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10.0
83724
10.0 |
Pretty Much Amazing
The Life of Pablo makes the wonderful Yeezus appear minor by comparison. It also marks a dead end for Kanye West’s breathless run as an album artist
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10.0
83793
10.0 |
NOW
So much popular music at the moment is about emotional numbness, but even when West’s going in uncomfortable directions, his music feels alive
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10.0
83794
10.0 |
A.V. Club
In the end, it’s the music, as messy, self-involved, but utterly brilliant and typically forward-thinking as it is, that remains his salvation
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9.5
83732
9.5 |
AU Review
It’s about as perfect as My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and should be celebrated as such
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9.0
83720
9.0 |
Pitchfork
Has a freewheeling energy that is infectious and unique to his discography. Somehow, it comes off as both his most labored-over and unfinished album, full of asterisks and corrections and footnotes
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9.0
83752
9.0 |
FasterLouder
There’s only one thing you can’t say about Kanye: that he isn’t a genius
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9.0
83784
9.0 |
Rolling Stone
West just drops broken pieces of his psyche all over the album and challenges you to fit them together
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9.0
83722
9.0 |
The Music
To paraphrase our host's own amazing, self-deprecating punchline, with this even the sceptics among us can learn to love Kanye like Kanye loves Kanye. A truly great album
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8.5
83789
8.5 |
The 405
And after seven manic albums attempting to prove his perfection, Kanye is seeking penance on The Life Of Pablo. Here, he delivers 18 heavenly hymns. It's everything else that needs forgiving
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8.5
83809
8.5 |
Beardfood
Exciting, flawed and unpredictable, the work of a mad genius
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8.4
83788
8.4 |
Sputnik Music (staff)
It’s this unholy amalgam of anger and swagger and self-loathing and - above all - love, all served over some of the best production work the man has ever done
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8.0
83795
8.0 |
Spin
On an album long on musical confidence and short on inspirational verses, the plaintive vulnerability and alienation he expresses at least seem cathartically crafted
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8.0
83820
8.0 |
DIY
An attention to detail like no other
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8.0
83870
8.0 |
Drowned In Sound
Once again, Kanye has released music filled with contradictions and confusion. Once again, it’s like nothing heard before. Once again, it’s good to have him back
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8.0
83935
8.0 |
Crack
A frustrating but undeniably engaging listen – dazzlingly unpredictable and fleshed out with enough strokes of radiance for us to follow Pablo’s lead and keep the faith
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8.0
83980
8.0 |
Slant Magazine
Kanye is the rare artist who can turn a cry for attention into something more: a distillation of his artistic output to date that’s quintessentially Kanye, whether you like him or not
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8.0
83984
8.0 |
State
There’s a truly great album in here somewhere, but what The Life of Pablo lacks is clarity of vision and purpose. It’s probably his worst album to date. It’s still guaranteed to be better than nearly all of this year’s releases
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8.0
83989
8.0 |
NME
‘The Life Of Pablo’ retains its author’s status as the most interesting man in music. But he makes it seem like harder work than the effortlessness we’re used t
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7.0
84009
7.0 |
Exclaim
While The Life of Pablo certainly aims high, it isn't as consistently pointed in delivering both music and message as its big-budget predecessor was
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7.0
83816
7.0 |
Paste Magazine
When West manages to focus his gaze, the results are worth the three-year wait
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7.0
85053
7.0 |
God Is In The TV
It’s varied and certainly not consistent, but even at its lowest ebb there’s a talking point...he might talk a lot of shit but at least he’s good at what he does
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7.0
83751
7.0 |
The Line Of Best Fit
At times he’s still the most adventurous artist of his generation. And the most frustrating
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6.0
83721
6.0 |
The Guardian
When The Life of Pablo is good, it’s very good indeed. What it isn’t is consistent
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6.0
83753
6.0 |
Tiny Mix Tapes
See review
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6.0
83780
6.0 |
Mojo
For a rapper who has excelled in redefining the artform, The Life Of Pablo is a sprawling, uneven and curiously unfinished sounding affair with a dearth of recognisable bangers
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6.0
83812
6.0 |
Spectrum Culture
The Life of Pablo doesn’t ask us to reconsider Kanye the artist in the wake of Kanye the person
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6.0
84671
6.0 |
Q
Kanye transforms his superstar whining into something bigger. Print edition only
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6.0
83875
6.0 |
The Skinny
Rather than answering his critics, The Life Of Pablo poses even more complex questions to where Kanye West is going
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5.8
83781
5.8 |
Consequence Of Sound
It’s West both for better and worse, funneled in an imperfect method, as flawed and intriguing as an actual human life
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5.5
85550
5.5 |
Under The Radar
We are still unclear as to who the real Kanye is, and the suspicion is that the man himself—deep down—is similarly torn. Here, in the awkward incompleteness of The Life of Pablo, it most certainly shows
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5.0
83923
5.0 |
PopMatters
Because The Life of Pablo pulls from so many parts of West's career the end result, unsurprisingly, is an absolute mess
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4.0
83933
4.0 |
The FT
A scattershot, impulsive record with flashes of inspiration but neither the patience nor will to develop its central theme
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4.0
84035
4.0 |
The Quietus
The concept of "greatness" has long lost all meaning - and The Life Of Pablo, an extended tantrum from a 38-year-old reactionary man, is just another iteration of its hollowness
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