I even surprised myself when I bought this. These days I rarely buy cds, but I’m a Kanye fan, and though I could have easily found this album online for free, I wanted it. My biggest disappointment was the absence of any liner notes.
To preface, VH1 Storytellers was released in a strange places in West’s career. The Glow In The Dark Tour had been a huge success, but many of his fans were cautious, wary, and indecisive in their conclusions on the new album. 808s sounded drastically different from any of Kanye’s previous albums. Sonically it was a departure from his signature sound, gone were the soul samples and hooks by featured artists. Kanye was singing his own hooks thanks to auto tune, and the album featured sparse, electronic instrumentation. This was a let down to many of his fans who were anticipating another album of party jams. If Storytellers was anything, it was an important opportunity for Kanye to show his fans that he was still able of bringing energy into his live performances and even rock the crowd with songs off 808s.
Listening to this album jarred my mind. Stream-of-consciousness rap has become more prevalent in hip-hop after Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III. The songs included on Storytellers are better than any freestyle because of how personal Kanye allows himself to be. Kanye constructs songs as opposed to taking something off the top of his head and releasing it. Lyrics are connected thematically throughout whole songs and not one line, one rhyme, repeat. Most of all it shows how much Kanye had moved beyond hip-hop to become a pop artist. What I like most about this album is the way sterile, electronic tracks from 808s sounded more filled-out with live instruments and back up vocalists. In the Q&A, Kanye mentioned how performing in arenas had influenced his songwriting, which shows his desire to be a successful performer and to craft music, not merely make it. His own freestyles aren’t as much about how much or how fast, but more just saunters through his soundscapes, usually finding themselves back to ear-fulfilling choruses.
Kanye’s Storytellers performance foreshadowed what we would see him do in 2009. From his video collaboration with Spike Jonze to his post VMA interview with Jay Leno, it was a year that gave us glimpses into the darker areas of Kanye’s psyche. Additionally, Kanye was in the midst of his “gay fish” phase, and it wouldn’t be long before he would be pictured with his menagerie of fashion forward fame monsters with Karl Lagerfeld at Paris fashion week.
West recently announced that he is in the studio again, and it seems like he has a new, positive confidence about him. 808s was a statement that he would do anything he wanted to express himself creatively. I feel that fans who accepted 808s will follow Kanye wherever he goes creatively, but those who found it a disappointment will never be pleased with his work again.
The album. There are a few noticeable gaps in the set list. Where is “Paranoid”, arguably the best song on 808s? And only nine tracks? Live releases are for fans, and the fans deserve more than 9 tracks. $12 for both CD and DVD is a very reasonable price for what would have been priced at $20+ a few years ago. It’s reported that there were 3 hours of footage taken. They could have pumped up the track list for the CD even if the songs didn’t air. what about bonus tracks?
insufficient!
This release is only for fans who want an interesting snapshot. The performances are good, but they aren't anything we haven’t heard from him before. The Q&A content reveals interesting info about Kanye’s creative process and where he draws his inspiration. VH1 Storytellers is a good album, but it could have been an essential live album in Kanye’s discography, like say, a Glow In The Dark Tour disc would be. The tracklist could have been expanded, and there could have been liner notes with photography from the performance. fans only.
-NKD
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