Kanye West’s new seven-track album treatment is dividing the internet

WHEN you talk about someone being a genius, chances are Kanye West isn’t the first name that comes to mind. But that could all be about to change.

IT’S official. Kanye West is a genius.

Using his record label G.O.O.D. Music, Kanye has put out his solo project, ye; his joint project with Kid Cudi, Kids See Ghosts; Nas’ first album in six years, Nasir; Pusha T’s DAYTONA; and Teyana Taylor’s Keep That Same Energy.

And this week Chicago rappers Bump J and Sly Polaroid said West would be producing their upcoming studio album.

Each of these albums were produced over the summer in Wyoming and each contain just seven tracks, except for Taylor’s eight-track album.

The seven-track album is quickly becoming a trademark of the famed producer, although it has been widely criticised for being closer to an EP than a full studio album.

My hope is that @kanyewest adds 7 more tracks to all these albums. Update them on streaming platforms. All are fire, but need to be longer than 20'ish minutes. This from the same dude that had classic Runaway clocking in at 9 min and plenty others over 6 mins.

— Cale. (@Adcockthe2nd) June 25, 2018

Kanye West went out to Wyoming and ruined a bunch of artists it seems. Nas better not had let Kanye ruin his music. And can’t believe Cudi put out a 7 track album also. Rappers scared to put out 14/15 track cds because they aren’t putting the work in anymore

— Quintin Antonio Prothro (@QuintinProthro) June 8, 2018

Even his label mate and president, Pusha T, was critical about the idea when he found out Kanye had planned to make his release DAYTONA just seven tracks long.

“No, man, I got a whole full album right here. What are you talking about,” he told West at the time, reports Vulture.

Kanye was quick to defend the seven-track album format, suggesting it was about quality over quantity.

“What’s a full album? What do you think a full album is? Tell me what a full album means,” he said. “I think, in seven songs, you can get everything you want off, and we can have the most concise, strongest project ever.”

And it appears a lot of his fans agree.

Kanye West produced 4 of the best albums this year. Each of them 7 tracks of absolute brilliance 👌

— Broqué Boy (@Cryptic_Joe) June 16, 2018

Kanye West is a genius .. He needs to produce 7 tracks albums for everyone

— Eddie Pedro (@eddieisGR8) June 11, 2018

Inspired!
Kanye is not just setting the bar he's breaking it on the weekly!!
I've listened to all the albums thus far and the 7 track format yields all the quality you could ask for - small increments of genius!

— Etienne Chalklen (@thatetienne) June 16, 2018

@kanyewest is making the 7 track album the new standard #genius

— Anthony Campanella (@RealAnthonyCamp) June 13, 2018

WHAT ABOUT THE NUMBERS ?

Kanye has spoken about the artistic and spiritual connection with the number seven, but it looks to be more of a statement towards excessively long albums used to take advantage of streaming platform algorithms.

The current trend is to release hip hop albums with 20-plus tracks. Recent examples include Migos’ 24-track album Culture II, Chris Brown’s 45-track album Heartbreak On A Full Moon and Drake’s Views and More Life, which had 20 and 22 tracks respectively.

These albums use a scattershot strategy of dropping a large studio album with hopes of having a handful of heavily streamed songs which would land them higher on the charts by exploiting statistics used to count album sales — well, at least in the US this is the case.

Take Drake’s Views and the hit single Hotline Bling which was tacked on as the final track for the album.

Even with people neglecting other tracks, heavy rotation of Hotline Bling saw Views reach multi-platinum status, proving a particular single can skew the numbers.

“If you put out a 16-track album and you have a monster hit that racks up, say, 150 million streams, the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) ascribes it to your album sales using their 1500 streams = 1 album sale benchmark,” explained Urban Central.

“This means that, thanks to that single, your album has sold 100,000 (150 million divided by 1500) more copies — even if nobody listened to the other tracks.”

Things work slightly differently in Australia thanks to the Streaming Equivalent Album value (SEA) introduced by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) when streaming figures were added to the ARIA Album Chart calculations late last year.

The SEA takes the two album tracks with the most streams and reduces their numbers down to the average of the eight next most-streamed tracks.

Interestingly, all the tracks are counted in entirety for albums with 10 or fewer tracks.

Obviously a seven-track album played on repeat would help in the Australian market, however it’s still unclear if the format will hinder or help streaming revenue in the long run in other countries around the world.

Pusha T was originally against the idea, but has since changed his tune. Picture: AFP/Kena Betancur

IS IT BETTER FOR THE ARTIST?

While longer albums appear to be the safer approach for gaming the charts, the new format looks to be more about releasing an album which plays to the strengths of the artist to deliver a skip-free experience.

“Man, if we can’t kill you in seven songs, we don’t really need to be doing the music. G.O.O.D. Music is always known for going against the grain. I feel like right now, everyone has 20 songs on their album, 18 songs on their album. And it’s like, for what? With us, you know it’s quality over quantity. That’s what we about,” Pusha T toldHigh Snobiety.

Artist-management executive at Red Light Management Jonathan Azu agreed the seven-track format was brilliant for getting consumers to listen to the album in its entirety.

“You’re playing into the attention span of this generation which isn’t that long,” he told The Wall Street Journal.

And just because it’s short doesn’t mean it’s not successful, with West proving a seven-track album can still top the charts.

NO SUCH THING AS BAD PUBLICITY

From his controversial comments about slavery before the release of his solo album to paying $A114,000 to use a photo of Whitney Houston’s drug-infested bathroom — taken in her Atlanta home in 2006 after an alleged binge — for the cover art of Pusha T’s DAYTONA, Kanye West has managed to gain hype for his releases.

Here’s the official cover for @PUSHA_T’s new album ‘Daytona’, which is dropping tomorrow. Kanye West apparently made a last minute decision to use this photo of Whitney Houston’s bathroom as the album cover. pic.twitter.com/jN91vdee8U

— TheHipHopGuru (@THHGuru) May 24, 2018

But it has been the seven-track format of West’s latest albums that have caused the most controversy. It doesn’t matter what side of the fence you sit on with the new format — the fact is it has people talking and that’s half the battle.

This is a sentiment shared by data analyst for music website CentralSauce, Ben Carter.

“This is a way to make the album more impactful and more important,” he said.

Continue the conversation in the comments below or with Matthew Dunn on Facebook and Twitter.