On Friday, June 1 Kanye West released an album titled “ye.” This is his eighth solo album, and apparently 2018 will see a couple more Yeezy album releases.
This album is comprised of seven songs with a total length of 23 minutes. His lyrics are about various topics, ranging from the #MeToo movement and mental health issues to Tristan Thompson and Kanye’s personal views on women.
Kanye celebrated his album release with a get together of some of his close friends and family in Wyoming around a campfire Thursday night. Guests included 2Chainz, Candice Owens, Chris Rock, Jonah Hill and of course Kim Kardashian-West. The entire event was live-streamed on a mobile app for fans to watch.
In 2016, Kanye announced he would be dropping a follow up album to “The Life of Pablo” and it was to be called “Turbo Grafx 16.”
However, since then there have been many obstacles thrown in his path that have prevented the release of it. He had a breakdown where he ended up in the hospital in 2016, not sure he was going to make it out alive. This was only a month after his wife, Kim, was robbed in Paris in October of 2016.
The cover of his album is a picture of a snow-capped mountain range, most likely reflecting the landscape of Wyoming where he has spent most of his time recording new music. It also has writing that says “I hate being bi-polar, it’s awesome.”
This is portraying the mental dissonance Kanye feels regarding his mental health. However, he does report he is on medication and feeling much better than he did back in 2016.
In Track 1 “I Thought About Killing You,” Kanye raps about the fact that he has contemplated suicide, but still loves himself more than anyone else.
In Track 7 “Violent Crimes,” he raps about his daughters, and reveals how his perception of women has changed since the birth of his two daughters Chicago and North.
Kanye also released two singles, “Lift Yourself” and “Ye vs. The People” to further tease his album. “Lift Yourself” is a song commemorating the fact that he is back in the game after being on a break for the past two years to be with family and heal from his mental breakdowns.
“Ye vs. The People” is a political debate between West himself and fellow rapper T.I. In this song, Kanye brings attention to all the online debates about his feelings towards Donald Trump, free thinking and tearing down black political stereotypes. It is simply “Ye” (Kanye) vs. “The people” (T.I.) with West rapping about his views on such issues and T.I. representing the voice of the people that possess opposing views.
With the release of this new album, he reports “Ye” is only one album of four others that will be released this month. Fans can expect to hear collaborations from artists such as Nas, Pusha-T, and Teyana Taylor. He also recently released “Kids See Ghost,” a collaboration album with fellow G.O.O.D. Music labelmate Kid Cudi.
All in all, Kanye wants the world to know that he is back and better than ever.
Kali Macklin
Staff Writer