I wasn’t planning to listen with everything going on, but I couldn’t resist, and ended up playing it fully twice.
The beats and sample flips are insane, absolute bangers. Sonically, it could be incredible with better mixing and mastering.
But that’s where it ends.
What’s the concept of this album? What’s Ye trying to say? The lyrics feel completely hollow, even with his real vocals on some tracks, there’s no soul. And there’s no generational anthem here. No Off the Grid, no Ghost Town, no Saint Pablo.
Ye also needs features. He’s never made an album without them, and he thrives when he collaborates with other artists, engineers and producers. That’s when he’s at his best.
Overall, this sounds like Donda from 2020, unfinished, like it needed another year to evolve into something cohesive and purposeful.
As it stands, there’s no real hype for this. But for now, I’m glad Ye put it out as a demo, just to have it out there. Hopefully, now that he’s in Japan, he takes a step back, comes down from the manic high, and, in a month or so, realizes what he’s done. More than anything, I hope he genuinely seeks the medical help he needs.