Sneak Peak Album Review of VH1 Storytellers CD by Kanye West

If you have never heard of Storytellers by VH1 then I probably should let you know what it is. Basically, its an original concept produced for the VH1 network that is basically a live concert. During the concert the artist will usually tell the story or concept behind the song that they are about to sing. It was originally just done for TV and then VH1 decided to release this CD by Kanye West and since I have been a longtime fan I decided that I would pre order the CD via Best Buy. The employee told me it would be a great CD so I decided that I would listen to the album via Youtube before it arrives in stores and see how good it really is.

This CD has just 9 tracks, and there are no features here from Lil Wayne or Young Jeezy like his 808's And Heartbreak CD and yet the songs are still very good. This is some of the best Kanye material ever released and here it is presented live and sung straight from the heart of Kanye. The negative to this is that Kanye does say during the performance that the songs are too personal to explain and so the explanation is missing from the songs. Still though, I recently purchased tickets to his Fame Kills tour with Lady Gaga that was cancelled so I can tell you that I am very happy to have the chance to capture Kanye live here. While I wish there were more songs here I am happy with the amount included. The CD also comes packages with a DVD of 3 songs being performed live. The tracks included here are Homecoming, Paranoid and Street Lights which is probably the best Kanye song ever released. Again, I wish that there were more songs included on the DVD but I do enjoy the bonus aspect of the CD and DVD combo. People like ZZ Top, John Mayer, Kid Rock, Foo Fighters, Coldplay and Greenday have done their own versions of Storytellers and I wish they would release those versions on CD because unlike Kanye they were able to tell the story behind the songs. Still though, this is a good performance by Kanye and I love it as I am sure any fan will. While the DVD is short it makes a good package with the CD. I would rate this CD a 4/5 because it could have been longer.