ALL SHE NEEDED WAS SOME: Childish Gambino's "because the internet", the internet-centric concept album...

[Childish] Gambino's sophomore effort past his 2011 is by no means perfect, but its production and all-round charm make it an easily likeable project that most should be able to sink their teeth into. It cements Gambino as a one to look out for due to his ambition alone, this album being a show of things to come with his release later this year, "PHAROS".

"because the internet" spares no time getting into the swing of things, beginning the first of a five act structure with "(I.) crawl". But before you can do that, the ambition needs to sink in: a 76-page screenplay accompanies this album and is expected to be read before you can truly understand the concept that this album has to offer. But before you can read the screenplay you need to experience the prelude to it with his short film "Clapping for the Wrong Reasons". A cumbersome process but one that is necessary as the album's message doesn't stand on its own. This is where the ambition either sinks or swims with you as a listener as the amount of attention required to fully understand what is going on will be off-putting to some.

By all means you can still listen without watching or reading, but don't be surprised if the meaning is a tad lost on you at first, the general jist can still be acquired however. That being an attempt to comment on the social awkwardness surrounding the modern age of the internet. That is where it sadly misses, but its not with highlights to back it up and keep it on both feet. Purely as a piece to enjoy and listen to for its catchy beats, hooks and overall pop sensibility, it's more than adequate. This is seen with the lead single "(V.) 3005" with its sugary hook right off the bat that is sure to stick in your ear for many days to come.

Falling back on the aforementioned "crawl" after much diversion, it shows that while tracks like "3005" are still strong, its when Gambino is at his most aggressive when the best comes out. The sting of the vocal sample throughout and the charged, abrasive delivery of his verses mix together to make a truly memorable track with a real punch. It's more of the same with "(II.) WORLDSTAR", its comments turned onto the (rather depraved) world of WorldStar HipHop, showing the nature of its users, laughing at others misfortune and pain with its interlude towards the end.

What brings the album together in its overall sound are the interlude tracks between each of its acts, particularly "dial up" before the second starts, creating this almost introspective feel as it ties into the main beat of "(I.) the worst guys". This falls back on the more relaxed tone and possibly has one of the most pointless yet great features of a song I've heard in awhile. The instant Chance [The Rapper]'s hook comes in, a smirk is painted onto my face for the rest of the track and it doesn't leave until it's over. "All she needed was some," never clarifying what she needs and that they never gave her what she needed, being the titular "worst guys". Or as some speculation implies, all she needed was some dick, being the worst guys through their arrogance. Both are equally plausible and both are equally ridiculous.

The album's humour shines through on "(IV.) sweatpants" with its main hook as equally hilarious as "the worst guys", a tongue-in-cheek tease to his peers, yeah they've got the pretty aesthetic but are they really delivering, "are you eating though?" It's delivery is played for great comedic effect whilst simultaneously getting shots off. It's an admirable display of confidence, which is what he is at his best as mentioned prior, but with some of the lesser choice cuts on this album, it backfires. In particular with either "flight of the navigator" or "zealots of stockholm", both meandering tracks that may serve purpose with its screenplay, but really ruin the pace built up by the tracks preceding like "3005" and "no exit". "no exit" opens with an urgent, punchy and ever-so-slightly stilted hook that immediately grabs your attention with its eye-opening question: "I'm a murderer, what can I say? ... What does that change?" An exaggerated statement in regards to those he pushes away, "would you still love me if I was a murderer?" He poses. It's a dirty track, showing Gambino's character desperate as there's no escape from his own mind.

It's curious as there is a strong album in here with some filler pulling it down here and there which could easily be pulled for the sake of listening. For the sake of the screenplay, they make sense, and returning to that elephant in the room, is it worth the 'investment' if it were to fully appreciate whats on offer? That's on you to decide. Even though it's tale somewhat falls flat, leaving you with a "so what?" mentality as a result of its inconsequential nature, its ambition has to be lauded as Gambino still attempts to find his niche and hone his craft in both writing and recording. It sets the scene for things to come and with great promise, perhaps some "PHAROS" is all she needed.

THANK GOD FOR FREE TRIALS: Kanye West's "The Life of Pablo" and the TIDAL paywall...

The self-proclaimed "god" of rap Kanye West is back with his seventh studio album which finally dropped on Valentine's Day, strings attached, those strings firmly tied to the premium streaming service TIDAL...

Leading up to the eventually titled "The Life of Pablo"'s release, one thing was certainly well-established: Kanye knows exactly how to build up overwhelming amounts of hype and saturated expectations with the several name changes and constant track list restructures that were scattered across social media. From "So Help Me God", to "Swish", to "Waves" before finally settling with what we have now, it gave numerous outlets and subsequently people reason to keep talking about this new release; word-of-mouth being one of the most powerful tools to generate interest.

Then the bombshell drops, Mr. West, supposedly in a whole $53 million in "debt" decides to make Pablo exclusive to TIDAL, the aforementioned premium music streaming service that promises to provide high-fidelity music in an age where most listen to their music for free on YouTube before taking your money without actually providing the album in return. But even past the technical issues that can come from any service such as TIDAL, it only just narrows down the audience that could potentially purchase and listen to Pablo, with two options being present to those who aren't: abuse the option for a free trial by signing up, listening to the album and cancelling said trial, or if you don't have or don't want to use your credit card, resort to piracy. In that case, it's a lose/lose scenario as either way, no one gets paid. It's baffling to me personally as to why you would deliberately restrict the target audience of a product that was clearly intended for the masses to something that is nothing more than an a niche, unless you're the Wu-Tang Clan of course.

Bizarre release and marketing choices aside, is the album worth it? Yes and no. It's honestly a mixed bag - with more meaningful or at least intriguing tracks such as "Ultralight Beams", "30 Hours" or my own favourite, "Real Friends", as well as a couple other exceptions, everything else in between feels out-of-place or simply just filler. While its all well-produced as you'd come to expect from Kanye (well, for the most part, here's looking at you, "Father Stretch My Hands"), the lyrics are just weak - providing no insight or themes, it's literally just Kanye talking about getting bleach from a bleached asshole on his t-shirt (no joke) or him spinning yet another verse about how Nike should feel sorry that they didn't make a deal to sell some ridiculously overpriced trainers.

It really makes you think, this album could benefit so greatly by simply just focusing the track list instead of just throwing it around incoherently just so it can be posted on Twitter every other week. The one track that stands out sorely amongst its following tracks is the opener, the previously mentioned "Ultralight Beam", which would have worked perfectly as an outro to reflect on the song's major theme of religion and eventual closure. But as it stands, the song that comes straight after is just about how Kanye wants to fuck a model, the consequence seen in the previous paragraph. Just to clarify - I have no qualms about the content, I honestly don't care about being "offended" by explicit lyrics, but when you have such a mindless song stand straight after what is one of the highlights of the album, it just diminishes the effect that the first track had.

That is just one example of how the track list just feels like a tug-of-war between two differing themes of vanity and introspection, it doesn't transition from one to the other, it just juxtaposes between the two from track to track and it is honestly frustrating. There is a good album in here, it just desperately needs to be rearranged in a manner that actually makes sense instead of the mess that its currently sold as.

The connection is clearly there; tracks like "30 Hours" make direct references in title to "Ultralight Beam" but they're both split by what is a full album's length apart. What happened? Instead of doing a logical transition from basking in the self-indulgent fame-driven lifestyle heard in tracks like "Famous" or "Father Stretch My Hands", then tiring of said lifestyle referenced in the notable "No More Parties in L.A." before reflecting on his own thoughts and feelings in "Real Friends", "30 Hours" and "Ultralight Beam", they're just scatter shot - it's almost as if this was how they were arranged but at the last minute Kanye just decided to pick the order out of a hat. But who knows, it's honest speculation, but speculation that needs to be made when its the difference between what makes a missed opportunity what could have been one of the best releases in 2016 so far.