Kanye West - Yeezus

Can you hear all that buzz?  It is still quite loud from where I am standing.

Kanye West has released another album into the world, and all of us are caught up in the swirling torrents of his ego that are spilling forth from it.  Personally, I haven't ever been interested in what Kanye West does.  I used to think that his voice sounded too clean and not expressive enough to mix with a lot of his beats.  My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy did peak my interest, mainly because of "Power" and "Runaway" which I thought were both great tracks. On my first listen though, I remained pretty blase, until the line at the beginning of "Runaway" finally forced me to engage with what Kanye was doing.

"Find pictures in my email. I sent this bitch a picture of my dick.  I dunno what it is with females, but I'm not good with that shit."

I sent out thirty dick picks today! you tell me why I can't get a girlfriend!

What a ridiculous fool!  You don't know what it is? maybe start by analysing that thing you just said, Kanye.  How could you ruin such a heavy, emotional beat, and what is actually a very personal and revealing song, with such a terrible opening line?

Then my brain really tried to make sense of it, and I was left with a choice: either Kanye is completely bonkers for including this laughable and out of place line in an otherwise involving and tragic song, or he is a genius for divulging the true ridiculousness of his personality in a way that is so obnoxious and hilarious, you couldn't miss it.  Applying this dichotomy outwards, to the rest of Kanye's music, really gives an explanation as to why his music is so polarizing.  Kanye makes incredibly well produced rap music with lyrics as nonplus as Tracy Jordan from 30 Rock (It's been proven).  We as an audience have to fill in our enormous questions about what is going on in his music with our opinions of him as a person.  The gaps are so large, that anyone really taking apart his music would end up either thinking he was a moron or a genius.  When you look at his lyrics, there really seems like no other options.

or you may end up wanting sweet and sour sauce...

Yeezus is definitely no different on the lyrical side.  It might even be worse.  However, on this new album, the real change is in the production.  Kanye dives into the harsh, alienating electronic noise of artists like Death Grips, leaving behind his older soul inspired pop production techniques.

First off, the way the electronic beat rolls back in on itself in "On Sight" sounds highly similar to Death Grips' "Come Up and Get Me" but without any of the intensity or insanity, and part way through the song there is a highly out of place soul sample.  It might be a reference to his older work, but it is so jarring; it's hard to appreciate it.  The other time that this kind of smashing of genres happens is on the track "Blood on the Leaves."  In this song, the beat is much better blended, but this combination of Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" with Kanye's ridiculous autotuned voice and frankly stupid lyrics is just tasteless.  It's uncommon for me to stop a song, but there is a first time for everything...

In this song, and in "New Slaves" it seems like Kanye is trying to make a strong statement about racism, or something, but he gets quickly sidetracked by his bravado and doesn't bother going back to make his lyrics make sense.  It doesn't even seem like he tries.

I should totally talk about croissants right now.  Ya now would be a great time.

This is honestly a shame, because these beats are fantastic.  The deep underwater bloops of the electronics in "New Slaves" are threatening and chaotic, the TNGHT horns in "Blood on the Leaves" are fat as hell, The percussion in "Black Skinhead" is explosive, and the skidding glitching beat in "I Am a God" is tense.    Again and again though; I can't enjoy any of them while listening to Kanye say things like "I just talked to Jesus. he said what up Yeezus? I said shit I'm chillin, tryin to stack these millions."  Seriously, what the fuck?

I really tried, but I can't take this album seriously.  I think the beats are nearly perfect.  They each hold their own moods, and progress with expert precision and there was no moment when I felt the album dragged, or went too quickly.  I also appreciate that Kanye changing his production style this much would be akin to Van Gogh learning how to paint cubism and then doing it perfectly, and that these are really forward thinking beats to be released into mainstream audience.  However, In this entire album, I failed to find one thing I could relate to, sympathize with, or understand.  I found myself lurching from song to song in a confused state, half laughing and half disgusted, taking a break every thirty seconds to stare in disbelief at the lyrics wondering if this is a real thing.  I still don't know.

Discussion

• Do you think Kanye West a Genius or a fool? Give me your best argument!
• Do songs like "New Slaves" show that this album has a message? what do you pull out of it as a whole?
• Are there ways to tastefully remix old protest songs such as "Strange Fruit?" or are these some things that are just off limits?

Thanks for reading!