subtract 30M for his failed women's clothing line, and 16M for the failed Yeezy line (these are the losses reported by Kanye himself). Then subtract 9M for Kim's wedding and engagement ring. That's a total of 55M in losses/expenses in just a few things we know. After the losses and taxes, 153M drops to 20M. Now picture all the cars, clothes, jewelry, food, mortgages, insurance policies, living expenses, vacations, and other life expenses. Imagine how much Ye has spent in the 16 years or so he's been in the industry. That's not counting his other failed endeavors like the Fatburger in Chi that closed, GOOD music (which had documented financial issues, the reason artists on the label left or never had projects dropped). Not counting the millions he spent renovating his homes. You get the point.

To give you an idea, take that 53M in debt, and if you give a conservative interest rate of 5% (business loan average interest rate plus fees), Kanye will be spending close to 2.7M a year in just interest. That does not include the principal loan amount he has to pay back. So assume he's going to be paying out about 4M a year in principal for the loans (on an average 10 year SBA loan) plus the 2.7M in interest, that's nearly 7M a year. So, he'll need to make about 14M a year, for the next ten years, just to pay off his loans. Also that 14M just covers debt. That does not include living expenses like food, insurance, other bills, taking care of his kid, buying clothes, security, jewelry, going to a ****ing movie even. His lifestyle probably costs him a few million a year easily. Just upkeep on a mansion can run in the hundreds of thousands. Now do you see how ****ed he is?

Sorry for the novel, just wanted to explain this for all the kids on this site that don't really understand how money in the real world works lol.​
 
N

nib95

Banned
Wabba said:
Always wondered why some people find Yeezus too be the best album.
Click to expand...

I find opinions about the different albums are all over the place, and that sort of speaks to Kanye's accomplishments in being able to constantly diversify and re-imagine.

I really enjoyed Yeezus, it just felt different to all other hip hop at the time. It was bold, brave and crazy, but I also couldn't listen to it repeatedly. It was just that little bit too coarse and sonically aggressive. I also found myself skipping certain tracks that simply didn't gel for me. Personally prefer both TLOP and MBDTF to Yeezus.
 
T

Tatsumi Oga

Banned
nib95 said:
So after who knows how many listens, I decided to start taking notes and briefly rate individual tracks. My short notes essentially turned in to a review lol. Present thoughts (though these could still change).



  • Ultralight Beam - Excellent, almost MBDTF esque. It's euphoric and warm, making for a good opener. Chance's bar is solid, and the choir vocals add a real richness to it. The whole thing sounds layered. Unfortunately there is some minor clipping.
    9/10

  • Father Stretch My Hands Pt.1 - Blends in coherently, keeping up the positive sonic energy and vibe, and retaining some of that background choir like euphoria and soulfulness. Solid overall beat, with a playful but rather random verse. It's over a bit quick.
    8/10

  • Pt. 2 - Also blends in nicely. Another fantastic beat, this time the bars and music start getting dark and moody. Background instrumentals start introducing more haunting elements. The two mixes in samples work great, though the second to last (Imogen?) is introduced way too abruptly. Overall the track is over far too quickly and could have done with one more loop and verse. Still, I really like it.
    8.5/10

  • Famous - Ups the ante on the darker atmospheric vibe. Has a halloween esque ethereal sound that is addictive, and slips between Rihanna's smooth chorus vocals well. The bass line is banging, and the cut away to the samples fit really well, all tweaked and worked uniquely to compliment the overall track successfully. Finishes off nicely. Still not too keen on the made Taylor Swift famous line, but overall an excellent track.
    9/10

  • Feedback - Decent verses on this one, and a good quantity of them too. Has a really unique and strange background beat and instrumental. Almost emotes a slight uneasiness about it, but in a slightly more easy listening and funky way than some of the tracks on Yeezus for example. Enjoyable.
    7.5/10

  • Low lights - Really random. Not sure it necessarily fits in very well, but it's an interesting listen. Probably not really necessary in the grand scheme, but it does at least offer a slight pacing differentiator.
    5/10

  • Highlights - Slots in a bit unusually, and would have probably worked better without Low Lights interrupting the flow. But here the beat and sound is more vibrant and fun, maintaining a smoothness about it that makes it easy to groove to. Almost feels slightly soulful. The verses are equally playful, with Kanye just having a bit of fun. Sonically, there's also some nice switch ups throughout.
    8/10

  • Freestyle 4 - This track brings us very quickly back to a more dark and aggressive sound. Very atmospheric and almost villainous. Here Kanye seems detached, but the intro through to the main beat and drop is luscious, rich and additive. Only problem is it's over way too quickly, though I love the way it ends with those weird alarm synth type sounds (which also quietly creeps in midway through the song for added continuity). Just wish the main beat looped through at least one more time, with another verse in between. Love this one, but it's just over too quickly.
    9.5/10

  • I Love Kanye - Fun, short little lighthearted verse. After the detached feel from the last track, this one just grounds things again.
    7.5/10

  • Waves - Another very lush sound, with a smooth and celestial feel, but this time without the darkness of previous tracks. Ye's verse seems a bit random and loose, but it's a small element of the track, which otherwise seems to be reliant on Chris Browns vocals. This one also seems more Pop RnB radio like than other tracks, so I can see why Ye might have wanted to originally cut it. But it's a good track addition overall with a nice flow.
    8/10

  • FML - I absolutely love this track. It's musically rich, powerful and has a presence to it that few of the other tracks possess. The chorus from the Weeknd works fantastic, and Ye's verse really feels like he's pouring his inner demon's out there, even if subtly and using few words. The drop is excellent, and the way it's introduced with the drums really well done. The background sample is twisted and uncomfortable, lifted by the brilliant bass line, and contextually it all fits together perfectly. Even the abrupt end works.
    10/10

  • Real Friends - Great track to follow on to, as it is essentially Ye continuing to pour more of his personal, deeper sentiments and introspections out there, this time family orientated. The verses are strong, the beat super atmospheric, but also simple and not over complicated. It's not as sample heavy as the other tracks, and given the lyrical relevancy on offer, I think it does the track justice. Ty Dolla's chorus works well, and that operatic hum at the end just finishes it off beautifully. Only negatives to this track is that I can hear very slight bass distortion and crackle.
    10/10

  • Wolves - Sonically and contextually, this track also follows on really well. It's the atmospheric flavour of Real Friends, but with added layers of musical complexity and an even murkier texture. Ye's verse works well, even though it's very limited in content, but I love the way at one point his voice almost cracks, as well as the closing lines involving his children, which are almost poetic in nature. The switch to Frank Ocean is excellent, especially with that weird echoey intro, followed by the beautiful pianos. Even though Frank's voice sounds a bit rough and poorly recorded, I think it really adds to the mood of the track. And though I really really miss Sia and Vic's parts, I can't deny this is still an amazing track. If Ye just brings the other two back in, making it some long, ultra extended piece, it'll be even more amazing. Unfortunately like with Real friends, there is also some slight bass distortion with this track.
    9.5/10

  • Silver Surfer Intermission - A bit of a random interjection, but after the addictive but slightly depressing tone of the last few tracks, it does sort of work. You also get a nice bit of an insight in to the situation regarding the previous potential album title.
    5/10

  • 30 hours - Super addictive and sonically detailed head bopper. Some nice little instrumental intricacies and samples throughout that just lift it. I like his verses, though they're again over quite quickly. I don't mind his ad-lib at the end, and even like the fact that his voice cracks again. Gives you this feeling that he's just been in there working away tirelessly throughout the early hours of the morning, which fits the theme of the track. The mumbling and freestyle in this section are bad, but his side rambling and the phone call at the end interesting. Just gives you a good insight in to his working environment and mind frame, whilst giving you a great beat to bop along to.
    8.5/10

  • No More Parties in L.A. - I think this works well as a follow up and is overall an enjoyable, funky track. Whilst the beat is a bit repetitious and simplistic, despite the numerous samples used throughout, I think it still works because here the focus is clearly the solid verses delivered by both Ye and Kendrick. They take centre stage and the rest is just dressing, and it's great to hear, especially throughout what has otherwise been a lyrically de-emphasised album.
    7.5/10

  • Facts - Whilst some of the lines are still a bit questionable, the overall beat, mixing and production here are improved enough that it's a better listen. I also like that it's slotted in here in the album, because where we've seen darker and/or more uneasy sides of Ye throughout, it's sort of comforting to see him penultimately close with something so braggadocios and full of bombast. Whilst Kanye is clearly troubled in certain parts of his life, this is a loud celebration of some of the things accomplished, and even though some of it is arrogant, misdirected or somewhat misplaced, he's sort of earned it.
    6.5/10

  • Fade - A good way to end. An uplifting, addictive, but fairly simple headbanger that gets you moving and immediately re-energised. The electronic elements sound pretty weird and wonderful, and the cut away is great, allowing for that nice build up before the main catchy beat is satisfyingly re-introduced. It ends strangely abruptly, but that sort of makes you want to jump right back in.
    8.5/10

Overall.

Firstly, the negatives. I am a little disappointed that there's not as much Kanye rapping on this album, especially when outside of tracks like 30 Hours, Real Friends, Facts and No More parties in LA (all previously released), he doesn't actually drop a whole lot of verses throughout, at least not to the same degree as in older albums anyway. Add to that, a lot of what he does is often elongated with singing, format or repetition, or not particularly heavy in lyrical content or quality. Perhaps just one or two more verse and rap heavy tracks would have topped it off perfectly. That or simply extending the length of tracks like Part 2 or Freestyle 4.

The other thing is that the verse heavy tracks he does offer, tend to be less dynamic in terms of production, especially compared to other tracks on the album which constantly mix things up sonically.

I also found that the album is perhaps not as thematically coherent as his previous work, but I don't mind this as much because I appreciate the variety and breadth of musicality on offer. This album is clearly supposed to be quite playful and broad, not too dissimilar to his take on the different Pablo's indirectly referenced within, and in that regard it's fitting that it's not too strictly tied down to a specific theme. It does however sort of have a pseudo house sound, which tends to veer towards bass heavy, moodier, atmospheric, oft electronic, sample rich medley's.

The only other main negative is with some of the mixing. There's clipping here and there that I don't think really adds anything besides irritation, e.g. the choir peaks in Ultralight Beam, or the sub bass in Real Friends and Wolves, which can result in some subtle distortion and crackle.


Having said all the above, overall this is still an incredible album that is highly consistent in terms of competency of production. It offers an addictive, sometimes stunning array of diverse, quality music that you can essentially leave on repeat in it's entirety, and still continuously enjoy. This is a celebration of collaborative efforts, but at the same time often still personal and introspective to Kanye. This balance in approach is refreshing coming off of the back of Yeezus, which was almost relentless in it's hard hitting and gritty nature. Comparatively I find The Life of Pablo is a much lusher and easier to digest sonic experience, that might not be as daring, but is in my opinion more enjoyable and broader in appeal. I'm not going to rank it with Ye's other albums till I've had more time with it, but my current overall score…..

8.5 to 9/10
Click to expand...

Really enjoyed reading your review man. Short but nicely detailed. I think it's definitely an album that will grow on me. Usually albums don't need to grow on me, with exceptions like The Game's The Documentary 2 CD 1,which I now dig most songs of. It probably won't top CD 2 though. But like you said there's too little of Kanye the rapper on Pablo. Too much autotune, too much singing, too few really cool features etc.

By the way, how you described Ultra Light Beams is not how I'd exactly describe it. To me it has a very depressing vibe, the instruments that are used make it sound very dreary until that choir comes in . I don't mean that in a negative way at all. But it's interesting to read how others experience it. :)
 
N

nib95

Banned
Tatsumi Oga said:
Really enjoyed reading your review man. Short but nicely detailed. I think it's definitely an album that will grow on me. Usually albums don't need to grow on me, with exceptions like The Game's The Documentary 2 CD 1,which I now dig most songs of. It probably won't top CD 2 though. But like you said there's too little of Kanye the rapper on Pablo. Too much autotune, too much singing, too few really cool features etc.

By the way, how you described Ultra Light Beams is not how I'd exactly describe it. To me it has a very depressing vibe, the instruments that are used make it sound very dreary until that choir comes in . I don't mean that in a negative way at all. But it's interesting to read how others experience it. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks dude, and I semi agree with you about ULB. I added in the word melancholy to reflect that. But I also feel it's trying to offer some solace to all the woes, hence looking to the light, finding strength and support in God, persevering etc. I feel like the choir is supposed to bring us up, empower, whilst still acknowledging the difficulties faced.
 
K

Koozek

Member
I can't be the only one who thinks Freestyle 4's bass is WAY too loud, like twice or three times as loud as the other songs. Had to delete it, I don't want to bother with running to my desk to turn down the volume every time it comes on.
 
T

Tatsumi Oga

Banned
nib95 said:
Thanks dude, and I semi agree with you about ULB. I added in the word melancholy to reflect that. But I also feel it's trying to offer some solace to all the woes, hence looking to the light, finding strength and support in God, persevering etc. I feel like the choir is supposed to bring us up, empower, whilst still acknowledging the difficulties faced.
Click to expand...

Aaaaah I see man. My bad, I honestly wasn't aware what melancholy meant. English is not my mother language. But I manage quite well. But now and then there are some words I really don't understand.
 
S

Syntsui

Member
Koozek said:
I can't be the only one who thinks Freestyle 4's bass is WAY too loud, like twice or three times as loud as the other songs. Had to delete it, I don't want to bother with running to my desk to turn down the volume every time it comes on.
Click to expand...

It trash, I thought it was Feedback originally (which is awesome), but I got it mixed.
 
M

Milly79

Member
I finally got to eat. And boy, it was so good.

tumblr_lgqwsbEa891qfjmnk.gif
 
R

reKon

Banned
Koozek said:
From KTT:

Fam I'm very well versed in finances. I own a business and have a comfortable net worth. You really don't know what you're talking about, let me show you real quick. Ye does not have a debt ratio of 30%. Guessing you google'd "kanye net worth" to arrive at that figure. Net worth websites overestimate greatly, sometimes 2-3 times what's real. But, let's use that figure for the sake of argument. First subtract half for taxes. Next, subtract 30M for his failed women's clothing line, and 16M for the failed Yeezy line (these are the losses reported by Kanye himself). Then subtract 9M for Kim's wedding and engagement ring. That's a total of 55M in losses/expenses in just a few things we know. After the losses and taxes, 153M drops to 20M. Now picture all the cars, clothes, jewelry, food, mortgages, insurance policies, living expenses, vacations, and other life expenses. Imagine how much Ye has spent in the 16 years or so he's been in the industry. That's not counting his other failed endeavors like the Fatburger in Chi that closed, GOOD music (which had documented financial issues, the reason artists on the label left or never had projects dropped). Not counting the millions he spent renovating his homes. You get the point.

To give you an idea, take that 53M in debt, and if you give a conservative interest rate of 5% (business loan average interest rate plus fees), Kanye will be spending close to 2.7M a year in just interest. That does not include the principal loan amount he has to pay back. So assume he's going to be paying out about 4M a year in principal for the loans (on an average 10 year SBA loan) plus the 2.7M in interest, that's nearly 7M a year. So, he'll need to make about 14M a year, for the next ten years, just to pay off his loans. Also that 14M just covers debt. That does not include living expenses like food, insurance, other bills, taking care of his kid, buying clothes, security, jewelry, going to a ****ing movie even. His lifestyle probably costs him a few million a year easily. Just upkeep on a mansion can run in the hundreds of thousands. Now do you see how ****ed he is?

Sorry for the novel, just wanted to explain this for all the kids on this site that don't really understand how money in the real world works lol.​
Click to expand...

yikes
 
LifEndz

LifEndz

Member
God damn. Almost 50 million lost on clothing ventures? And I thought whatever network broadcasts KUWTK paid for the wedding. Didn't they do that when Kim married that nba player?
 
O

OG Kush

Member
drspeedy said:
After a few listens, I've decided TLoP was simply research on how to make an album, appear on ~40% of it, but put your name on the front and still go platinum.


Now that I think about it more, that's brilliant. Kanye IS a genius. I never would have thought of this... Dude figured out the secret formula
Click to expand...

Have you heard of a little someone called Dr. Dre...?
 
I

injurai

Banned
Koozek said:
From KTT:

Fam I'm very well versed in finances. I own a business and have a comfortable net worth. You really don't know what you're talking about, let me show you real quick. Ye does not have a debt ratio of 30%. Guessing you google'd "kanye net worth" to arrive at that figure. Net worth websites overestimate greatly, sometimes 2-3 times what's real. But, let's use that figure for the sake of argument. First subtract half for taxes. Next, subtract 30M for his failed women's clothing line, and 16M for the failed Yeezy line (these are the losses reported by Kanye himself). Then subtract 9M for Kim's wedding and engagement ring. That's a total of 55M in losses/expenses in just a few things we know. After the losses and taxes, 153M drops to 20M. Now picture all the cars, clothes, jewelry, food, mortgages, insurance policies, living expenses, vacations, and other life expenses. Imagine how much Ye has spent in the 16 years or so he's been in the industry. That's not counting his other failed endeavors like the Fatburger in Chi that closed, GOOD music (which had documented financial issues, the reason artists on the label left or never had projects dropped). Not counting the millions he spent renovating his homes. You get the point.

To give you an idea, take that 53M in debt, and if you give a conservative interest rate of 5% (business loan average interest rate plus fees), Kanye will be spending close to 2.7M a year in just interest. That does not include the principal loan amount he has to pay back. So assume he's going to be paying out about 4M a year in principal for the loans (on an average 10 year SBA loan) plus the 2.7M in interest, that's nearly 7M a year. So, he'll need to make about 14M a year, for the next ten years, just to pay off his loans. Also that 14M just covers debt. That does not include living expenses like food, insurance, other bills, taking care of his kid, buying clothes, security, jewelry, going to a ****ing movie even. His lifestyle probably costs him a few million a year easily. Just upkeep on a mansion can run in the hundreds of thousands. Now do you see how ****ed he is?

Sorry for the novel, just wanted to explain this for all the kids on this site that don't really understand how money in the real world works lol.​
Click to expand...

Better start acting in Nicholas Cage movies.
 
B

Bob Dobalina

Member
A few listens in now and not really a huge fan of this - only about 8 of the tracks felt like he put actual effort into the creation and I don't envision myself coming back to this much in the future; I think I would rank even yeezus and MDBTF over this. It sounds like the kanye we know and love but he's lost his edge vocally and production wise relative to the rest of the genre, and I guess that's reflected in how long it took for this album to come out in the first place.

Ultralight beam is a strong contender for best kanye opener, feedback is a very interesting track and I'm glad it made it on here, and I hope a version of wolves with Sia and Mensa makes it out at some point. I definitely see more tracks making it onto the radio from here than yeezus.
 
M

Meier

Member
Finally listened to it. On my second play through now since the iPhone is so fucking weird and just plays and plays these days. I liked it more than Yeezus immediately.
 
P

PBY

Banned
I love the new 30 hours actually, think it adds so much more to what was just a standard song

now its a whole vibe session, so dope.
 
C

cb1115

I Was There! Official L Receiver 2/12/2016
PBY said:
I love the new 30 hours actually, think it adds so much more to what was just a standard song

now its a whole vibe session, so dope.
Click to expand...

got any impressions of the album as a whole? interested to know what you think so far.
 
P

PBY

Banned
cb1115 said:
got any impressions of the album as a whole? interested to know what you think so far.
Click to expand...

waiting a bit so i can digest the album through the noise of the release; i was at msg too, so its hard to separate the album from the experience.

that said, i love it. its confusing, challenging, stupid and smart all at the same time. just when you think kanye is getting too bleak or assholish on this record, beams of light cut through, like with waves or ULB or even FSMH. Even cudi's humming on waves is amazing, so simple yet so effective.

I think its great, and it took me a while to appreciate it. Even facts nmpila make sense - that new 30 hours, when you get a sense that hes just being present and listening to the music is amazing.
 
L

lastflowers

Banned
I like this from the vinylmeplease blog:
the only two in his catalog that sound like each other are the first two, and that’s only because he was perfecting the soul-sample hip-hop, and he finished it off on the second one. Since then, none of his albums sound remotely the same, while this one, somehow, sounds like a MegaZord of all of his albums. There’s the soul sample boom bap via the gospel choirs on stuff like “Ultralight Beam,” the massive choruses and slick-electro futurism of Graduation in “Waves,” the Auto-Tuned sadness of 808s and Heartbreak in “Low Lights” and “Highlights,” the weary maximalism of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in “Fade” and “FML” and “Real Friends,” and the future-shock of Yeezus in “Freestyle 4” and “Famous.” The Life of Pablo is almost an entirely new greatest hits album. Everyone has wanted him to repeat his first LP since the day that came out, and now he’s gone ahead and repeated all of them. “What if Kanye made a song about Kanye, called “I Miss the Old Kanye,”/ Man, that would be so Kanye,” Kanye raps on “I Love Kanye,”
Click to expand...
 
C

cb1115

I Was There! Official L Receiver 2/12/2016
PBY said:
waiting a bit so i can digest the album through the noise of the release; i was at msg too, so its hard to separate the album from the experience.

that said, i love it. its confusing, challenging, stupid and smart all at the same time. just when you think kanye is getting too bleak or assholish on this record, beams of light cut through, like with waves or ULB or even FSMH. Even cudi's humming on waves is amazing, so simple yet so effective.

I think its great, and it took me a while to appreciate it. Even facts nmpila make sense - that new 30 hours, when you get a sense that hes just being present and listening to the music is amazing.
Click to expand...

that's a really great descriptor actually. basically every element of his previous work shows up in some form here, but with a modern Kanye twist. his verses can get pretty struggle from time to time, but he still has an incredible grasp on melody.

and Waves and ULB might be top-ten Ye songs.
 
S

Servbot24

Banned
EloquentM said:
Someone Herron gaf actually used the greatest hits description before the blog came out. I'd say it's accurate.
Click to expand...

There are definitely touchpoints to his old stuff, but they're deconstructed in a whole new way. Nothing on this album would have fit on any of his old albums (bonus tracks aside).
 
J

j-wood

Member
Famous beat is so good when bam bam comes in.

But fuck you swizz. Seriously, you are this close to ruining it with your shit.
 
J

j-wood

Member
Um so...I just got this e-mail about the theater album stuff. Seems the tidal version definitely isn't final?

Our records indicate you pre-ordered Kanye West's new album, The Life Of Pablo.

A partial version of the album can be streamed at tidal.com, but the final version will be released in the next several days.

We will send the album to you at this email address within 24 hours of its release.

Thank you for your patience.
 
C

Catvoca

Banned
Every thread made about Kanye that isn't explicitly about his music is such a shitshow. That debt thread is embarassing in spots.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Kanye West - The Life of Pablo |OT2| I miss the OT1 Kanye.
79 80 81 82 83
4K
367K
Cagey replied
Kanye West presents Yeezus |OT| #YeezySeason Approaches
99 100 101 102 103
5K
370K
Bounceounce replied
  • Locked
Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (OT 2?)
42 43 44 45 46
2K
136K
JohnDoe replied
  • Locked
Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
53 54 55 56 57
3K
144K
snack replied
Top Bottom