Ye (album)
Ye (/jeɪ/ YAY; stylized in all lowercase) is the eighth studio album by the American rapper Kanye West. It was released on June 1, 2018, through GOOD Music and distributed by Def Jam Recordings. Following controversy surrounding an interview with TMZ, West re-recorded all the work on the album, with him completing it over the course of just two weeks at West Lake Ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Guest vocals from PartyNextDoor, Ty Dolla Sign, Kid Cudi, Charlie Wilson, Jeremih, and 070 Shake, among others, are included.
Ye
West produced Ye with Mike Dean, alongside numerous others. Succeeding the release of Pusha T's Daytona, the album was the second of five albums produced by West in what were referred to as the "Wyoming Sessions", which were set to be released weekly. It preceded the release of West's collaborative album with Kid Cudi, as Kids See Ghosts, titled Kids See Ghosts. The latter's release was succeeded by that of Nas' Nasir, and Teyana Taylor's K.T.S.E.. West held a listening party for Ye on May 31, 2018, which was livestreamed from Jackson Hole.
"Yikes" and "All Mine" were released as singles in the summer of 2018 in support of Ye, with a lyric video being released for the latter simultaneously with one for non-single "Violent Crimes". Both of the singles attained top 20 positions on the US Billboard Hot 100, while the album received generally favorable reviews from music critics. The majority of them drew comparisons between the latter and West's previous works, while other critics had somewhat mixed feelings towards the lyrical content. It was named as one of the best albums of 2018 by multiple publications.
Ye gave West his eighth consecutive studio album to debut at number one on the US Billboard 200, tying him with Eminem's record. It was also a chart topper in Australia, Canada, Estonia, Ireland, and New Zealand, becoming West's second number one album in the first of the five territories. Top five positions were further attained in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The album has been certified platinum and gold in the United States and the UK by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and British Phonographic Industry (BPI), respectively.
Background and recording[edit]
On February 24, 2016, Kanye West tweeted that his eighth studio album would be released during the summer of that year under the title of Turbo Grafx 16, naming it after the video game console of the same name.[1] West associate Ibn Jasper posted a photo on Instagram showing West with longtime collaborators Mike Dean, Plain Pat, and Kid Cudi in a recording studio working on the album.[2] In March 2016, Quavo posted an image on his Instagram of him in a studio with West, with "TURBO GRAFX 16" written on the wall behind them. A number of other artists were present in the image, including Lil Yachty, Big Sean, and Tyler, the Creator.[3] The expected release of the album in the summer of 2016 was not met, while West began his Saint Pablo Tour in August that year, in support of his seventh studio album The Life of Pablo that had been released in February.[4][5] The tour ended abruptly, with 22 out of 41 dates being cancelled, after West, on his Sacramento stop, embarked on a rant lasting roughly 20 minutes, ending the show.[5]
In May 2017, news began to surface that West was working on his new album "on top of a mountain in Wyoming" in seclusion.[6] In March 2018, similar reports had emerged through various artists, including West himself, who was being spotted in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with a release date being expected for either 2018 or 2019 at the time.[7][8] A number of other artists were pictured or rumored, including Kid Cudi, Nas, King Louie, Pi'erre Bourne, ASAP Bari, Wheezy, The-Dream, Travis Scott and The World Famous Tony Williams.[9][10] In April 2018, West met with Rick Rubin, who is the executive producer on West's previous two studio albums, Yeezus (2013) and The Life of Pablo.[11] The meeting occurred at West's office in Calabasas, following on from him recording in Wyoming, having bought a property in the latter named Monster Lake Ranch for recording and renamed it West Lake Ranch.[11][12] That same month, West previewed the album for radio host Charlamagne tha God.[13] West announced the album's planned release date of June 1, 2018, on April 19, simultaneously revealing it to include seven tracks.[14] On April 28, 2018, West tweeted out a text conversation between him and Wes Lang.[15] The text conversation included West showing the initial cover for the album, and an explanation of its concept, followed by him asking for help naming the album.[16] Lang replied, "LOVE EVERYONE," to which West replied "I love that."[16] The presented cover art showed plastic surgeon Jan Adams who performed a liposuction and mammoplasty operation on West's mother, Donda West, which led to complications and eventually her death a day after.[16] Within the texts, Kanye West explained that he wanted to "forgive and stop hating," implying that West was ready to forgive the plastic surgeon for the situation regarding his mother's death.[17] On April 30, Adams responded to the news of the cover in the form of an open letter, asking West to "cease and desist using my photo or any image of me to promote your album or any of your work," while noting his willingness to sit down with West for a face to face conversation.[18] West responded to the letter on his Twitter saying, "This is amazing. Thank you so much for this connection brother. I can't wait to sit with you and start healing."[19]
West returned to Wyoming in May 2018 for the recording of then-upcoming albums, which were later referred to as the "Wyoming Sessions".[20][21] Outside of his own albums, West also executive produced, produced, and provided guest vocals for all of the albums by other artists that came out of the "Wyoming Sessions", with him having announced taking on the role of producer beforehand.[22][23][24][25] American rapper Pusha T released his third studio album, Daytona on May 25, 2018, with the album standing as the first release of West's 2018 "Wyoming Sessions" recordings.[20][26] West released Ye on June 1 as the second album of the "Wyoming Sessions".[20][27] Prior to referencing mental health on the album, West had mentioned it within his music in the past, especially on The Life of Pablo.[28] On June 8, 2018, a week after Ye had been released, Kids See Ghosts, the hip hop duo consisting of West and Kid Cudi, released their eponymous debut studio album Kids See Ghosts.[20][29] A sequel to Ye track "Ghost Town", entitled "Freeee (Ghost Town, Pt. 2)", is included on the album, with the sequel featuring vocals from American singer Ty Dolla Sign.[30][31] West revealed via Twitter that the former was originally slated for release on Kids See Ghosts.[32] On June 15, 2018, American rapper Nas released his eleventh studio album, Nasir, which stood as the fourth album of the "Wyoming Sessions".[33][34] American recording artist Teyana Taylor released her second studio album, K.T.S.E. on June 23 as the fifth and final album of the "Wyoming Sessions".[35][36]
In an interview conducted during the listening party for Ye, West stated that he "redid the whole album after TMZ," referring to a controversial interview with the tabloid news website in May 2018, during which he made controversial comments about slavery, and suggested that the entire album was re-recorded in a month.[37] Referencing the recording process, West claimed that initially: "Everything was going perfect. As soon as stuff stopped going so perfectly, I was like, 'I know what to do with this energy. I know exactly what to do with this.'"[37] On June 4, 2018, West's wife Kim Kardashian reconfirmed this and revealed that two weeks were spent re-recording Ye.[38] Of her presence in the studio, Kardashian said: "I left to go home for, like, two days and then I come back and it was a whole new album. It's fascinating to see the process."[38] The following day, featured artist 070 Shake said in an interview that the album was still being worked on up until the day before it came out.[39] She elaborated, revealing that West was "very calm" while completing recording sessions in a few hours.[39] As well as 070 Shake, the album includes guest contributions from Ty Dolla Sign, Ant Clemons, Jeremih, Kid Cudi, Charlie Wilson, Caroline Shaw and Nicki Minaj.[40] Though all of the other contributions are guest vocals, Nicki Minaj contributed a voicemail.[40] Ye was updated on streaming services on November 8, 2018, with the uncredited sample of Kareem Lotfy's recording "Fr3sh" being removed from the track "I Thought About Killing You".[41] In a 2022 interview Mike Dean echoed the sentiments; "In Wyoming, for the Ye album, we had 10 songs, I guess. And we were trying to do a seven-song album. I came in one day and he'd erased the whole board and said, 'We're starting over.' That's what happened. And we did it in like two weeks. We made seven songs and it came out pretty good."[42]
Music and composition[edit]
Writing for Rolling Stone, Brendan Klinkenberg characterized Ye as a hip hop album, though viewed it as the opposite "of a laser-focused statement album."[43] Lindsay Zoladz of The Ringer noted the album's rushed sound, describing it as what "has a slapdash, unfinished quality about it, like a 10-page paper written in a shaky hand on the bumpy morning bus ride to school."[44] For The Line of Best Fit, Ross Horton similarly stated that Ye "just sounds like it hasn't been finished," specifically noting the track "Wouldn't Leave" as sounding unfinished.[45] Douglas Greenwood from NME wrote that the album "lacks the profundity of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and the audacity of 808s or Yeezus," calling the sound "succinct and easy to swallow".[46]
Steven Hyden compared the composition of the tracks on Ye to West's previous works in Uproxx, expressing the viewpoint that none of them stand out "as a decisive break with what he's done before."[47] Paul Bowler from uDiscoverMusic viewed the work on the album as taking influence from West's previous tracks, describing it as what "marked a return to the dusty soul samples with which he had first made his name in the mid-00s."[48] Similarly, Clayton Purdom of The A.V. Club claimed that the old West is present on Ye "bringing plump, stirring soul samples."[49] He elaborated, writing that "if you missed the new Kanye, there's plenty of abrasive, Yeezus-style abstraction, too," and noted the inclusion of multitudes on the album.[49] Writing for The Observer, Kitty Empire viewed the work as "veering between sparse, hyper-modern styles and compositions which hark back to the soulful bent" of West's early career.[50] Lucy Jones of The Daily Telegraph noted certain works as being reminiscent of West's third studio album Graduation (2007), viewing the piano chords and Slick Rick sample on the track "No Mistakes" as "old-school West," which she also pointed to certain vocals on "Ghost Town" as being.[51]
Themes and lyrics[edit]
Ye gives a look into the psyche of West, with the character of the artist being focused on.[27][52] The album includes references to the rapper's mental health, with a large amount of it seeing him unravel his mind, and "Ghost Town" is specifically linked to the theme.[53] The theme contrasts The Life of Pablo's delving into the darker corners of fame and family, with Ye being more uncomfortable in comparison.[27] West's bipolar disorder and suicidal thoughts are mentioned on the album, which are in relation to the theme of mental health.[28] According to Rapzilla magazine's Elijah Matos, the album is among the select mainstream examples of hip hop that examines mental health similar to the younger waves of contemporary emo and Christian rap artists.[54] Ye also includes West expressing his thoughts towards women.[53]
The album's opener, "I Thought About Killing You", sees West confess to thoughts of both suicide and homicide.[46] West delivers spoken word over a backing vocal within the opener for a couple of minutes until the beat changes and he switches to rapping.[51] "Yikes" includes West referencing his experiences with psychedelic drugs, as well as his struggle with mental health.[55] Within "All Mine", West moves "into more explicit territory" and raps about having interest in multiple dating options.[46][51] West uses "Wouldn't Leave" to reference his controversial comments about slavery, and his relationship with Kardashian.[51] "No Mistakes" includes a series of self-righteous outbursts, coming from the perspective of a multi-millionaire in West.[50] The mind of the rapper is presented as being in the process of unravelling within "Ghost Town", which is in reference to his mental health state.[53] West raps about fears towards fathering his daughter within "Violent Crimes".[52]
Commercial performance[edit]
Ye debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with 208,000 album-equivalent units, of which 85,000 were pure album sales, becoming the fifth-largest weekly units for an album in 2018.[128] The album was West's eighth consecutive chart topper on the Billboard 200, tying him with Eminem's streak from 2000 to 2018 and English band the Beatles' streak from 1965 to 1968 as one of only three acts to accumulate eight consecutive number one albums.[128] West also became the only other act apart from Eminem to achieve eight consecutive number one debuts, since none of the albums from the Beatles' streak debuted atop the Billboard 200.[128] The sales surpassed the first week projections of 175,000 to 190,000 album-equivalent units and up to 80,000 pure sales.[129] Ye recorded the second largest per-track streaming average ever, receiving 25.7 million on-demand audio streams.[128] The seventh-largest streaming debut week ever was experienced with 120,000 streaming equivalent albums, with the streams being counted at over 180 million.[128][130]
The album descended four places to number five in its second week on the Billboard 200 and dropped 65% in sales, moving 74,000 album-equivalent units.[131] This became the second highest decrease in sales for an album's second week of 2018, standing behind the 73% decline of American musician J. Cole's fifth studio album KOD; however, the second week sales for KOD were higher than those of Ye, with 105,000 units having been pushed.[131] The album also entered atop the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, giving West his eighth consecutive number one debut on the chart.[132] In 2018, it was ranked as the 50th and 30th most popular album of the year on the Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts, respectively.[133][134] On September 30, 2021, Ye received a platinum certification from the RIAA for amassing 1,000,000 certified units in the US.[135]
Ye debuted atop the ARIA Albums chart, giving West his second chart-topping album in Australia and replacing fellow rapper Post Malone's second studio album Beerbongs & Bentleys at the top position.[136][137] This made West the third major hip hop act to have an album reach the top 10 of the chart in 2018, joining J. Cole with KOD and ASAP Rocky with his third studio album Testing.[136] A Streaming Equivalent Album Value being taken into account for the Album Chart calculations in Australia helped Ye top the ARIA Albums chart, since the value counts the streams for all tracks of albums 10 tracks or less, rather than the two most streamed tracks as done for longer albums.[136] The album was also a chart topper on the Irish Albums Chart, giving West his first number one album in Ireland.[138] By reaching the same position on the New Zealand Albums chart, Ye became West's second number one album in the country.[137] The following week, it remained at the top position.[139] The album also debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart, with 16,000 total consumption units, though it reached the second highest album sales and on-demand streams of the week.[140] This became West's sixth chart-topping album in Canada, while also standing as his first since Yeezus.[140] In Estonia, Ye entered at number one on the Albumid tipp-40 and remained atop the chart the following week.[141]
Ye entered at number two on the UK Albums Chart, being held off the top spot by The Greatest Showman: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, which denied West a number one album on the issue that coincided with his 41st birthday.[142] However, the album was the most played album of the week on streaming services, and it was reported that 80% of sales came from streams.[142] On May 21, 2021, Ye was certified gold in the UK by the BPI for sales of 100,000 units.[143] The album also attained the chart position of number two on both the Danish Albums Chart and Norwegian Albums Chart.[139] Similarly, Ye reached number three on the Czech Albums, Icelandic Albums, and Netherlands' Dutch Album Top 100 charts.[138][139][144] On the Swedish Albums chart, the album reached number five.[138]
All seven tracks from Ye debuted in the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, with lead single "Yikes" charting the highest at number eight.[85] The tracks entering the Hot 100 lead to West's total number of top 40 entries amounting to 48, placing him joint-10th with fellow rapper Jay-Z on the list for most top 40 entries on the chart, and also making West the 11th act with as many as seven simultaneous top 40 Hot 100 entries.[85] West topped the US Billboard Artist 100 for the first time in his career, partially as a result of the entries from the album, surpassing his previous peak position of number three that was attained as a result of The Life of Pablo.[145] The two tracks "Ghost Town" and "All Mine" charted in the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart, along with "Yikes"; the latter of the three was the highest charting from Ye at number 10.[142]
Notes
Sample credits[147]