Tea Time

GENRE: hip hop  Going further through the album, this was one of the songs I particularly enjoyed. It's quite pandering given the content, and given how manic Kanye is. Again, as ridiculous as he can be, he does produce great material. You've got that old school jazz style perpetuated throughout the song. I love those strings and how they play against the singer's voice in the intro. Kanye's voice is altered a little differently than in his previous songs. It sounds fatigued, strained, as if he's been singing for a long time before actually recording. I doubt that that's the case; it's probably just some effect. But nonetheless, it took a while to get used to, but I'm a fan of it. It's soft, and endearing in my opinion. Good stuff. Rating: 7.5/10

GENRE: gospel, hip hop It's always a day transformed when Kanye does something new. God (relevant), considering how crazy Kanye can be, it's amazing what he put out in his craft. Maybe that's what's needed. One of my favorite components of Kanye's previous works has been his incorporation of gospel choirs into his songs. This time, you've got a whole album centered around that. I haven't listened to the whole album yet, but I've decided to pick one of the songs that stood out to me so far. Both of the songs before this are heavily influenced with gospel music. The choir is so dominant in these songs. It's only until Follow God where you get some reminiscent of Kanye's older work. You get a cadence representative of his pre-Yeezy days. The worst thing is that it's so short. It sounds like an incomplete idea to me. I wish Kanye used more of his experimental tastes to really transcend a gospel album. I'm sure it's been done before. ...