We haven't yet forgotten about Donda. The projects that Kanye has been showing off in the last few months have been impressive, to say the least—especially considering that he's been doing these while simultaneously embarking on his craziest endeavor yet—running for President of the United States of America. Some of you may be fed up with Kanye, and while I don't agree with trying to keep him boxed in, sometimes a Calmye would be nice. When I ask whether someone is a Kanye West fan, the retorts often include "used to be," "only his old stuff," and, "no, isn't he like clinically insane now?'
There is, however, a creator who might be able to rejuvenate your appreciation for the genius that is Kanye West. Let me introduce you to Toasty Digital, the creator of what he calls "Kanye West Fan Fiction." Pause—please reserve your judgment; I promise it's not what you think it is.
Once you finish reading—unless you're impatient, then just go for it—click on this link... (the passwords are ye, yeezus, and graduation). After entering the password and gaining access to the Macintosh OS inspired backdrop, you find the album along with a note about saving the Earth and a funny Yandhi cameo.
Kanye 2049 amazed me from start to finish. "Intro" (Charlie Heat Version) starts the same way as the intro to Kanye's entire discography with the opening Mr. West monologue from the College Dropout intro. "Stronger" is looped and slowly brought to normal speed, and as the beat builds, "All Mine" starts to fuse into the track. The second track, "Power," combines the MBDTF standout along with "Use This Gospel," and "Fade." 2049 brings a lot of the elements of outside music into the world of Ye—Frank Ocean's verse from "Solo" finds itself on the second track. "Hold My Liquor" is simple yet exquisite—Chief Keef is put on top of the blaring horns of "Touch The Sky".
Now, imagine if Kanye hadn't pranked us on April 29, 2018 when he dropped "Lift Yourself." We would’ve never had the famous "poopy-di scoop" verse, and we might've avoided the Drake beef entirely. It may not be a real song, but you can hear Kanye spit some of his finest game as the "Diamonds From Sierra Leone" verses fit beautifully over it. The track starts to wrap up by combining "Roses," the horns from "Send It Up," and Yasiin Bey's part from "Kids See Ghosts." "Jesus Walks" mixes the sounds of Kanye's religious phase with his religious classic. It makes for an absolutely gorgeous track as his "We Major" verse plays over the glorious strings from Ye's ode to Chick-Fil-A, "Closed on Sunday". He even gets "Ghost Town" and "30 Hours" involved towards the backend.
"Wolves Pt. 1" is simply just Frank's Interlude from The Life Of Pablo with the ending to "New Slaves," say less. "Wolves Pt. 2" is by far one of my favorite tracks, with the echoing melodies helping mesh together "I Love Kanye" with "All Falls Down." Frequent Kanye collaborator as of recently, Ant Clemons, even hops on to spit a 16-bar over a trapped-out version of "Devil In A New Dress." It wouldn't truly touch all of the bases of the complex musical mind of Kanye unless we got to dig into some of his discography that didn't quite make it to the finish line. "Can't Tell Me Nothing" harnesses the guitar sample from his Yandhi cut "Slave Name," which makes that track far and away one of his best unreleased songs. Having it play at the same time as the iconic line, "I had a dream I could buy my way to heaven, when I woke up I spent that on a necklace," is enough to make any Kanye fan choke up.
"I Love It," oh no, where are we going with this one? Toasty literally found a way to marry Kanye's best and worst collaborations, and wow, it's incredible. Ye and Hov trading bars from "Otis" over the guitar from Kanye's Lil Pump collaboration. The guitars eventually fade into the strings and vocal samples from "I Wonder," it's otherworldly. On "Say You Will Freestyle," Kendrick Lamar spits his "Backseat Freestyle" over the Caroline Shaw version of "Say You Will," and "surreal" is the only word that can truly describe it. "AOTL," my favorite 2049 track, brings together some of the most triumphant aspects of West's musical catalog. "N****s in Paris" verses over the horns of "All of The Lights" is something that just needs to be heard. Former West protégé Desiigner even gets involved as his "Panda" cut that was a standout of TLOP is brought into the picture as his hook and ab-libs are infused; adding Ye's verse from the "Lollipop Remix" was a nice cherry on top, as well. "Black Skinhead" brings his incredible verse (top five all-discography, if you ask me) and works it in with the production of 808's "Robocop."
"FSMH" is the most chaotic, and might just be the most natural-feeling creation on 2049. It's a musical potluck combining Yandhi's "The Storm," Travis Scott's "Upper Echelon," "Father Stretch My Hands," "I Am A God," and Estelle's "American Boy." I'm missing a few samples, but you can assume this song is stacked. It sounds like it may not work, but you have to trust me on this one. "Homecoming" doesn't reinvent the wheel the same way that the rest of the project does, but as it transitions into the next song, it teases the E-note that initiates what's unanimously seen as the greatest song in an extremely-stacked catalog.
"Runaway" brings its famous piano loop throughout the loaded ensemble; Kanye's "LA Monster" plays before a smooth segway into Chance the Rapper's verse on "Ultralight Beam." At that point in time, Chance had the world by the balls and his contributions were argued to be 'verse of the year' material. "I met Kanye West I'm never going to fail..." If you don't continue to rap like that, Chance, you just might. "Bound 2049" is "Bound 2," but hear me out… "Sicko Mode," "Drug Dealers Anonymous," and "Good Life". Yeah, I want this played at my funeral; you heard me. The deluxe cut of the album wraps up with "Touch The Sky," which as an OG song along with "Stronger" are two of the most uplifting songs Kanye West has ever made. It's beautiful to see them be played over the crazy production from his Yandhi/Jesus is King phase that never got to see an official release date.
This past weekend, Toasty Digital also released a Christmas-themed Kanye West mixtape entitled Maybe We Can Make It To Christmas.
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