“WHICH ONE,” shouts the lettering on the alternate cover to Kanye West’s new album. Its boldface type and repetitive hammering reads less like a question and more like a blunt statement - and no matter how unusual or unimportant it may seem, it offers an adequate representation of this album and Kanye West in general. There’s almost no denying that West is a narcissist and/or egomaniac - he has supplied evidence a thousand times, on his Twitter and in real life. But in spite of - and perhaps because of - his flawed personality, West is the most influential figure in music, period, the turn of the century. Glancing at the contemporary radio stations, it’s hard to hear a song that doesn’t have West’s influence. His early albums The College Dropout and Late Registration revived the use of soul samples in hip hop, and 808s & Heartbreak played a pivotal role in popularizing AutoTune-driven R&B, as well as promoting sensitivity and emotion in hip hop artists. Later albums My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and Yeezus were undeniable classics, showcasing West at the top of his game; these were elaborate projects where West’s antihero archetype ruled over mayhem, where minimalism met maximalism and the…show more content… This album is a million different moods at a million different times; Kanye is subdued and tortured on “FML”, triumphant and raunchy on “No More Parties In LA”, and engagingly honest on “30 Hours”, where he spends the last half of the song throwing out sentences in a stream-of-consciousness manner. It’s this diverse array of moods and textures, arranged in such a haphazard way, that might draw criticisms of a lack of cohesion; in reality, it’s West’s most personal album in a while. With no grander concept to hide behind, West is free to air out his laundry, both the dirty and the