Kanye West’s seventh studio album “The Life of Pablo” is released amid a blizzard of statements from its egotistical creator.The album is the greatest of all time, according to West. Having previously told us that he was “the greatest living rock star on the planet,” he is now going further on Twitter. The star is now declaring himself “the greatest living artist and greatest artist of all time.”The rapper’s boasts do him a disservice. He is in some ways his own worst enemy. If you can get past the out-of-control immodesty, X-rated lyrics, blizzards of words and comments that some will see as sexist, “The Life of Pablo” is impressive. Impressive rather than entertaining. Very good. Of its kind.West’s last collection was titled “Yeezus.” Now this latest title is a reference to Pablo Picasso, an artist whom West is sure he surpasses. (The album went through a host of working titles such as “So Help Me God,” “Swish” and “Waves.”)It starts with happy kids on “Ultralight Beam.” West’s music is moving away from spoken rap to guest stars after the vocoder phase of 808s & Heartbreak, where he sounded like a robot having a nervous breakdown. Here we have a track sprinkled with gospel flourishes. “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 2” has a touch of Motown ballad about it but a little vocoder style distortion rather than any appealing Marvin Gaye.“Famous,” featuring Rihanna, starts with seductive pop. Then it becomes clear how much West is prepared to experiment. First comes a controversial rap about Taylor Swift, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex…I made that b**ch famous.” Cue disagreement on what lyrics Swift agreed to, and what West meant anyway. Then there are incongruous samples: Nina Simone and even “Bam Bam,” a piece of patois by Jamaican DJ ad singer Sister Nancy. This was the same idea as West used on “Yeezus,” there with a more famous piece of Simone, the refrain from “Strange Fruit.”“Feedback” also pushes against being radio-friendly, with its minimalist backing and machine-gun rap that rhymes “good news” with “good snooze.”“Low Lights” barely clocks two minutes to the closing words “you are the joy of my life.” “Highlights,” with Young Thug, continues the theme and by now it is obvious Kanye isn’t giving us a record that rocks out. “Freestyle 4” launches a missile of X-rated rap over the dreamy introduction of Alison Goldfrapp’s “Human.” “I Miss Kanye” is a piece of unaccompanied rap, just 44 seconds long, with a little giggle that recalls Janis Joplin’s “Mercedes Benz.”“Waves,” only finished hours before release by Chance the Rapper, has a soft backing and floaty words: “Waves don’t die, baby/ Let me crash you for a moment/ Baby I don’t, I don't need to own you / No lie.”This is a midpace collection of classy samples and occasionally sharp raps. There are no real standout tracks like the flashes of inspiration on “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” which resulted in “All of the Lights” and its nine-minute centerpiece “Runaway.”But West is right to be proud of this work. It is a shame his braggadocio is getting out of hand. The suggestions of Godlike genius are now putting people off. To take festivals in the U.K. alone, the present writer has witnessed the angry reaction at Glastonbury in 2015 when West declared himself “the greatest living rock star on the planet”; at the Big Chill in 2011 where he complained that people saw him as like Hitler; and at Wireless in 2014 where West indulged in a 15-minute rant. Each of these resulted in boos, scores of people walking away, often expressing disgust and vowing never to buy one of his albums. It is a shame because they will miss out on a crafted piece of work here, but who can blame them? Rating ****.The album is available on Tidal ad West’s website. Information: http://www.kanyewest.com/ and http://tidal.com
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