Kanye West // ye

Kanye West

ye

G.O.O.D Music

3.5/5 Stars

Kanye West's eighth solo album, the aptly titled ye, arrives, as most of his music does, in the wake of controversy. Palling around with right-wing sensationalists, misspeaking on a crucial time in American history, and claiming to "love" Donald Trump has left much of the hip-hop community to all but disavow the 41-year-old producer/savant. So what context, if any, does ye give to redeem himself this time? The answer is, unfortunately, not much. ye is the age-old result of a "great" artist making an album that is simply "good." Like a condensed version of 2016's eclectic The Life of Pablo, West touches upon a number of styles that span his discography from the slow-jam soul of The College Dropout ("Wouldn't Leave") to the melodic grandeur of his 2010 opus, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy ("Ghost Town"). The samples are strong and the songs can be incredibly personal — touching upon the artist's recent struggle with mental illness and the growth of his family — but the rapping is strangely empty, and with only a few sheepish references to West's regret over hurting his loved ones, ye may not deliver enough for some listeners to see past his harmful antics. — Aaron Mook