Listened to it three times today and trying to appraise it pretending I hadn't heard most of the songs previously. For me personally it's everything I wanted from 808s - a mixture of IMHO stunning production, angry Ye running his mouth and a coherent feel from start to finish.
Sure others will disagree (and there are moments when I question whether it's a triumph or a cheesy mess) but for me the fact that one of the biggest names in rap released an album like this and that it will hopefully sell a shitload is just great.
Sure it steals from every single influence that he's heard over the last year and there are moments of pure indulgence but to me that's what really puts the icing on the cake, an artist who could quite easily release a BEP style pop release and sell shitloads filling an album full of things like a two minute vocoder instrumental or a track built round an aphex twin sample or stripping things back to a simple soul sample. The album should be an incoherent mess but credit to Ye, it's all pulled into one vision.
Epic rap done right.
As a footnote I am becoming a Ye apologist more each day, for me personally the scene is a lot more interesting with him in than without, cock shots and all.