I like this album. It feels like a personal/mental health concept album.
People say they want 'old Kanye' back but he's always been the same dude, he just changes like we all do. He was singing on here like 'Old Kanye' in Ghost Town (similar to how he sung on his older albums). He talks about his personal life like he did on other albums but this time the whole album is about that (relationship issues, mental health, fear of daughter's future, contemplation of past mistakes, substance abuse)
The song No Mistakes in itself is a concept song about being bi-polar. The verse and hook don't correlate. Charlie Wilson's singing a love song hook and Kanye is rapping about himself. In a way they do correlate but it's not a love song about someone else (not fully).
I like the features on here as well and the way he still experiments with song structure (every track isn't 3 verses and a hook in between). He and others have done this before but still. Prediction: 7 track album will become a thing in the future and it makes completely sense. You don't need long projects all the time and something this personal being so digestible with the length ensures the album won't get long winded. Like GZA said: "Too many songs, weak rhymes that's mad long. Make it brief son, half short and twice strong."
I can't correctly rank this one against his other albums because of the length and overarching subject matter but like someone else said it's kind of a mood album (Cudi fans know). Some subject matter you don't want to hear all the time but some you can relate to and come back to when life brings you to similar places.
Like 808s people will be split on this album but also like 808s this album will inspire and influence others in different ways. Future conversation about this album will begin with "I didn't like it at first but..."