By Yehia Hussein

Kanye West proves once again that he is one of, if not the, most relevant artist alive. From Twitter beef with Wiz Khalifa, to declaring Bill Cosby’s innocence, the way Kanye promoted his new album is nothing short of genius. But the question here is: does the musical output match the hype?

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Well, in anticipation for the album Kanye dropped three promotional tracks: “No More Parties in L.A.,” “Real Friends,” and “30 Hours.” These three tracks implied that Mr. West is going back to his roots, to what die-hard Kanye West fans as well as hip-hop heads have been missing all these years: ‘the old Kanye.’ But what was even more exciting was the final tracklist with all the features. An album featuring some of the most relevant hip-hop acts out today was a reminder of why My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was so great. The way Kanye combined hip-hop’s heavyweights proved, that when united, they can produce the best music in recent years.

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But upon listening to the album more than once, the average Kanye fan would soon realize that The Life of Pablo does not feed the nostalgia of ‘the old Kanye’ nor does it resemble in any way My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The Life of Pablo is a reflection of Kanye West today, very creative but messy. The album feels like one has put their iPod on shuffle and just let it play. In other words, Kanye almost deliberately, leaves the listeners to put the pieces of the puzzle on their own. That being said, there is no denying the quality of music put out throughout the album.

Tracks like “Ultralight Beam” and “Waves” are purely authentic. Both give listeners a break from the commonplace hip-hop sound out today, an alternative only Mr. West can provide. Though there are other tracks of the album that lack the depth it’s expected to have like “Father Stretch My Hands Pt.1” and “Famous.” But it seems that Kanye’s aim isn’t to make grand statements, knowing he is highly capable of doing so. His aim is to truthfully reflect on his public image with no apologies. He does so by sharing his thoughts as if he is sitting next to the listener on the couch, including commentary ranging from his past relationships, his infamous VMA incident with Taylor Swift, Ray J, and the highly publicized relationship with his wife.

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The Life of Pablo is Kanye West trying to figure out where he stands in pop culture. How people would perceive him while being completely honest, as if he is thinking out loud. Nevertheless, Kanye West has proved, once again, his dominance. The only rapper who is still relevant from the 2000’s era is making headlines in 2016. It has been proven that no matter what happens, when Kanye drops music, people listen. Not only that but he overshadows any rapper currently in the limelight. There is no better way to put it than Kanye did: “the writer’s block is over, emcees cancel your plans”.