As promised here is issue 3 of Albert’s Broken Record. I’m going to broadly keep these to every two weeks (I really will- sorry this one took so long!). Any recommendations I would love to hear them.
Music News
Having had a while without any major releases, we had a rush of them recently. The first I’ve got to talk about is Kendrick Lamar’s Mr Morale and the Big Steppers. Hotly anticipated is possibly an understatement, its Kendrick’s first album since Damn in 2017. And its one of those where what can I say, it’s Kendrick, its good. There’s been a lot of discourse about it and comparisons to his other work, I don’t personally like it as much as Damn or To Pimp a Butterfly, but those are all time classics. Kendrick is still one of the most talented people working in hip hop and tracks like N95 and Die Hard still scratch that itch of a wanting to hear a classic banger like Humble or Loyalty, whilst other tracks like We Cry Together are tough to listen to, but are really important and work well. My main criticism would be I don’t think Kodak Black does much here (not just because he’s an awful person), but I also don’t think he contributes much to the track he’s on. But I would recommend checking this out, if you’re trying to get into Kendrick’s discography, this is probably his least accessible project, so maybe don’t start here. But, this is very rewarding and a strong entry into a strong discography.
The other recent release I wanted to talk about was Jack Harlow’s Come Home the Kids Miss You. Jack’s second album was released earlier this year and its a bit of a mixture. On the one hand, I really like Jack and there are some great tracks here, First Class, Nail Tech and Churchill Downs I all really liked and I’ve been listening to quite a bit. On the other, there are some really forgettable tracks on here and some big name features, like Justin Timberlake and Lil Wayne, who just do nothing here (Lil Wayne in particular). I think Jack is a good rapper, but with weak beats. I think that’s why my favourite song he’s ever done is Industry Baby, because both is flows are great and the beat behind it is so good and it makes sense as it is produced by a certain Kanye West. So, maybe Jack just needs to work with better producers, because despite the weaker elements of this album, I think he’s still a talented guy and I anticipate what he does next and if you want to check out this album, check out the three tracks I mentioned earlier, they’re the highlights.
(I’m aware we’ve also had some other big/interesting album releases, from Harry Styles, Liam Gallagher and Post Malone, which I’m hoping to cover next time, so stay tuned).
Album Discussion- The Life of Pablo- Kanye West
The Life of Pablo is the seventh studio album by Kanye West, released in 2016. I’ve chosen this for a few reasons. First, I was already talking about two rap albums, so I thought I’d discuss another one. Second, Kanye is one of my all time favourite artists and I’ve had two album discussions where I was unanimously praising them, they’re on my all time favourites list. The Life of Pablo has some great tracks, but it is not one of my favourite Kanye albums, so let’s discuss it, the good, the bad and the Pablo.
The Life of Pablo was one of the first albums to be released entirely on streaming/digitally without a physical release. When Kanye first released it, it was exclusively available on the streaming service Tidal (I’m sure he’ll never try anything like that again), but eventually it was released on other streaming services too, leading to plenty of lawsuits and drama from Tidal. It was also accompanied by the Saint Pablo tour, which had some great moments, but also had Kanye going on long rants about his mental health and support for Donald Trump and was cancelled early. Honestly, I could write a whole essay on everything about this album but the music. But, the music is the important thing, so what is it like?
The start of this album is so good. Ultralight Beam is an amazing way to start the album, starting off really strong. It’s then followed by Father Stretch My Hands part 1 and part 2. These together are up there with my favourite Kanye tracks and its one of the best examples of the Kid Cudi/Kanye partnership, with Cudi’s ‘beautiful morning’ being one of my favourite vocals on any Kanye or Cudi track. I also love Kanye taking Panda and just putting it on here, such a fun addition. It’s also produced by Drake, so feels like a lot of hip-hop’s greats coming together to make something special. And to top it off Kanye’s verses on both parts is great, part 1 is filthy but hilarious and part 2’s ‘sorry ain’t called you back, same problem my father had’ is just brilliant.
We then get Famous, the big single off the album, which got the most talk at the time, with its video and ‘i feel like my and taylor might still have sex’ line. Now, that feels like an interesting time capsule, considering both Taylor and Kanye seemed to have moved on to other projects and other feuds. But in spite of that, I do really like Famous and I think the bam, bam outro is also very cool.
I then have to shout out I Love Kanye, not even a minute long and something only he could make. Brilliant.
The second half of the album for me is the less good stuff. No More Parties in LA features Kendrick Lamar, which should be amazing, but just feels a bit over long and repetitive to me. I think Kanye and Kendrick together is like Messi and Ronaldo playing for the same team, individually both amazing, but together I don’t think they’d work. I think 30 Hours and Saint Pablo have a similar issue, in being just a bit too long and outstaying their welcome by the end. The first half of the album is so much more re-listenable than the second on here for sure.
Overall, The Life of Pablo has some moments of brilliance and is by no means Kanye’s worst album, but as a whole project I wouldn’t re-listen to the whole thing from start to finish again and again, the same way I could with The College Dropout or Graduation for example. So, definitely check it out and make up your own mind, in particular Father Stretch My Hands if you’ve never heard it, but in a similar way to Kendrick’s new project, maybe don’t make this your first Kanye album.
I’ll get a new one of these out soon, so any requests/recommendations are welcome. See you next time.
Movie Night 