This highly-anticipated addition to Kanye’s catalogue attempted to create a G.O.O.D. Monday for hip-hop fans. On his fifth release, Mr. West supplies listeners with a decent work of enhanced production and ordinary lyrics. His short film Runaway laid a visual foundation for the album, but the overabundance of collaborations with Nicki Minaj, Jay-Z and Rick Ross are either immediately enjoyable or redundant in sound. By no means a hip-hop classic, it’s safe to say the tracks that did make the LP were satisfying to new and old Kanye fans.
“Dark Fantasy,” “Lost In The World” and “Blame Game” are more notable cuts, giving insight inside on the gloomy, exciting and sexy sides of West. Although Cyhi Da Prynce is phenomenal on an emcee-filled track, “So Appalled,” it and “Hell of A Life” are altogether awfully uninteresting. Besides the fact that we’ve previously heard one-third of the album because of the G.O.O.D Friday leaks West orchestrated on his website leading up to the release, the excess in features diminishes the display of Kanye’s progress by far. This album was our opportunity to see Ye’s growth since 808s and Heartbreak. It was there production-wise, but unfortunately the content lacked any substance.
