If you’re a Kanye fan like myself the last month has been crazy, changes to the album name, release date, track list, but after all that it's finally here and after listening to the album once I'm not really sure about it. Yeezy has been evolving in almost every album he has put out since The college dropout going through different phases and allowing hip-hop to grow and evolve with him, but ‘Life of Pablo’ isn’t a new evolution of Kanye, it seems has taken a step back from being a self-proclaimed hip-hop god and wants to allow other artists to pave the way for the future of hip hop. In the track “I Love Kanye” he raps about when he first got to the rap scene as the guy in the pink polo no one took seriously and how he was able to evolve the genre opening it up for so many of the artists we see today. He refers to these artists as “new Kanye's” as if they are following in his footsteps. One of the best examples of one of these new Kanye's that West is looking to is Chance the Rapper. Chance is featured in the first track, “UltraLight Beam” and with Kanye’s producing prowess he is able to make Chance sound as good as he ever has.

However just because Kanye has stepped back from reinventing the genre does not mean he hasn’t stepped back from being that dastardly trouble making Kanye. In the fourth track, “Famous” Kanye jabs at Taylor Swift saying she is only famous because of him. He also goes after Ray J in the track “highlights” saying that they would be friends if it weren’t for his wife Kim Kardashian. He then says the only difference between him and Ray J is Kanye is rich, which may not be true seeing how Kanye recently tweeted that he is in 53 million of debt.

Throughout TLOP Kanye mentions how important his two children are to him and how he is trying to give up his old life so that he can be a good father to his kids. The theme of the album is giving us some insight into why this album isn’t a new evolution of Kanye. It seems that he wants to take a step back and be a good father to his children. If this is to be believed, it would explain why this album feels the same but less polished than his previous album, “Yeezus”. The album seems as though Kanye could be still working in the studio mixing it to get that perfect sound, as though he was preoccupied trying to be there for his children and wife. This unpolished feel is clear in the cover art.

Kanye fans, used to the artistic covers of old Kanye albums, are largely disappointed by this sloppy looking cover. I mean c’mon, it looks like something an elementary student would have put together. This lack of organization comes into play in the track list as well. One of the reasons that we had to wait for TLOP is because Chance the Rapper insisted the song Waves be on the album; which only made it at the last second due to a call from Max B., allowing Kanye to use the term wavey. We should thank Chance and Max B. for this because this is by far one of the best tracks. This constant changing around of tracks is representative of the overall feel of the album. The album as a whole may feel rushed but it is great in its own right. The cover is simple and it gets some of the major themes across. It says “which/one” in reference to the controversy of who inspired the album, Pablo Picasso or Pablo Escobar. It also shows a Picture of a family wedding and a picture of a supermodel in a bikini showing the fight that Kanye is having between his old self-going after models and actresses and his new self, a married man with two kids dedicated to raising them himself.

This album is an exploration of self for Kanye, an exercise in learning what is important to him. In multiple tracks he looks to God for guidance in his struggle with the duality of his personality, then he goes on to fall back into his old habits in some of the tracks. It is beautifully produced to make the features in TLOP sound the best they ever have. While the album as a whole has the feeling of being in progress and unpolished, it is some of his best work. After listening to it through a couple times, every track is better than the last and it is almost impossible to start it without wanting to listen to “The Life of Pablo” all the way through.