It’s no secret that I’ve been a fan Kanye West for a long time. I still remember buying his first album The College Dropout at the CD Plus in King’s Place mall in downtown Fredericton, a chain that no longer exists.
It’s also no secret that I have had major criticisms about some of Kanye’s work. I thought 808s & Heartbreaks was a gimmicky mess, Watch The Throne was just okay and Yeezus – while sonically brilliant – had amazingly bad lyrics like, “Eatin’ Asian pu**y, all I need is sweet and sour sauce.”
Now over two years after that questionable album, Yeezy is about to drop another one. So Help Me God, Swish, Waves will be released on Feb. 11, and there’s already been some controversy, centring around Kanye’s possible predilection for assplay.
But I know what question you want answered – what will Waves be like? The simple answer is, we don’t know.
First – what we won’t see. Do you remember those ill advised collabs with Paul McCartney? The ones where Kanye sang and Paul didn’t? Those are absent from a tracklist the artist released on Twitter, one which is of course subject to change.
Also missing from the tracklist is “All Day”, with such inspirational lines as, “How much time you spent at the mall? All day, ni**a.”
However, in their place comes a collab with probably the best rapper in the game today, Kendrick Lamar. Lamar, of course, always drops a solid verse, with Kanye holding his own with lyrics that are personal, but not corny. They also hint at better things to come, like this lyric from a track set to appear on the album.
“I know some fans who thought I wouldn’t rap like this again, but the writer’s block is over, emcees cancel your plans.”
Besides the feature with Kendrick we can also look forward to Sia, Vic Mensa and Ty Dolla $ign making appearances on the album. Features from Earl Sweatshirt, Puff Daddy, A$AP Rocky and Andre 3000 have also been rumoured.
Whatever story Waves tells will be done in three acts. While this isn’t a storytelling technique Kanye has used before on an album, he’s not foreign to the concept. In many ways his first three albums The College Dropout, Late Registration and Graduation can be viewed as a trilogy.
It’s all but decided that Waves will be a commercial success. This is Kanye we’re talking about – he’ll get more hate listens than most artists get total listens. The real question is whether this album will be a critical success.
Kanye’s first three albums are seen as transformative, moving hip-hop from a gritty, street oriented sound to more pop sensibilities. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is seen as a modern classic. Yeezus was praised in the popular music press, while the hip-hop press was less enthusiastic.
I’m hoping the album is great, and from listing to some of the songs that will make the album I’m cautiously optimistic. In many ways Kanye’s ego will determine the album’s place in his discography. Will he come across strong and confident, or just full of himself?
We’ll have to see.
