Kanye West is a Chicago rapper/producer that's been making high profile music over the last ten years. At least for me, the biggest reason for his success is the forward thinking he has displayed over the course of five albums. Even today, no mainstream artist can really compare to the level of production on most of his songs. This thinking along with his egotistic personality has given him a fan base that will buy and love anything he puts out, regardless of overall quality.
After Graduation was released and the teddy bear covers were abolished, Kanye tested his fans with most ambitious album yet, 808s & Heartbreak. While that may be one of the most influential albums of the last twenty years, it didn't sound all that great. Things worked out much better on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, his 2010 follow up album. MBDTF is arguably his most well received and critically acclaimed record, and most people, myself not included, consider it to be the man's finest hour. Sorry but nothing he makes will be as good as Late Registration, mainly because Kanye has stopped producing his entire albums and his lyrics have been less than stellar.
And of course there is the media Kanye. With the 2009 VMAs being the main reason people go to, he pretty much comes off as an asshole. The Kanye we mostly see comes off as incredibly egotistic, which is reflected in most of his music. To me, his personality is somewhat genuine but I mostly see it as being over the top and his way of dealing with criticism. Through his earlier music, its easy to tell that Ye has more than a little insecurity problems.
The final bit of information that I'm going to give away before track by track even starts is that Yeezus is mostly Kanye attacking his critics and airing out the problems he sees in America. The problem here is that I honestly could care less. I know that many people do and will proclaim his lyrics as visionary but it just won't happen with me. That being said, Kanye's longevity and discography allows him to make us listen to what he considers problems. I'll sit down and listen as long as there's some decent beats provided.
1. On Sight
Beginning the album, Yeezus begins with a Daft Punk provided instrumental that carves out the theme that the album largely contains. I love the beat but I can't tell you how many people have used this as an example of Kanye's forward thinking. First of all, this isn't his production. Second, he completely bit Death Grip's shit through the beat and his delivery. There's a few nice lines but the majority of Kanye's lyrics are nothing short of terrible. It sounds like it was ghost written by Lil Wayne and Lil B. That being said, the instrumental still made this an enjoyable listen.
2. Black Skinhead
Like most people, I first heard this track when he performed it on SNL. Now in album form, the song is equally vicious. "Black Skinhead" is especially interesting to me, as Kanye faces down on the Stereotypes he's received from other black people. Furthermore, Kanye focuses on the perception of a white woman dating a black man, saying the racists are “gon’ come and kill King Kong.” Aside from a few terrible lines this is a very good song that makes you ponder on today's racism. On an interesting side note, Lupe Fiasco has recently gone at Kanye, saying he stole the album cover idea, although he is credited as a ghost writer on this song.
3. I Am A God (Feat. God)
Man, I never knew how big Kanye really was. I mean when you've got God appearing on you're shit you know you're doing something right. With that bit of sarcasm out of the way, I can tell you that this song has some of the worst lyrics I've ever heard from Kanye. He says he's a man of God, but he is a God, there's a brief conversation with Jesus somewhere in the mix. You've gotta hear this shit to believe it. Thankfully the beat is a saving grace. Ye provides a great beat through shooting synths, squeals and mushed bass. The screaming at the end only shows me that Kanye keeps Death Grips vinyls in framed glass throughout his house.
4. New Slaves (Feat. Frank Ocean)
One of the first songs released to the masses, Kanye opens this song up with a few lines about the racism his mom dealt with and it eventually leads into the racism that he's dealing with now. Assuming he has personally dealt with these, Kanye vividly brings up black stereotypes. He actually sounds very passionate and he's almost screaming at one point. There's a lot going on during these lyrics, but the main thing I'd take away is Kanye revolting against stereotypes and racism. The instrumental is fairly basic, mainly relying on a soft bassline until a scrambled mack truck of a synth crashes into the song. One of my favorites from the album.
5. Hold My Liquor (Feat. Chief Keef & Justin Vernon)
The fifth entree has a really great melody and some lush harmony towards the end, but the last thing is the world I needed to hear is Chief Keef's auto tuned voiced all over the damn place. Is there any fucking way we could have gotten someone else to handle this damn hook. The pulsating electronics do make this instrumental very nice, but there was no way Chief Keef's feature could have come out good. Lyrically, we find a drunk Kanye stumbling into the house of his ex in the home that he can get some ass. I liked this song a lot but you already know why its not great.
6. I'm In It
Here, Kanye changes up his voice a bit and discusses every possible thing he could do to a girl in bed. Most helpful to Kanye is that all he needs is sweet and sour sauce when performing oral sex on an Asian woman. This portion of the songs is fairly slow winding but the beat changes up towards the middle and turns into a dance song. Kanye exclaims that he is in it while an unnamed guest chirps in and out during the hook. This song wasn't doing shit for me.
7. Blood On The Leaves
First off, the instrumental on this thing is just fantastic. The horns are excellently places and the Nina Simone voice sample adds a nice element. The whole thing is mixed very interestingly and reminds me of something I would hear on Watch The Throne. Second, the trap part of the beat isn't that bad but that damn auto tune just is terrible. That part of the song sounds a lot like 808s & Heartbreak. One of the better songs of Heartbreak, though. Lyrically, Kanye talks about failed relationship and popping mollys. Certainly not the most traditional sounding hip hop song.
8. Guilt Trip (Feat. Kid Cudi)
Why Kanye, Why? You know that I hate Kid Cudi. He doesn't even do anything on this track, couldn't we have gotten anyone better? Bring back Chief Keef, I don't fucking care. Even though this song blows because of Cudi's involvement, I was still excited to hear the vocal sample used on Cruel Summer, only they were much lower. The synths are swirling and it just feels like too much is going on. Seriously even without Cudi this still wouldn't be any good.
9. Send It Up (Feat. King L)
Both Kanye and King L provide verses that can be classified from meh to good. There were a couple gems in the verse such as, "the greatest shit in the club since in the club". Unfortunately, the synths that dominate the penultimate track just come off as annoying and hurt the song. I understand that he's trying to create a noisier and more harsh sounding song, and the effort is whole heartedly appreciated. It just was kind of bland and wasn't doing much for me.
10. Bound 2 (Feat. Charlie Wilson)
On what's been a back and forth album, Yeezus ends of a terrific note. The last song of the album features a pitch shifted soul sample, its got a break of direction in the middle of the track that I really like, and Kanye's lyrics are much better than most of the songs up to this point. There's a few cheesy lines but the lyrical word play and the picture he paints is just tragically romantic. He talks about buying his lover material possessions to make up for his unfaithfulness. This type of soulful production just brings something out of Kanye where he is more lyrically proficient. Right now, this is my favorite song of the album.
Rating: 2.5/5
Even after another listen I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about it. At one point I though it was great 4 star material. In contrast it has just come off as stupid at some points and it felt more like 1 star. At the moment, 2.5 feels right but it could honestly heavily swing in the upcoming month. There are some really fantastic songs found on this thing such as "Black Skinhead", "New Slaves", and "Bound 2". Even some of the worse songs have great ideas but suffer from auto tune and terrible lyrics. These trashy and forgettable lyrics would be fine if the idea of this album was to receive radio play but I'm fairly certain Ye was trying to at least send some type of social message given the tone of most the songs. The biggest bright spot of Yeezus is that a lot of the sonic qualities of the album are very fixable. The experimental side was obviously going for a mix of underground hip hop, electronic, industrial rock, and even some noise. The result is Kanye sounding inexperienced and like he's just now testing the waters. The upside is that this inexperience will improve over time and he will eventually be able to create a very good album. If you're not buying a physical copy I suggest just buying the first half with the addition of "Bound 2"