A ghostly white figure rides a white monster floating in the air, nearby a child is sitting on what appears to be the monstrous representation of the child himself. Behind them, a forest and Mount Fuji in the background. The work, wonderfully designed by the master Takashi Murakami, already engaged by Kanye West for his cover of "Graduation" (2007), draws inspiration from one of Hokusai's paintings from his artwork "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji" (1826-33), which pays homage to, where Mount Fuji is reflected in Lake Kawaguchi. Masterpiece. The entire pastel color palette is represented on the cover, which starts from the cold colors at the bottom and ramps up to warm colors at the top. The title is represented in blue in the lower left in what looks like Japanese, but is actually Chinese.
The genesis of the project is crucial and complex. Since 2008, Kanye West has started collaborating frequently with Kid Cudi, starting with "Welcome to Heartbreak" from West's record "808s & Heartbreak". Kid Cudi was featured on West's next six albums, and the Chicago rapper guested on Kid Cudi's first two records. After five years, in 2013 Kid Cudi left the West label GOOD Music and the two separated for a few years before returning to collaborate in 2016. Both artists have had drug addictions and have been suffering from major mental health problems for many years, Kid Cudi was checked into rehab and West was also hospitalized in November 2016, a short time after briefly falling out with Kid Cudi and having reconciled with him during a concert that goes down in history because Kanye expresses his support for Donald Trump for the first time. In addition to these problems, the two artists received harsh negative reviews, one for his controversial statements, the other for his music. In the following December, after the release of Kid Cudi's sixth album, much appreciated by Kanye West, the two begin work on a collaborative album and some parts of the disc are recorded in the summer of 2017 during sessions between Japan and China.
The album starts immediately strong, very strong. From the first seconds, the beat is something special: there's a simple synth riff as light as it is brilliant, a snare drum and little else. Production is credited to a team including Kanye West, Benny Blanco, Mike Dean, Plain Pat, Noah Goldstein, Justin Vernon, E.Vax, Francis and the Lights and Cashmere Cat. The cut is labeled industrial and is the only one that doesn't include references to religion in the entire project. After a few moments, Kid Cudi opens the record by shouting the hook with the autotune and it echoes beautifully in the air as if it had been shouted atop an escarpment in front of a wide valley, it imposes itself on the ethereal beat giving a feeling of great power to the whole track.
It's a perfect forerunner for Pusha T, the first guest on the record. Twelve hours before the album is released, maybe even a few hours less, Kanye West contacts Pusha T and asks him to record a verse for the album. That verse is also the first of the record and the only one of this song. Pusha T creates a first immediate and evident contrast in the track, which features many: while Kid Cudi is shouting the chorus, the rapper calmly walks in and quietly delivers with authority. Kid Cudi executes an almost suffering, serious, very heavy and unstable hook, while Push is boasting in a kind of homage to the holy trinity of braggadocio — alcohol, women, drugs; Kanye himself references to this trinity in "The Joy" of "Watch the Throne", his collaborative album with Jay-Z — culminating in tributes to Eazy-E, that far more than many other artists in hip-hop embodied that trinity in life, crafting a short, bold and solid verse in which he brags about what he has earned thanks to fame and success, which contrasts with the contribution of the Kids See Ghosts, portraying the mental problems and illnesses they are now known for, which were born, raised and developed precisely because of the same fame that Push prides himself on.
Kid Cudi's hook struggles to get out of his voice, it's raw, dirty, his words aren't immediately understood until he starts repeating them, and his cries are liberating, while Pusha T executes the verse absolutely effortlessly, with a flowing, clean, sharp, clear style. After a hard hook, Push makes a rough entrance with that opening line, it's rude to the Kids See Ghosts themselves. You already have an important contrast also lyrically in the first thirty seconds of the album.
If you don't think about it, you don't linger and you don't listen to this album over and over again, you might even believe that this is accidental, but this thing isn't coincidental, after all Kanye West was for over a decade one of the greatest perfectionists of his era in hip-hop, a talent he had lost in his last works starting from "The Life of Pablo", modified for months, passing through the confused "Yandhi", which even if not published, remains one of his most beautiful projects, and ending with "Ye".
There are more meanings in this first important line. Like Kid Cudi, West has had many difficult years and the others haven't helped him adequately according to him, but not only, through Pusha-T, Kanye adds more: "we them other" (pronounced like he was saying "we the mother*) don't worry about anyone else, we only think of the holy trinity, about our glory and the money we make thanks to drugs ("dope money just came along" Pusha reiterates at the end of his verse, just after West starts to let out his screams).
If anything were needed further, West tows a heavy line between conscious rappers, category in which he believes he belongs by definition or by birthright, and the gangsta rappers, category of artists rivals the conscious according to him. Kanye has in fact embraced the conscious philosophy, bringing various exponents of the scene into his first records, including Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Q-Tip, Common, Consequence and Lupe Fiasco, and avoiding gangster rappers outside his label (Roc-A-Fella / Def Jam) for many years. The only exception is the presence of The Game on "Late Registration" (2005): the more I listen to "Feel the Love", the more it sounds like a hidden dissing aimed right at The Game, friend-enemy of West, famous gangsta rapper and one of several previous boyfriends West's wife Kim Kardashian has been having an affair with. In that song of Kanye second LP, "Crack Music", the Compton emcee doesn't even have a verse and is exiled to the chorus, where he says few things. The Game tries to return the favor ten years later by hosting Mr. West in "The Documentary 2", but the Chicago artist only performs the hook without contributing a verse on a gangsta album and it's no coincidence.
He never did. Not even in 2010, when Snoop Dogg calls him to do a stanza for his new gangster album, "The Doggumentary": Kanye feels almost obliged to do it and performs offering his own verse recycled from a leaked track. Only on his 2010 epic album, Kanye brings gangster rappers to his project for the first time, featuring verses from Raekwon, Rick Ross and Pusha-T, the latter also being the first and only gangsta rapper to sign to GOOD Music, in the same year. In 2015, Kanye West is actually on a gangsta rap album and it's a new event, this is the second LP by the new president of his GOOD Music label, Pusha T: the track celebrates the holy trinity to which I have repeatedly mentioned in the previous paragraphs with the acronym of the title "M.P.A." (money, pussy, alcohol, where money replaces drugs). Kanye West also in this case doesn't perform any verse and only provides the chorus, which is a mockery of gangsta rappers, and is performed together with ASAP Rocky, which in turn has his own song about the holy trinity, where money replaces alcohol ("Pussy Money Weed"). Even the rhythms Kanye West has made for gangsta rappers are few.
To open this album, Kanye West decides not only to write a verse that represents the point of view of a rival gangster rapper, but at the last moment he also chooses to have it performed by what is actually one of the most important exponents of the subgenre and one of the most popular of recent years, who also happens to be the president of his own label, Pusha T.
Pusha T is perfect, he's at his best and comes from "Daytona", hailed as the best solo album of his career, released two weeks before the Wyoming sessions curated by Kanye West. His performance is irresistible, when he's about to finish his verse, Kid Cudi's echoing cry comes back suddenly ripping that warm feeling of peace to which the listener had become accustomed because Pusha T's rapping is taking him somewhere else away from the heart of the album, perhaps making the listener forget the opening hook and Cudi's suffering, which in the passage represents his depression. Soon after, Kanye West brutally bursts in before Pusha T's last line, which is delivered equally, and he starts screaming aggressively in weird sick crazy vocal inflections mimicking the noises of guns or machine guns. West's stormy entrance is accompanied by heavy percussion hits, more lines of synths and guitars, and he's inspired, so to speak, by Desiigner's vocal inflections in his hit "Panda".
Now there would be Cudi's saving chorus, but it's accompanied and superimposed by West's continuous hysterical cries, creating another stark contrast in the track, which fans interpret as a reference to Kanye West's intense mood swings caused by bipolar disorder. The Chicago artist seems to completely lose his mind and can't stop, a bridge comes, and it's one of the best things about the album. West continues this series of vocal inflections which are a mixture of angry yelps, animal growls and gun imitations, accompanied by a phenomenal bridge that supports it faithfully and brilliantly with a resounding synth bass, Kanye finally ends his scary solo with a howl. On the howl, there's an instrumental break, and it's one of the best moments of the year, perhaps of the decade.
The boys come to the album from various personal problems, overwhelmed by the hatred and indifference of others, who aren't helping them, represented by Pusha T in the opening verse, and see a ray of light in the dark, they "can still feel the love" in the midst of all the hate and ghosts they have to live with. The instrumental break stops time. Synthesized bass, synth lines, sad psychedelic guitar crying with reverb, it's a brief heavenly moment immaculate, pure, of rare musical beauty. It's magic, in an album by Kanye West and Kid Cudi, 2018.
For a brief moment, the ghosts aren't there. Then they come back. Kanye therefore asks where the chorus is, interrupting the break and is immediately satisfied, Cudi returns to singing to close the song on what is a grandiose soundscape. Kanye's scream in the middle of the hook brings the heavy percussion back to the track, the guitars, the synth bass, the synth lines, Cudi keeps singing the chorus, then West concludes the piece with more shouts and his last howl.
Classic cut, this is one of the greatest songs of the year.
2. "Fire"
Incredible driving rhythm for the second track of the album, the beat is made by West, Cudi, André 3000, BoogzDaBeast and E.Vax. The boys talk about past failures and being judged by others. The song is influenced by some tracks from Kid Cudi's solo records. Tight marching drum, tambourine, guitar riff that gives the track a rocking feel, Kanye West intro, Kid Cudi murmurs in the background, West enters and delivers a restrained verse with a tight and angry style without missing a thing, after a short splendid bridge surrounded by flutes supported by the guitar riff and the unstoppable drums, Cudi follows him up with a rapping verse, nice work, leaves a spiritual message. The piece features the first two verses of the two main performers and doesn't retain a chorus. Outro sung by Kid Cudi. Light and sad closing beat. Everything works. The most attentive critics observe that this track acts as a counterpoint to the previous one in the broader picture of the mental problems suffered by the performers.
3. "4th Dimension" (ft. Louis Prima)
Kanye West, Noah Goldstein and Mike Dean sample a Christmas song from the 1930s by Louis Prima, that he's also credited as a guest on this track. The last line of the song is sampled in reverse, then West drops explicit bars riding a beat composed of hard drum and booming bass. Another Louis Prima hook with reverse last line, then bridge with grotesque laughter. Kid Cudi delivers some of his best stanzas with a good flow, reciting personal bars. Final chorus by Prima, outro from a sample by Shirley Ann Lee showing the continuity between this track and "Ye" track "Ghost Town", which was originally supposed to be part of this record and was then replaced with an excellent sequel, because they both have a sample from the same song by Lee.
4. "Freeee (Ghost Town, Pt. 2)" (ft. Ty Dolla Sign & Anthony Hamilton, the latter uncredited)
Track number four is believed to be the most psychedelic on the album and is a direct sequel to "Ghost Town", song released a week earlier by Kanye West in his latest solo album. Production credits West, Cudi, Mike Dean, Jeff Bhasker, Andy C, Andrew Dawson, Russell "Love" Crews and BoogzDaBeast. Intro from a speech by Marcus Garvey, distorted drum, background of warm rocking electric guitar riffs which, after the speech, takes possession of the track and never leaves it again. Kanye West picks up where the prequel left off a week earlier, with 070 Shake performing the outro of "Ghost Town": West takes it back for the sung hook, building the sequel on being independent of the opinions and criticisms of others and being free to express oneself, in reference to his recent controversial statements, also making a nod to his trolling tune "Lift Yourself" released a few months before the release of this album.
The track's only verse combines sung and spoken lines from Kid Cudi, Kanye West, and guest Ty Dolla Sign, who provides the major contribution to the verse. An intense soulful gospel bridge quickly follows, in which Ty Dolla Sign continues singing along with Anthony Hamilton, uncredited. The guitar once again takes center stage for Kid Cudi's sung hook, then Ty Dolla Sign and Anthony Hamilton bring the track to its natural conclusion doing a fantastic job. Exquisite and excellent song sequel to "Ye", a powerful anthem against depression and grief, ghosts from which the boys free themselves for a few minutes, with an extraordinary perfect production, comprising vibrant violins, dirty and dusty drum, great synth lines, gorgeous bass and a dominant guitar. The record flies in its most psychedelic moment, which appears as a tribute to the psychedelic rock of the sixties, and find a brilliant and special choral piece, inspired by Chance the Rapper's best songs in "Coloring Book", masterpiece cut, one of the best moments of the album.
5. "Reborn"
Fifth pick on this gem-disc by the duo Kids See Ghosts, formed by superstars Kanye West and Kid Cudi. Production by Kid Cudi, Dot da Genius, Plain Pat, E.Vax and Benny Blanco. For the first time, Kanye West doesn't make a beat on this project. The boys don't disappoint. Untouchable piano loops, synth lines flying through the air like ghosts, Kid Cudi brings them back to earth with a memorable entrance, providing an introduction in which he's making hums, almost moans, that symbolizing his recovery from one of the most difficult periods of his life. Accompanied by a wonderful drum and a sound background made up of his murmurs that return a simple, minimal, fresh, light and melodic sound, the artist also performs the hook, the most powerful and significant of the entire album, stating strongly that he has overcome his addiction and depression issues, and is moving forward.
Bridge, Cudi is back humming over that magnificent piano loop. Kanye West comes in, it's only his third verse in five tracks, and it's among the most personal of his career. With a flow as smoothness as light-hearted, West totally fits the mood of the track set by a heavenly beat and propelled to the airwaves by Kid Cudi's relaxed chorus, handing over slashes regarding his mental issues due to ceasing to take his prescribed medicines and the public reaction to his recent actions and statements. Hook by Kid Cudi, his verse sung, almost spoken, intense and personal, in which he deals with overcoming his own personal and mental problems. Cudi chorus, a bridge arrives, which is different from the one at the beginning of the track.
The tempo dies down, celestial organ arrives along with what sounds like a reverb cymbal and triumphant violins linger in the background, is another of the many magical moments that the boys give in this short spectacular album. The bridge travels alone for a few moments, part of Cudi's chorus echoes over the beat, then the bass explodes powerfully together with the drum and Kid Cudi returns to meditating on his ghosts: even if you don't see him, you can see the artist face upwards as he recites this bridge, it's amazing. Cudi makes an almost invisible transition between this heavy bridge and his liberating chorus, over an extraordinary beat among the greatest of the year, if not the finest.
Creating the darkest and most introspective track on the record, Kid Cudi and Kanye West bring to life a beautiful, soulful rehab anthem. Perfect.
6. "Kids See Ghosts" (ft. Yasiin Bey)
The title track is number six of seven tracks. The production is signed West, Cudi, Plain Pat, Noah Goldstein, Just Vernon and Dawson. Vibrant bass, frenetic and accessible hi-hat, skeletal drum, cozy and soft synth line, tight beat, cool, it gives the track a dark, nocturnal, dystopian atmosphere. Introspective lyricism by both artists, who maintain their own different styles in both writing and performance. "Kids see ghosts, sometimes" Yasiin Bey repeats in a loop, after letting the rhythm breathe. On the second repeat, a dominant synth line rains down from the sky that sounds like it was borrowed directly from Vangelis, "Blade Runner" vibes, and is coupled with a mysterious, ghostly, echoing xylophone.
Wonderful entrance of Kid Cudi singing the beginning of his verse, and then continue rapping, he's untouchable on this album, he's at his best ever. The second hook is sung by Kid Cudi. Kanye comes in with some of his most amazing flows and rips the cut with a focused performance, rarely has the boy been so focused on an entire album for many years. The guest Yasiin Bey closes the song providing the chorus and some socio-political slashes which are greeted near the end by a beautiful bridge, this album continues to surprise positively, it's one of the best listens of the decade.
The bridge is composed of Kid Cudi's voice taken from his hook at the beginning of the track in which he says "moving around" referring to ghosts and spirits, here it's rendered with an at times incomprehensible murmur not unlike the initial one in the previous piece, which returns deeply psychedelic and even shady vibes to the song, as Bey ends the track with the final hook and Cudi's hum is allowed to run to the end of the track along with the beat. This song, and the album in general, is inspired by Yasiin Bey's experimental album made with Ferrari Sheppard in 2016, under the name Dec 99th.
7. "Cudi Montage"
Last track of a perfect record, perfect, nothing can really be said. For the second time out of seven tracks, Kanye West is uncredited behind keyboards, where Kid Cudi, Mike Dean and Dot da Genius are engaged. The song is opened by a guitar riff taken from a song by Kurt Cobain inserted in a posthumous compilation of the artist, that builds the rhythm beautifully raw and rough, the soundscape breathes, then Kid Cudi delivers a rare rapping verse in which he narrates his own personal journey through overcoming mental and addiction problems by asking God for help and accompanied midway on by a robust lively bass line, a great drum and a hi-hat working silently in the background, as the guitar gradually fades out.
The musical painting is tinged with a warm, silky, enveloping atmosphere. Kid Cudi is just murmuring on the chorus to accompany Mr. Hudson, uncredited, and sounds transcendent, he totally understands this project better than anyone, he's flawless. Mr. Hudson only has to say five crosswords and it seems obvious, but the hook in this track of this album assumes a crucial and vital importance, and he goes to place one of the most significant, most desperate and most powerful chorus of the record with embarrassing ease and without any apparent effort, supported by very deep and powerful bass lines that pierce the underground, majestic organs, epic synths and Cudi's hypnotic hum, that create an atmosphere rarely seen on what a hip-hop album should be.
Kanye West enters with impressive clarity and paves the beat delivering one of his best lyrics ever, regarding the ongoing cycle of violence and crime in the urban environment, which some critics see as a hidden reference to the continuing cycle of mental illness, delivered in one of the most energetic performances of his career, it's absolutely stunning. It's hard to believe, but it's true. He's back to his best in these twenty minutes, seven tracks, five verses. Technical, fast, vital, sharp, extremely clean, here he stands up and then sings asking to be saved, joining in Mr. Hudson's saving chorus and Kid Cudi's murmurs. The outro recalls the soulful hook, with Kanye delivering the last intense lines, asking again for salvation, moments before the beat drops and the album ends. Perfect track.
Final Thoughts
Third album to come out of Wyoming after Pusha T's "Daytona" and Kanye West's "Ye". A listening party for the album is held in a secret, abandoned ghost town in Southern California. With no promotion, singles or music videos, Kanye West and Kid Cudi's collaborative album is released by Wicked Awesome Records and GOOD Music, distributed by Def Jam. "Kids See Ghosts" is met with widespread acclaim from music critics who consider it one of the best albums of the year, and debuted second on the Billboard 200, reaching #1 on the hip-hop chart and #1 in Australia, Canada, the UK and half of Europe. All seven tracks from the record charted, with "Reborn" having the highest performance entering the top 40 of the Hot 100.
Music unites hip-hop and psychedelia in one of the most successful experimental projects of the decade, being influenced by a diverse number of different musical genres, including alternative rnb, pop rap, gospel, psychedelic rock, psychedelic pop and neo soul. The soundscape created by Kids See Ghosts and his close group of collaborators is phenomenal, ambitious and stunning, the production sounds fresh, rich and beautiful, thanks also to a wise layering, fantastic samples and a precise mixing performed by Mike Dean, Jess Jackson and Andrew Lawson (West's historic engineer, then producer). Lyrically, the duo tackles topics such as mental health, spirituality, religion, past successes and failures with a punctual style, the struggle with mental illnesses and addictions and overcoming these problems towards a newfound peace, serenity, spirituality, happiness and redemption.
You may be used to the two artists' past works containing quality music, the thing that surprises is just the lyricism, that strike in a different way than their catalogue, the lyrics are crucial, heavy, personal and are very well written, an event to be a West & Cudi album. Kanye West's lyricism is outstanding, the best of him in many years if not ever, almost doesn't look like him, even Kid Cudi is in a sensational shape. Boys make little contribution in rapping, West is at his best recites some of his best lyrics ever and delivers some of his best flows ever on one of his best productions ever, and sound more concentrated than ever in this project, also letting himself go even to several well sung excerpts, while Kid Cudi is more focused on singing, which he performs in a spectacular way, without disdaining rapping. The guests make no mistake and add so much to a spectacular record.
Represented by one of the best covers ever in hip-hop, doesn't reach 25 minutes the best project ever by Kanye West and Kid Cudi, an eccentric duo, wacky and unstable who will probably never work together again after being at the peak in these seven songs. The boys, who have been working together consistently for ten years, they are in total synchrony, they shine every moment and bring out the best in each other like seemingly no one else could, finding a balance, understanding and chemistry rarely seen in a collaborative project, especially in hip-hop. The production is immaculate, the lyrics are very powerful, the execution is cathartic, every single song is fundamental, what emerges is a blessed, untouchable and flawless album, more spiritual than Kanye's previous and subsequent records, the most emotional and intense listening experience in West and Cudi's discographies. 10/10.
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