Fair Shake Review: Heal_Thyself - Ebony Tusks

Heal_Thyself - Ebony Tusks

(Genre: Experimental Hip Hop/Alternative Rap)

Heal_Thyself with these related links:

Bloodletting (Acoustic Version)

Full Album (Audio)

Chuck D's (Music Video)

Schuyler (Music Video)

Heir Apparent (Music Video)

Fair Shake Review: The Life of Pablo

The Life of Pablo - Kanye West

(Genre: Rap/Hip Hop/Experimental Rap)

"What if Kanye made song about Kanye called 'I Miss the Old Kanye'? Man, that'd be so Kanye! That's what it was Kanye. We still love Kanye. And I love you like Kanye loves Kanye!" This quote from the album sort of sums my feelings on Mr. West. I've been a Kanye West fan from his start as a rising rapper with "Through the Wire". I dug him throughout his college series and even loved his emotional switch with "808's & Heartbreak". "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" was a grower on me and everything after that has been hit and miss. As an artist, I appreciate his attempts to expand his art, but I can't stand when it hinders his lyrical prowess. Surprisingly, I felt that happened with the collaborative effort "Watch the Throne" and especially "Yeezus". He's been able to have good featured verses here and there which still gave me hope with this ever-changing album.

This ever turbulent quality of Kanye's music career is the very definition of The Life of Pablo. The production side of the project truly mixes everything that Kanye has dabbled with before: boom bap sampled rap, current trap infused hip hop, & experimental beats. On the lyrical point of view, there are glimpses of his clever flows and wordplay, but far more groan-worthy punchlines. Therefore, what you get is a product that is, for the most part, sonically pleasing to the open-minded, but terrible to the trained ear. This will be, without a doubt, one of those divisive albums of the year.

From here on, I must be much more subjective than I've already presented when breaking down the "themes" of Pablo. Going into listening to the album, I had in mind what Kanye has tweeting to describe what he was crafting. Many people feel the Pablo in the title refers to Picasso, since in interviews West has compared himself to among other historical/influential figures. Yet, Kanye actually has tweeted to debunk that line of thinking by explaining Pablo is Paul from the Bible. Later, he explained that TLOP is supposed to be a gospel album. Hence, when I pressed play to hear "Ultralight Beam", I began to take his word for it as it is a song dedicated to God. Once "Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1 & 2" came in, I tried to my best to fit them in the theme by possibly attributing the bad things Kanye West gets involved with to the sins Paul committed as Saul before he believed in Jesus. It was stretching in my mind already, but I was ready to drop it completely as soon as I heard "Famous" & "Feedback". Next, I'm hit with the possible return to the theme with "Low Lights" and I'm inclined to believe "Highlights" is his celebration of his supposed blessings. "Freestyle 4" thoroughly made me give up trying to connect an overall theme on the album, though. So when I was treated to the interlude that is "I Love Kanye", I almost agreed with the song's initial sentiment until the closing statements I quoted at the beginning of this review. Following that, I just took everything by a song by song basis since, to me, there's no real concept to the project.

There are some good songs, some duds, and then just moments that spoil great songs. This created an okay album in my opinion. I will exit this with some gems like "Real Friends", "30 Hours", & "No More Parties in LA" as well as decent tracks like "Ultralight Beam", "Highlights", "Famous", and "Feedback". The rest are songs that I have to block out parts that ruin the vibe or just wish it was written better, for example "FML", "Wolves", "Pt. 1 & 2", & "Fade". To be honest, I find that I return to this album quite often because, from a production standpoint, I'm kept engaged throughout with a couple song skips which is an easy deletion from the queue on Tidal. I agree with a thought mentioned in a review that I'll link below that this is what "Yeezus" could have sounded like: Weird & Listenable. In conclusion, I would advise everyone to give it at least a listen to see if it works for you. Though, I like to support artists, I don't blame you if don't listen through the "only means" being Tidal. But "So Help Me God", that's just the "Waves". "SWISH"!

Related Recommendations:

Album Review (DeadEndHipHop)

Album Review (TheNeedleDrop)

"I Love Kanye" on SNL (Well, kind of...)

Smuckers by Tyler the Creator feat. Kanye West & Lil Wayne (A recent feature verse that I liked)

Us Placers by Child Rebel Soldier (Who wishes they'd make a full project?)

City of Stars by Logic (Reminds me of Kanye)

Get Up by Clipping. (Good Experimental Rap)

Top 5 Recommended Music Videos

"Erase" by Hyolyn & JooYoung feat. Iron
It seems like Hyolyn/Hyorin has been doing a lot of solo stuff, but I'm not complaining. Her voice is amazing and every time she's on screen, she brightens up the atmosphere with her smile. I think songs like this are her strong suit. It has a pop, ballad, R&B mix to it in the melody and vocal arrangement. JooYoung's voice complements Hyolyn's very well and I don't feel like one or the other overshadow each other, which happens from time to time. The lyrics are well written and the visuals go along with the story of relationship disentigrating over time. Although I thought Iron's rap verse was completely unnecessary, it wasn't that bad.



"I'M DIFFERENT" by HI SUHYUN feat. Bobby (iKON)
I wasn't all that impressed with Lee Hi's solo material and I casually enjoyed AKMU's MV releases. Oh, and Bobby's decent. I was curious how this crossover duo was going to work out and I think this is exactly what Lee Hi needed for her short musical career. Their voices work very well for this almost retro, Duffy/Adele-esque melody. The video is super cute as the girls follow and oogle Bobby shyly. It really looks like they had fun and it kinda made me like Bobby a little, although I think I would've been okay if he didn't have a guest verse in it and just acted in it for visual promotion. Nonetheless, I hope YG does something with this duo again because they have really good chemistry.



"Pendulum" by FKA twigs
Every now and then I saw this name pop up on my Facebook feed, so I was curious what her music sounded like. It's very avant garde both musically and visually. She possesses a very soft and unique voice. The music tends to come and go throughout the song. There's barely a beat or melody, just some noises through the verses and then the melody comes in during the chorus. It's oddly beautiful and the visuals reflect that as well. Lots of close ups of FKA twigs singing, then some artistic shibari, visual effects, and costumes. It's definitely worth checking out at least once for the experience, but I'm sure it's not everyone's cup of tea as it's so out there and ambient.



"Hip Hop for the World" by #HIPHOPISHIPHOP
Visually, this video isn't anything special while it does feature some great scenery, fun little art animations, and break dancers. The video is mostly rappers in their home country rapping in their native tongue. I found this video out through San E and learned it was a video supporting musical education, which is all well and good. Despite the lack of eye catching visuals, I think hearing the different languages in a rap is mindblowing and fun to hear. With the subtitles for me was amusing to decipher all the syllables said. I'm very pleased with who was chosen to represent America too. I recommend this one for all the hip-hop fans out there.



"REVELATION" by Royz
Every now and then I feel the need to post one of these band centric videos, because they are interesting sometimes. They have fun little visual effects that are stimulating to the eye, like this PV. There's plenty of solo shots of the members playing their instruments in the ring of fire and some great shots of Subaru with cooler color tones. The music is very energetic and has a passionate vocal delivery to match. It mixes a little bit of electronics and rock without letting one overpower the other. The costumes are pretty awesome and I love the ink work on Subaru in his solo shots.