You know, even if this album ends up being a clusterfuck.. it could still be a good and interesting experiment. Somehow during all those delays my faith has been restored.

back in the day when shit was released only on CD, release dates really meant something. In fact, it was more common for them to be pushed UP rather than back.

I hate that nowadays - because releasing an album just means uploading it to a server, that we're stuck w/ promises of albums that don't materializes when promised.

I don't think this is a very telling picture, really. Are you thinking this is a Coke deal? I suppose, but I've never encountered a drug dealer that dressed that much like a "drug dealer" in the Shaft villain blacksploitation sense. I have also not run across a lot of addicts who allow people to stand next to them taking flash photographs of their handoffs.

I've known a lot of drug addicts and drug dealers too.

Just saying.. I hope you're not right. I remember listening to Yeezus and having concerns about his mental health. Some of the lyrics are almost heartbreakingly desperate, angry, frustrated. I remember making a comment to that effect here and being told I was being an idiot and taking things too seriously (not by you guys... well, maybe p-green..)

Anyway, it would break my heart if this was the case. Even worse if he spiralled out of control in a Cobain kind of way. Christ, that would be awful.

But honestly, most of the people I know well admit to occasionally doing drugs. It's the elephant in the proverbial room of life. I think actual sobriety is extremely rare. It's either booze, prescription drugs, pot, "weekend warrior" types who use hard drugs but keep it in check, and flat out addicts. I think most people fall into one of these categories.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if Ye was on some shit. Who in the rap world isn't? But all the same, I don't really want to dwell on it. He's making insane music, and in recent interviews he's been in fairly good shape. So for now I'm going to hope he's alright.

No that's Kim in front of Kanye, look at his nose though.

Yeah that'd be the worst. :(

I hope he isn't really an addict is all. Maybe I'm just worrying too much.

Hey, not to get all "pitchfork matters" or anything, but every track they've reviewed from the album has been given "BEST NEW TRACK" status. The review of "Ultra Light Beams" is pretty interesting.

I saw they gave Ultra Light Beams BNT. Haven't read the review yet though. Gonna do so right now.

Also, hey, louder.. I think I've figured out the album's overarching concept. I know you said it felt a bit all over the place, but I've got a theory I want to run by you:

I've been thinking on this since we learned the name of the album, but it really started to click when NR posted that crazy cover (?) with the family photo and the ass pic with the words "WHICH/ONE" all over it. So here goes...

I think the album is about Kanye's life and legacy, and the duality of his identity. People have been asking "which Pablo? Escobar? Picasso?" and I think that question is the key. I think the album is about the dichotomy between Kanye the parent/man of God/family man/good person/social activist/positive influence/genius/artist/son of Donda West" and Kanye the "crazy bastard/misogynist/sexist/aggressive/possibly drug addled/controversy making/fuckwad son of a bitch" with the main theme being "WHO AM I?"

I think certain songs and lyrics represent the former, and others represent the latter. My idea is that this is actually a high concept album that is quite literally supposed to be "THE ALBUM OF THE LIFE" of Kanye West. I think that's what he meant whene he said that. Not that it's the best album ... of... life... or whatever because that doesn't even make a speck of sense, but that it's actually the life of Kanye in song form.

That line you mentioned before:
"if I fuck this model,
and she bleaches her asshole,
and I get bleach on my t-shirt,
will I look like an asshole?"

... I think it's supposed to sound absolutely ridiculous and shallow and stupid, because in that verse Kanye's playing the part of Kanye "Escobar" (for lack of a better term), while lyrics like
"I guess I get what I deserve don't I? Word on the street is they ain't heard from him,"
and
"Pray for Paris/pray for Iran
This is a God dream/this is everything
we are on ultra light beams"
... is Kanye playing the part of Kanye "Picasso" (again, for lack of a better term).

I think it's a very big picture, meta-concept album in which different parts of Kanye's personality, identity, history, etc. are "played" by Kanye and others over the course of an album that's supposed to let the listener decide "WHICH ONE."

Maybe Chance's stellar verse is supposed to be the "good angel" on ye's shoulder, or possibly a younger Kanye.

Notice that this is the first album in almost a decade to use the phrase "Wake up, Mr. West!" and to refer to being "on time" or "late". To me that's supposed to get us thinking about the whole story, and what we're going to believe, how we're choosing to see Kanye. Is he Pablo Picasso? The gifted dreamer, lover, troubled genius we know from the early years... Or is he Pablo Escobar? The Twitter war waging, materialistic dick-pick sending sick son of a bitch we see in the media and frequently on tracks from the last two albums?

I think he's acknowledging that he's a little bit of both, and "WHICH/ONE" represents him better has yet to be determined.

I know someone's probably going to take me to task for overthinking stupid rap music, but this is how the album sounds to me. I actually believe this is the concept of the record. I'm sure when the final album is released, it will be easier to tell if I'm onto something here, or if I'm just full of shit and have completely missed the mark.

So... thoughts?

I love you sev.

EXCELLENT (but obviously quickly written, so full of errors) NPR piece called "Eight Writers on TLOP.. so far" is trending on Twitter.

There are some magnificent and truly eloquent insights about the significance of Ye, musically and culturally, and some very thoughtful ruminations on the new album. Some of these 8 writers, all experiencing the live stream from different locations via different mediums, were disgusted by certain lyrics, but one thing seems to be common among everyone who was assigned to this task: they all found the album absolutely thrilling and extremely emotionally powerful.

One great quote hits a bit at what I'm throwing out ther with my little Pablo theory:
"I really don't care about propriety when it comes to Kanye. For me, the way he constantly picks at the scabs of a nation not at all healed by our attempts to be politically correct offers valuable insight into the anxieties and other negative emotions that can't be ameliorated by polite talk. He's not a role model in any way, but for me, that's what's valuable. Show us your ugly. If anything is authentic about him, it's the mix of ugly and beautiful."[/i] —Ann Powers

Read it here:
http://www.npr.org/sections/therecor...f-pablo-so-far

You too buddy.

Sev you're a genius man.

So this Kanye album is his version of Star Wars. The fight between good and evil. Did he cross to the dark side?

On the real though, it seems like it's gonna be the most meta Kanye album to date.. which says a lot.

So that actually might be why it reminded me of Eminem and Tyler huh.. rapping as a character which presents the "obnoxious" side of his personality..

Wait, are you being sarcastic? I won't be offended... I mean, I'm no genius, (unless of course you're going by official APA IQ guidelines)... I just want to know. ;)

I often have a hard time determining whether the things I say are profound, or profoundly stupid. So help me out on this one.

Also have you heard "30 hours?"

No I was serious. Your theory is brilliant.

And yeah.. I don't remember too much from it. The beat was hard though.

Yeah, he seems to be fully aware of how absurd he is. I think he's doing a bit of a "Runaway" thing here... Part of what makes that track so great is that he admits to and owns the parts of himself that he's ashamed of, while also vying for the well-being of the girl he's mistreated so badly.

This is what makes him so special to me. He is human in every way. Extremely exaggerated, but still human. He has the same internal moral struggles the rest of us have, and instead of simply presenting an image of fake strength like 99% of his peers (Eminem fancies himself to be sonething of a stoic, for instance) Kanye shows us the shame, guilt, greed, anger, sadness and strength that we all have flashes of. This is why people feel such a strong personal connection to him, I think.

I don't know... Just spitballing here. Might write a piece on all this for the paper. Need it to be taken seriously though.

Louder you are such an awesome motherfucker man.
NR, you too. Fucking #REALFRIENDS. That's what you guys are.

I like you way more than any grown man probably should like any other grown men he knows only through an Internet message board.

Yeah i thought yr theory was brilliant sev.

So this thing has ballooned to 18 tracks now? This seems to be the opposite of the Yeezus process. Rick Rubin must be crying right about now. Who is the fucking editor?