Review by Tim (Brother) Turner
I’ll start by saying this; I’ve never written a review for anything, save for a book I bought on Amazon in order to get a free audiobook I’ve never listened to.
For me to say I gave this album a fair shot would be a lie, as I listened to it on and off in the car during a day of running errands with the Missus. But the few moments I had alone in the car, listening to the tracks, as well as reading a bit into where Kanye was mentally at the time, it immediately took me back 10 years, to when I was in high school. How my friends of the time and I knew so little about his headspace amidst all of the controversies he was facing. And I couldn’t help but feel horrible for the way my young mind reacted to this news; I thought it was funny, and Mr. West was the butt of many jokes between my classmates and I. How easily we could say he went crazy, that this new music of his sucks.
While this “review” may not fairly reflect the contents of the album itself, I feel that, in a way, it has become a review of something much more important; personal growth. While I could fanboy over his crediting of Black Sabbath for the vocal-riff on “Hell of a Life,” all I could think during my listen was that, with Kanye, I’ve done nothing but grow and better myself over the last decade, even if it’s not immediately apparent to such a broad audience. While I can appreciate the artistic value of his evolving discography now, I couldn’t at the time. It is an unfortunate cliché that many artists’ genius aren’t apparent until many decades later, but Kanye is constantly disproving that. In short, thank you Kanye West, for helping me see that personal betterment is subjective, and not always immediately apparent, but always reflective of the creator of said change.
-Timothy Turner
