K.T.S.E.

All five projects to come from Kanye West’s summer 2018 creative spurt have appeared to be equal collaborations between West and his G.O.O.D. Music colleagues, but that balance manifests itself most clearly on Harlem singer Teyana Taylor’s <i>K.T.S.E.</i>. The project—eight songs, one more than its four predecessors—owes as much to Taylor’s airy melodies as it does to Kanye’s studied production ear; the producer utilises vocal samples as choruses, as bookends to her verses and as the backbone of beats. For her part, Taylor is the embodiment of the formidable, around-the-way-girl persona fans have adored since her debut in the late aughts. Addressing a one-time elephant in the room on “A Rose In Harlem”, Taylor sings, “N*ggas like, ‘You ain’t hot, you ain’t pop/Yet, sup with you and Ye?’” And in <i>K.T.S.E.</i>, they have their answer.