Kanye West released another single, called "No More Parties in L.A.," and so I wrote a review of it

We’ve all had a “Please baby, no more parties in L.A.” moment—maybe not to the extent that Kanye West is talking about on his breakneck new single, “No More Parties in L.A,” but in our own way—we can identify. But  neither “Please baby, no more dinners with your family,” nor “Please baby, no more lunches with your friends,” exactly have the same ring to it, now does it?

Between the subject matter of Kanye’s last single, “Real Friends,” and the paranoid, breathlessness of “No More Parties,” I hope that the guy is going to be okay—and it makes me wonder if his long gestating, forthcoming album, Swish isn’t some kind of hip-hop midlife crisis. (Or if these songs will even be included on the album once it finally arrives.)

The latest in West’s recently revived GOOD Friday series (although arriving a few days late) “No More Parties” runs an admirable six minutes in length, featuring two unrelenting, unnerving verses from both West and featured guest Kendrick Lamar.

There’s something that makes this track exponentially less immediate than “Real Friends” (for me anyway) however the song itself is incredibly urgent and immediate. It clips along at a speed that demands it be heard, and be heard at this very moment. Maybe it’s all that unrelenting energy that is off putting at first—I did warm up to it (most of it) upon a further listen.

I think one of the real issues I have with “No More Parties” is the nearly three minute contribution from Kendrick Lamar—the ‘it’ rapper of the moment, who has been in his moment since last year, when he released the lauded To Pimp A Butterfly.

Despite my best efforts, and believe me, I’ve tried—I just can’t make myself like Kendrick Lamar. It’s obvious that he’s got talent and he’s got something to say, I just am not interested in listening, contrary to what everyone else in the world is telling me.

So maybe a three minute feature nearly right out of the gate by an artist that I don’t really like wasn’t making me line up to listen to the song right away. But I tried to get beyond that as best I could.

West’s verse, however, is nothing short of impressive, even with how off-putting the song is. It’s reflective (though not introspective like “Real Friends”) and it’s more than self-aware.

I’m also not 100% sold on the beat—it’s yet another one of West’s strange creations that begins following a false start—sampling Johnny “Guitar” Watson before it funnels itself into a discomforting Madlib produced beat that samples Junie Morrison. There’s something that feels unfinished about the beat, like it’s a thought that is on the verge of being completed, but it’s not quite there yet.

“No More Parties in L.A.” is quite the juxtaposition when compared to “Real Friends,” which in and of itself, was quite the juxtaposition when compared to the pisstake “FACTS” (released on New Year’s Eve.) Based on this sampling, as well as West’s strange output from 2015, it’s tough to say what direction Swish is headed in, though we are heading in that direction—the song ends with the sound effect of a basketball swishing through the hoop from the game “NBA Jam.”