Posted On June 2nd, 2018 By Eugene Aldridge

Kanye West’s newest album, Ye or Love Everybody, has taken his discography into a completely different direction. His previous album, The Life of Pablo, is specifically made for summer parties and midnight memories. Yet, Ye is nothing like TLOP. What makes Ye so different is the concept of this new project. The concept of looking into the life of a middle-aged man with 3 children.

Kanye exposes himself emotionally in Ye. He expresses his inner fears about losing his family and how much he worries about being a good parent to his 3 kids. No other album of his has reached this level of vulnerability aside from 808’s and Heartbreak. In 23 minutes you can see his transformation from an angry, outspoken rapper to a worrisome but proud father.

Kanye used to call himself a God back in 2013 with Yeezus but 5 years later he decides to show the humanity he clearly possesses. Kanye never had a problem expressing his anger and his conceited nature in music. We never even knew he carried regret in his heart until recently. Now we know he’s just as human as the rest of us.

A prime example of Mr. West’s humanity is showcased in his song Wouldn’t Leave. He explains to his audience how the aftermath of his tweets about supporting Trump really affected him. He sits us down to let us know he, unfortunately, felt that if his family was ruined it would have been all his fault.

We knew to advocate for Trump meant losing both respect and money but those consequences seemed to elude Kanye. Not only because most of his fans stayed fans regardless of his tweets but also because he did not realize how much backlash he would receive. He even offered an apology to Kim and a warning to his male listeners at the end of the song not to follow in his footsteps. He warned us to watch what we do and say or else we could possibly lose our significant others.

Funny enough though, his next song No Mistakes clarifies that just because he feels bad doesn’t mean he’s changing in any way. At the beginning of the song, he talks about how 2018 was one for the books then he proceeds to throw our irrelevance right in our faces. He says, “Let me make this clear/so all y’all see/I don’t take advice from people less successful than me.” You can call it mean or blunt but the truth is, he’s right! This is a lesson for everyone, you can’t take criticism from those without the right credentials.

Nuggets of knowledge and wisdom are consistently present throughout the entire album. Kanye’s experiences and age presents itself well especially in I Thought About Killing You. He comments about society’s outlook on mental illness and how you have to downplay its severity for the masses. It seems like the only thing that hasn’t changed about him is how outspoken he will always be.

This album is one of Kanye’s best. Not just because of the amazing production value or untouchable lyrical content but because like in his album, Graduation, we can see the real, vulnerable Kanye West. Ye is a triple threat that deserves to be acknowledged as a timeless classic that lives forever in the music library of our children’s children.



You can catch Eugene Aldridge furiously writing about something at 3 am. If you want to see him cry play the song, Simple and Clean. For some reason, he loves palm trees. Check out his articles on MuckRack.