Ye: 6 Years Later
6 years doesn’t seem that long ago. After all, I’m only 24 years old as I write this. At release of this album, I had just turned 19. Less than 1 year after joining the Navy, I was in the last few weeks of a 9 month A-School and the whole world was in front of me.
The first place I played this record was in my first car, a white 2007 Volkswagen Jetta, with 4 or 5 friends piled in as we drove to Texas Roadhouse. It was a Friday night, most of us were under 21, and we were in night school. So yeah, we were living our best life.
Which song stood out to me most? To be honest, this album hasn’t been in rotation much the last few years. Most of my Kanye, and rap for that matter, consumption is when I’m working out or hyping myself during my drive to work. That being said, ‘No Mistakes’ is one that I almost never skip. “I don’t take advice from people less successful than me” is certainly an exaggeration if you ask me, but not the worst advice you could take from him. Not to mention, the voices of Charlie Wilson and Kid Cudi made for a memorable chorus.
I still remember hearing the first track, ‘I Thought About Killing You,’ and just how jarring it was. To this point, I hadn’t really grasped just how far Kanye was off his rocker. Just a couple of years earlier, he released what I consider to be his 2nd best album: The Life Of Pablo. Now, he’s being completely open about his mental health struggles, and throwing out some crazy lines in true Ye fashion. “I love myself way more than I love you.” Still true 6 years later, maybe more now than ever.
Fast forward just 2 months, and I was checking in at my first command, a DDG out of Norfolk, Virginia. As someone who grew up in the Midwest, I somehow convinced myself that this coastal town was a huge upgrade. Not only was I sorely mistaken, but now I was living on the ship vice the barracks, as there was not yet any availability. To make matters worse, I was thrown into Engineering berthing, widely known as the stinkiest place to be on the ship.
After working hours, the only people left on the ship were the duty personnel, and a few of us new people who hadn’t yet upgraded to barracks life. As I laid in my top coffin rack, pitch black and freezing, ‘Violent Crimes’ is the first song associated with this memory. Though the lyrics weren’t all that relatable at the time, and frankly still aren’t, it’s got a comforting tone that helped me through some eventless times living onboard.
All in all, this is one of my least favorite projects in Kanye’s catalog. Though it brings back some great (and not so great) memories, it still ranks pretty low overall for me. Nevertheless, I’ll never turn down more music from my favorite rap artist. Stay tuned for my next album review!
