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Album Review: Kanye West – Yeezus [Def Jam]

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On 07/08/2013

In album review, BNM, chicago, music



“How much do I not give a fuck? / Let me show you right now ‘fore you give it up.” These are the words Kanye West spits out in the bridge to the song “On Sight,” the opening track off his new record Yeezus. It’s likely he’s addressing the media when saying them, however it makes a grand statement about the album as a whole. After a few records of ever-evolving but always smartly constructed and commercially accessible hip hop, West has had enough. 2010’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was a crowning achievement of the highest order, enough to be called one of (if not THE) greatest records of the century. Crafting a follow-up certainly wouldn’t be easy, but in many ways West makes it look like child’s play. Those looking for challenging and obtuse in their hip hop will find it on this new album in spades, and though he’s purposely tried to avoid releasing any singles, it’s going to happen anyways since “Black Skinhead” has caught on.

Unlike the boisterous arrangements and orchestral flourishes that populated his last record, Yeezus goes for the stripped down, attack dog approach. West is angry at the world it seems, and though he throws out a lot of hate, he rarely threatens actual violence, which has largely been the case since the beginning of his career and has helped to separate him from his peers. Still, women don’t fare well on this record, particularly on the extremely sexual “I’m In It,” which includes lines like, “Put my fist in her like a civil rights sign,” and the cringe-worthy “Eatin’ Asian pussy, all I need was sweet and sour sauce.” The only real “redemption” (if you can call it that) for women comes on the final track “Bound 2,” which is rumored to be written about his relationship with Kim Kardashian. Elsewhere he chooses to go anti-corporate advertising with a track like “New Slaves,” slamming corporations and any famous people (especially other rappers) accepting goods in exchange for promotions and shout outs. Ironic then how closely his pal Jay-Z is working with Samsung for the release of his new album. Also unlike his last album, West keeps the guests to a minimum on Yeezus, and several tracks feature only his voice, though with a fair number of samples and “producers” working on them. Frank Ocean shows up for a few seconds on “New Slaves,” and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon gets a couple of dramatic vocal workouts on “I Am A God,” “Hold My Liquor” and “I’m In It.” Though Kid Cudi shows up for a verse on “Guilt Trip,” the only other guests are up-and-coming Chicago rappers Chief Keef and King Louie, on “Hold My Liquor” and “Send It Up,” respectively. Everybody’s great, but West truly shines when he’s flying solo.

The divorce drama of “Blood on the Leaves” is the absolute greatest and most powerful piece on the entire album, buttressed by a Nina Simone vocal sample and a piece of TNGHT’s “R U Ready” that provide a profound mixture of sadness and venom. The acid-house squelch sample from Phuture’s 1987 classic “Acid Tracks” cut, which inspired a generation of rock bands from that era (Nine Inch Nails included) helps drive “On Sight” to an intense degree, and brings a certain synth element to this record that West has never attempted before. That sort of sound works well on a number of album tracks, but perhaps “I Am A God”‘s Blade Runner-esque haze with a Daft Punk production assist matches up best overall, somehow able to handle both a goofy eye-rolling moment like the line, “Hurry up with my damn croissants,” and the terrified, breathless screams that show up at the end. The only track that really breaks from the unified bare-bones production on this record is “Bound 2,” which smashes together The Ponderosa Twins’ “Bound” with Brenda Lee’s “Sweet Nothin’s” and Wee’s “Aeroplane (Reprise)” in a melody that sounds like t was ripped straight out of one of West’s first two albums.

Still, the generally minimalist (down to the cover art) and rock n’ roll-like approach he takes on much of Yeezus is new territory for him to explore, and something that feels informed at least in part by some of the incredible, anti-commercial anger that has earned Death Grips the right kind of attention over the last couple years. Hip hop in general could use more of this type of boundary exploration. In this particular case the strategy is likely West’s attempt to feed his own ego; to prove that no matter what he does or how much he alienates his own fans, he will still be praised as the greatest thing to ever happen in music. The worst part about it is, to some degree he’s right. Very few, if any, rap artists can claim to have such an acclaimed and lucrative career over a 10-year period. The same can be said about almost every musician outside of that genre too. You hate to give such a self-aggrandizing figure even more ammunition, but full credit where credit is due, Yeezus is another near-masterpiece.

Kanye West – Hold My Liquor (ft. Chief Keef and Justin Vernon)

Buy Yeezus from Amazon

Album Review: Jay-Z and Kanye West – Watch the Throne [Def Jam/Roc-A-Fella/Roc Nation]

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On 08/15/2011

In album review, music


When talking about modern-day hip hop, you’d be hard pressed to argue there are two bigger names than Jay-Z and Kanye West. They are, to put it one way, at the very top of the talent pool, ruling over all others. Which one is the true #1 is plenty debatable, but according to them it really doesn’t matter. They hold a mutual respect and friendship towards one another, and hip hop is more of a collaborative art than it is a true solo pursuit. Look at almost any rap record and you’ll find a list of guests about a half mile long. Jay-Z and Kanye have each guested on one another’s records at different times in their careers. Kanye’s fingerprints were all over Jay-Z’s last album “The Blueprint 3”, while Jay-Z made appearances on Kanye’s first couple efforts. Those single song collaborations were often special unto themselves, but they never overshadowed the full vision of whichever artist’s name was on the cover. Speaking of visions, Kanye has just been having a banner year since the release of his last record “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”, an album so highly praised that many are calling it a masterpiece. To put it another way, he doesn’t particularly need to be working on anything new right now, and even when he does you’d imagine expectations would be high. Yet when inspiration strikes and your buddy Jay-Z is ready and willing to work with you, it can be a tough calling to ignore. Hence “Watch the Throne”, a full length collaboration between the two current kings of hip hop. If it seems like an event record, that’s probably because it is. To treat it with the utmost of sincerity however, might be a mistake.

That’s not to say “Watch the Throne” is a joke record, because by all means it is not. Instead, try to view it as one of those moments where two extremely popular hip hop icons are getting together to just have a little fun. Since neither has to carry the burden of the entire album on their own, they’re able to relax a little bit and worry less about how the songs reflect on them as individuals. Besides that, Kanye West and Jay-Z approach hip hop in markedly different ways, with Kanye being very emotionally transparent in his words and experimental in his beats while Jay-Z is more straightforward and a storyteller. To put it in ruling terms, Kanye is like a crazy dictator, commanding his armies based largely on how he’s feeling emotionally that day. Jay-Z is more like a President in a democracy, in many ways isolating himself from any major decisions by having a hierarchy in place to blame mistakes on. He also adapts to the will of the people somewhat, or the will of his closest advisors, allowing their ideas and influence to be felt in his work as that simultaneously allows less of his own influence and personality to be exposed as a result. On “Watch the Throne” it results in an interesting dichotomy in which Kanye’s dominant personality continues to rule over all, both sonically and lyrically, while Jay-Z allows it to happen and has his arm twisted into trying that hat on himself. In other words, we get the same Kanye we’ve always gotten, but are exposed to a part of Jay-Z that has been rarely seen up until now. The entire record is not one long emotional confession from Jay-Z, but there are a few tracks where he certainly reveals more than he needs to – “Welcome to the Jungle” being the most obvious among them. The thing about such moments is that you can almost hear it in Jay-Z’s voice that he’s a little uncomfortable and it lessens the impact of a couple tracks as a result. A track like “New Day”, in which Kanye and Jay-Z play the “what if” card and dish out advice to their potential future sons is partly ruined because Jay sounds just a little unsure of himself. Funny that it comes up immediately after “Gotta Have It”, one of the record’s best moments, in which Kanye actually sounds more like Jay-Z rather than vice versa.

Topically speaking, a significant portion of “Watch the Throne” is devoted to the hip hop gold standard of bragging about excessive wealth. Given that Jay-Z and Kanye West are both rolling in money and their gold-plated album cover is opulent just to look at, these two have plenty of ideas about what it means to live the “good life”. Listen to or watch the video for first single “Otis”, and you’ll hear an array of high class brands mentioned, likely along with a few you’ve never heard of before because your bank account simply won’t allow you to even research them. That track in particular also misuses and abuses an Otis Redding sample, in that the music legend is nearly unrecognizable thanks to how brief and modulated his vocals are. It likely also cost a pretty penny to obtain all the samples used on this record, from James Brown to Nina Simone to Curtis Mayfield. That’s not even counting the guest vocalists ranging to Frank Ocean from Odd Future on a pair of songs through Jay-Z’s own wife and songstress Beyonce. And while such decadence both sample and lyric-wise can be a whole lot of fun, it’s good to know that these two guys can talk about more than just how big their bank accounts are. “That’s My Bitch” is about women, though not necessarily in the way you might imagine. Not only does Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon contribute some vocals to the track, but Jay-Z gets an remarkably solid verse as he pulls apart the exceptionally high beauty standards women are often submitted to these days. Kanye is the one that makes an ass of himself on the track, which then causes it to lose some of its power. The issue of “black on black violence” is addressed across a couple tracks, most notably “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Murder to Excellence”, which effectively function as two halves of a similar whole. Sandwiched in between them is “Who Gon’ Stop Me”, an ode to many of the famous leaders from our past that were killed for many different reasons – power being chief among them. Kanye spouting off a handful of lines in Pig Latin is nearly reason enough to make it an album highlight. Meanwhile “Made in America” creates a new royal family in its Frank Ocean-sung chorus, making mention of “sweet king Martin, sweet queen Loretta, sweet brother Malcolm” among others while Jay and (mostly) Kanye go on about their rise from the streets to being able to generate millions of blog hits. It’s one part poignant and another part braggadocio, which actually does a great job of again highlighting the differences between Jay and Kanye. Given their past histories, take one guess as to which one of them has a bigger ego.

Admirable though “Watch the Throne” might be, and as packed with talent as “Watch the Throne” might be, the sum of one part Jay-Z and one part Kanye West actually equals something lesser than the two when taken as individuals. When packaged in terms of single-song guest spots on one another’s records, the dichotomy tends to work out of sheer brevity and counterpoint – a momentary yielding of control. Because they’re ostensibly operating as equals here, there’s only so much room underneath the spotlight and gracious though they might be in sharing, you can tell that neither one of them is operating at full capacity. Given Kanye’s strength as a producer and Jay-Z’s strength as a lyricist, they’d have been better off playing to those big pluses rather than trying to evenly balance them. Kanye could easily have done a lot more in generating creative beats, as evidenced by “Why I Love You”, just as Jay-Z could have unleashed more controlled spitfire verses, as evidenced by “Lift Off”. While it’s always great to have an artist step outside of his or her comfort zone, it counts as a misfire if the results are ill-timed and awkward. Not only that, but the lack of a genuinely compelling and memorable single on this album makes it that much harder to fall in love with and generate repeat listens. For the strikes against this album, there are as many, if not more positive ways to view it. Foremost among them is the sheer talent that Jay-Z and Kanye have, to the point where even in a diminished capacity both still manage to shine when the time is right. If this was at all intended to be a battle for the proverbial “throne”, neither side officially wins but both make strong cases in one another’s favor. With the weightiest of expectations upon their shoulders, these two don’t quite meet the high watermark, but they come really damn close. “Watch the Throne” may not be the new gold standard of hip hop records, but do you think either one of these guys would be okay with accepting silver?

Click through to stream the song “Otis”

Buy “Watch the Throne” on iTunes

Album Review: Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy [Def Jam/Roc-A-Fella]

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On 11/30/2010

In album review, BNM, chicago, music

Nobody is denying that Kanye West is controversial. The guy steals headlines for doing shit like calling George W. Bush out, claiming he “doesn’t care about black people”. He throws temper tantrums at awards shows when he doesn’t win things he was nominated for, and on occasion when other people don’t win things he felt they should have. It was after that whole Taylor Swift incident and the subsequent backlash that West really began to realize the world doesn’t bend to his every whim and desire. Well, he probably knew that before, but refused to give the thought much creedence. He wrote missives on his website about it, essentially apologizing and confessing that he needs to take a hard look at himself and work on both controlling his anger and thinking before speaking. It was the start of a self-imposed hiatus of sorts, where he disappeared from the media, from having an online presence, from showing up at friends’ shows to make surprise cameos. He went to Hawaii, one of the most beautiful and relaxed places on Earth, and found some mental health. Playing out like your traditional movie plotline, Kanye reached the low point where all hope may have seemed lost. His storied quest to become the greatest artist that ever lived hit its biggest speedbump as suddenly he had turned from hero to villain. Given the outspoken and completely honest manner in which he’s conducted himself since the very beginning of his rise to fame though, West has probably been playing the villain for some people longer than others.

Everyone loves a tale of redemption though, and after a few months of down time and personal reflection, Kanye West began working on a proper follow-up to his last record, 2008’s “808s and Heartbreak”. There were rumblings of a record reportedly titled “Good Ass Job” that was tentatively scheduled for release in mid-2010, but that failed to happen. Instead, West officially re-emerged from exile by showing up at Facebook and Twitter headquarters to do some impromptu a capella performances of some new material. Videos began to pop up online, and that sparked some interest. Soon after began the G.O.O.D. Fridays, in which West would give away free mp3s of new music once a week, thereby earning him loads of good will and renewed respect. It would have been largely for naught had the tracks he was handing out sucked, but as Kanye himself would probably tell you, “sucking” isn’t really in his vocabulary. The big comeback tour also included a stop by the MTV Video Music Awards, where just a year earlier his on-stage interruption was what sparked his fall from grace. Performing new track “Runaway” completely solo, West spouted off lines like “Let’s have a toast for the douchebags/Let’s have a toast for the assholes/Let’s have a toast for the scumbags”. It was pretty self-deprecating with just a hint of remorse for being one of those douchebag asshole scumbag jerkoffs. And so, Kanye West is officially back, the spotlight firmly on him once again with the much-delayed but finally released fifth album “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” officially landing last week. It’s almost as if he wanted to make sure it was out just in time for all those year-end “Best of” lists.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned about Kanye West over his last few years and albums, it’s that he doesn’t do small. Case in point, the music video for his 9-minute opus “Runaway” officially runs 35 minutes and features such spectacles as fireworks and a parade. “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” runs in a similar fashion, taking a mere 13 tracks and extending out to a grand 70 minutes. Eight of the songs extend beyond the five minute mark, and a couple of the shorter ones are merely interludes attached to bigger main tracks. Take the track “All the Lights” as one of the sharpest examples of excess, with over 42 people getting credit as having contributed something to the final product. There’s a whole brass section, strings, some woodwinds and about a dozen guest vocalists, most of which are impossible to pick out individually. The track itself is deceptively simple on the surface, but a close and studied listen reveals layers that go far beyond what any reasonable person might expect. So it goes for much of the record, jumping through a multitude of stylistic hoops with a who’s-who of guests that include everyone from Jay-Z to Nicki Minaj to Rick Ross and the WTF-ness of Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. Thankfully most of the Auto-Tune madness that completely covered “808s and Heartbreak” has vanished, though in its place are plenty of other vocal manipulations. “Gorgeous” has West sounding like he’s gone all flat with his vocals hit with a pretty strong mono filter that makes you wonder what hip hop would have sounded like were there recordings of it in the 50s and 60s. There’s also the robotic vocal breakdown near the end of “Runaway” and just a slice of Auto-Tune on “Lost in the World” thanks more to the sampling of Bon Iver’s “Woods” than anything else. But “Blame Game” features the greatest vocal acrobatics, as West’s voice goes from slow to fast to just plain weird speeds all over an Aphex Twin piano sample. It’s also one of his bleakest tracks to date, taking the album’s title and rendering it completely true from a lyrical perspective.

Kanye West spends much of “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” talking about some heavy-handed topics. While getting into superhero lore on “POWER”, West also gets into a commentary about his increased loss of innocence and childlike wonder. There was a certain playfulness that took over on his first couple records, but it’s not like thoroughly depressing (but confrontational and real) topics are new ground for him. Hell, “808s and Heartbreak” was a record born out of a tragic breakup and his mother’s death. It was not a fun experience in the least. The fun on this new record really comes in the form of pure indulgence. Whether that means drinking and partying as much as you want or sleeping with a LOT of women, these are topics motivated purely by the pleasure centers of our brain. They’re also the part of the same section that houses the angry and violent urges as well, which is why on “Blame Game” he tells a girl he misses both fucking her and choking her. One assumes the choking bit is a sexual thing, but he says it with such malicious intent that it’s difficult to know where to draw the line. Similarly, “All the Lights” comes across as a celebration of fame but also deals with the perils and pitfalls that go along with it. It’s less “I’m so famous, I’ve had to stop trying to grocery shop” and more “Restraining order/Can’t see my daughter”. This highlights the dichotomy that weighs on this record from start to finish. For every light there is a dark. For every good there is a bad. For every hero there is a villain. For every beautiful fantasy there is a dark and twisted reality. Kanye West is and is about all of these things, and the public perception of him is just as divided. We can see ourselves in it too, which is what makes West such a powerful force in music today. There’s always the intensely relatable moments, like somebody’s reading straight out of our diaries, but thanks to his unfiltered perspective, sometimes West also goes on about the things we WISH we could do or say but wouldn’t dare on account of social convention or what effect it’d have on the way others see us. West gets away with it because he’s one of the few people that simply doesn’t care…or at least not as much as we do.

For inquiring ears that simply have to know, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” is a hip hop achievement of the highest order. Hell, it’s a musical achievement of the highest order. Kanye West once again proves he’s one of, if not the best and most talented artists in music today no matter if he’s got love from the general public or not. The whole Taylor Swift thing? You might as well wipe that from your memory because not only are both artists involved sick and tired of talking about it, but they both have extremely well-received new records that deserve your undivided attention. The one thing you can never accuse Kanye West of being is unambitious, and this new album weighs in as a highlight reel of great moments from his past, taking place in the present, with a sharp outlook towards the future. Of course where he’ll go next is anybody’s guess, but at the moment he’s taking a page straight out of his song “Stronger”. With his personal and professional life in complete shambles, West took a step back, assessed the situation, and has risen from the ashes better than ever before. Haters be damned, Kanye West is here to stay. Now if only somebody could get him to shut up about it.

Buy “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” from Amazon
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