The evolution of Kanye West (Yeezus album review)

[Brock Lesnar]

When it comes to an artist at the popularity of Kanye West, there is not a single thing he could do to get a full 100% positive reaction from every person in the world who knows who he is. Nor should he expect that, but he comes pretty damn close to a sensitive attitude when he talks about dealing with the general population. Kanye is notorious for thinking highly of himself, which could arguably be descirbed as a cocky and arrogant attitude. But the rap game is the rap game, and in our day and age (and even in past eras) the majority of rap songs all lyrically come down to riches and fucking. We live in the day and age of swag, of YOLO and "smurfs/bitches be like". This isn't an article that supports or disagrees with the notion of low intelligence of population. More so, I'm trying to describe that Kanye is not only an artist... but a businessman.

We're talking about a seasoned artist, a guy who has been around for about a decade, releasing five previous albums, culminating in major wod tours including an unforgettable performance at Coachella 2011. Kanye's debacle at the MTV Music award show with Taylor Swift created huge controversy with anyone that owned a computer, cultivating in a celebrity status a bit bigher than an average rap star. Kanye West is big fish (get it, South Park fans?) and as his popularity and status grew... so did his ego.

With that being said, it is important to recognize the roots that brought him here in the first place, his music. Kanye's ability to switch styles with each release of an album, to create catchy, lyrically impressive and bass thumping symphonic beats... are revolutionary. He does not have a line that he wouldn't cross, and if he did... he would cross it anyway. Kanye's 808's and Heartbreak, though critically doomed, showed a side of Kanye thatt was devastated at the loss of his love and his mother, choosing to let his emotions out in his music rather through destructive and self harming acts. All of Kanye's acts and trials have brought him to the center of attention, always.

All the hate directed at him actually forced him to do the only thing he could do, make music. This bred My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye's fifth studio album. In this album, Kanye was a complete perfectionist, incorporating every style that he's used before and added new ones, all jumbled up in one terrific piece of art. I still to this day listen to MBTDF, still impressed by how good 'Ye is, how he could seemingly do no wrong, even when he's done wrong. This album was critically applauded, and suddenly Kanye was loved again. He was forgiven by the public, loved by masses and treated as an A-list celebrity that shit gold in the streets.

"Cause they love you then they hate you then they love you again" - Kanye West

Kanye's ego elevated. His girlfriend was pregnant. It's been 2 years since MBDTF, a year removed from Watch the Throne, a few seasons removed from Cruel Summer. Kanye released his latest album... Yeezus.

Kane West - Yeezus

1. On Sight - The beginning instrumental on this track is classic Daft Punk, their influence on this easily rememberable, a pump up song that starts the album on a new age note, fresh with new lyrics that flows throughout the electronic beat with ease. Kanye took full control of this track, with a tale of a night at a club with a happy ending that ended in a girl's mouth. Kanye's style and arrogance pours through, the beat is catchy and Kanye lets everyone knows he arrived. 3/5

2. Black Skinhead - We heard this track on SNL a few weeks ago, Kanye with a politically motivated and rock style that we have mever seen before from him. His voice is electronically altered, but it still sounds good. He's got a message in this one, still claiing he's the best but subtley tking about racism and how he would be even greater than he already is if he had a different skin, and treated differently. The beat is very catchy, the lyrics pull you in and this seems to be most people's favorite track off the album. 4/5

3. I am a God - This screamed controversy to me when I first saw that this track was featuring God on it. Kanye still claims he is the best in the world at what he does [ ] at a level that no one has reached before. Kanye's ego takes a new height on this one, but that doesn't take away from how good the music is. It would be different if he wasn't backing it up. This is one of my favorite tracks, highly recommend checking it out. Kanye is on point here. 5/5

4. New Slaves - Another politically charged songs, and I love the message in it. He makes a point that we are all a slave to something in pur lives, pointing out the status quo as it is. He shouts out his critics and delivers multiple punch lines to his haters. There's a method to his madness, and the entire thing is topped off with a great outro from Frank Ocean. From a musical standpoint this is the best track off the album, it has a little bit of everything for the casual music lover and that's perfectly okay with me. 5/5

5. Hold my Liquor - This one took a couple listens to really take it in. Kanye has some help from Chief Keef with the hook and it really blends well. The real winner from this one is the beat and the flow. Kanye tells another story, using his arrogance at full extent here. Check this one out more than once and see if it doesn't get stuck in your head. 5/5

6. I'm in it - This track is crazy. There are three artists on this one: Kanye, Justin Vernon and Assassin. The three of them clmbine three different genres on one beat. There's a culmination of Rap, Reggae and R&B on this one. I really like the way it flows, how Kanye uses a few punchlines that are downright unforgettable. "Eatin' Asian pusdy, all I need is sweet and sour sauce." "Put my fist in her like a civil rights sign." Crazy. 'Ye is in full force here. 4/5

7. Blood on the Leaves - This seems like a shout out to a style that people generally didn't like. Got to hand it to Kanye for trying again. This is lyrically the weakest song on the album, but it definitely stands out. I don't dislike it at all, but I find the more I listen to it it takes me into my zone, kinda trippy. I enjoy it for sure. There's auto tune, shout outs to past lyric lines and the beat is trippy as usual. 2.5/5

8. Guilt Trip - There is so much going on in this song, and it's almost perfect. There's no other way to put it. The beat rises every second and so does voice and confidence with it. The addition of Popcaan and Kid fucking Cudi makes this one of the classics of Yeezus that we'll be talking about for a long time. Cudi's outro is great, the hook and the bridge is catchy as all hell. I've been loving this song for a few days, for sure. One of the best off Yeezus. 5/5

9. Send it Up - As I'm reviewing this, it dawns on me just how short this album really is. Ten tracks in fourty minites and it's over. Tgis one doesn't stand out to me, I feel the alarm kind of beat is annoying more than it is hood. That being said this isn't a bad song. It's different but it's not memorable. 2/5

10. Bound 2 - This is the perfect song to end Yeezus. There's an ambiance here that makes this a freakin' classic. I feel like if the outro wasn't this good, Yeezus would have left me wanting much more. Bound has a cool beat, with samples galore. Kanye is great at that, and the "Uh-Huh Honey!" is just awesome. No other way to put it. The bridge is great here as well. I like the shout out to the 90's TV show, Martin. This is one that I'll be playing over and over for a long while. A great way to end the album. 5/5

Kanye let us all know his ego and arrogance is back and it's here to stay. There's the side of me that hates people like that, but his music is too good for me to say bad things about the guy. Yeezus establishes a fee things. One, he's going to keep making music at a high quality level for a long time. Two, he's going to keep evolving into a different and better kind of artist within each attempt. He's got the right formula, enough to prevent his abums from being redundant and enough to leave you anticipating for the next one. I've got a feeling this is going to do string first week sales, as Kanye albums should. There's a method to Kanye's madness and it's great music. Those who read this might not like it, but that doesn't change anything for those who do. Pick it up, test it out for yourself and don't hesitate to make your own review. I'll be on the lookout.

Shout out to K-Finn and Neitz for influencing me to pick the album up and listen a few times.

 

[PHX]

Actually was thinking of doing some album reviews myself so it is nice to see someone else doing the same. Pretty good review on this album that I feel is a good album but it is like his 5th best solo album with the other 4 albums ranging from borderline classic to classic. Only thing that is kind of a downer with his music recently that I found out is that he really doesn't make beats anymore. He produces them in more of a orchestrator way but doesn't actually make the beats himself as of late. But good album regardless it is good that he is one of the few artist who you can't say his last album sounded like the one before it as he always totally reinvents his style. Hold my liquor was a surprise track as when I saw it featuring chief keef I got worried but he actually made keef fit in a good way and the song came out totally different than I was expecting. Favorite track is either New Slaves or Bound and least favorite is on sight.

 

[Ryan]

Actually was thinking of doing some album reviews myself so it is nice to see someone else doing the same. Pretty good review on this album that I feel is a good album but it is like his 5th best solo album with the other 4 albums ranging from borderline classic to classic. Only thing that is kind of a downer with his music recently that I found out is that he really doesn't make beats anymore. He produces them in more of a orchestrator way but doesn't actually make the beats himself as of late. But good album regardless it is good that he is one of the few artist who you can't say his last album sounded like the one before it as he always totally reinvents his style. Hold my liquor was a surprise track as when I saw it featuring chief keef I got worried but he actually made keef fit in a good way and the song came out totally different than I was expecting. Favorite track is either New Slaves or Bound and least favorite is on sight.

I was so disappointed when I found out he doesn't make all the beats anymore, but then again Dr. Dre apparently does the same thing and has for years and he's probably the greatest producer of all time. I was reading an interview with Mike Dean, presumably the same one you read, and he said that while Kanye was working on The College Dropout, he was having some trouble making a beat and Dean offered help and Kanye just said something along the lines of: "I make beats. That's what I do." It showed because when that album dropped basically no one had heard a sound like that in hip hop and if you look at the albums Kanye's produced by himself or largely by himself (Dropout, Late Registration, Be (this one's also a classic even though it's a Common album), that soulful sound is what keeps me coming back. You can really tell that he carried that mentality with him through at least Late Registration and probably even Graduation. I mean when I heard MBDTF, I knew that it was a classic and would it be great to think that Kanye produced everything by himself? Yes. At the same time though, that album was so good and had so many dimensions that I don't think ANY producer could have done that all themselves because the sounds were so different and in that respect, he's a great producer for realizing he couldn't do it all alone.

I agree with you that 4 of Kanye's 6 (he's got 6 solo albums) albums range from borderline classic to classic. I mean The College Dropout is easily one of the top 5 best debuts from any rapper since 2000, probably only beaten by Food & Liquor and GKMC and it's easily the best produced and probably the one that had the most impact. Late Registration just expanded upon the sound on The College Dropout. Graduation was more of what we saw on Late Registration. 808s basically paved the way for, unfortunately, auto-tune but also for singing in hip hop which basically birthed Drake's career and MBDTF was just a masterpiece. I've said it before though and I'll say it again, I just don't think Kanye accomplished much with this album. I realize everyone is giving it great reviews and what not but I just feel like it was another experimental album and I wasn't feeling it. I like that Ye isn't gonna give us what we expect every time which is a smooth hip hop album but a lot of these beats had this dubstep influence and I disliked them immensely. I also though the name of the album was ridiculous and the fact that he put a song titled "I Am A God" on the album really rubbed me the wrong way and I'm by no means a deeply religious person. We all know Kanye's a dick, according to a lot of interviews I've read, he's been this way since well before his debut but I don't like the way he played it on this album.

 

[ThatGuyFromNukemHigh]

I cant believe the number of Industrial artists that are saying to give this album a listen, or simply wishing there was a version without the lyrics.

Apparently the music itself is very well done, and the lyrics just screw it up.

 

[Kiffy Lube]

I've only had a chance to listen to it one time through before but I love the lyrics. They are obnoxious which is what I want to hear from Kanye now. I mean he's already explained his life in his other albums. It's time for him to just have fun and make money.

 

[PHX]

I was so disappointed when I found out he doesn't make all the beats anymore, but then again Dr. Dre apparently does the same thing and has for years and he's probably the greatest producer of all time. I was reading an interview with Mike Dean, presumably the same one you read, and he said that while Kanye was working on The College Dropout, he was having some trouble making a beat and Dean offered help and Kanye just said something along the lines of: "I make beats. That's what I do." It showed because when that album dropped basically no one had heard a sound like that in hip hop and if you look at the albums Kanye's produced by himself or largely by himself (Dropout, Late Registration, Be (this one's also a classic even though it's a Common album), that soulful sound is what keeps me coming back. You can really tell that he carried that mentality with him through at least Late Registration and probably even Graduation. I mean when I heard MBDTF, I knew that it was a classic and would it be great to think that Kanye produced everything by himself? Yes. At the same time though, that album was so good and had so many dimensions that I don't think ANY producer could have done that all themselves because the sounds were so different and in that respect, he's a great producer for realizing he couldn't do it all alone.

I agree with you that 4 of Kanye's 6 (he's got 6 solo albums) albums range from borderline classic to classic. I mean The College Dropout is easily one of the top 5 best debuts from any rapper since 2000, probably only beaten by Food & Liquor and GKMC and it's easily the best produced and probably the one that had the most impact. Late Registration just expanded upon the sound on The College Dropout. Graduation was more of what we saw on Late Registration. 808s basically paved the way for, unfortunately, auto-tune but also for singing in hip hop which basically birthed Drake's career and MBDTF was just a masterpiece. I've said it before though and I'll say it again, I just don't think Kanye accomplished much with this album. I realize everyone is giving it great reviews and what not but I just feel like it was another experimental album and I wasn't feeling it. I like that Ye isn't gonna give us what we expect every time which is a smooth hip hop album but a lot of these beats had this dubstep influence and I disliked them immensely. I also though the name of the album was ridiculous and the fact that he put a song titled "I Am A God" on the album really rubbed me the wrong way and I'm by no means a deeply religious person. We all know Kanye's a dick, according to a lot of interviews I've read, he's been this way since well before his debut but I don't like the way he played it on this album.

That interview and John Legends interview on breakfast club is where I found it out from. Honestly it takes out part out my interest for Kanye's music since his production is stuff I always looked forward to since he is one of my favorite producers. I rather see him strictly as a producer than strictly as a rapper but guess he is more focused on just rapping and orchestrating at this stage of his career.

 

[Ryan]

I agree I always listen for the production first but there's no doubt he's still got a huge hand in the production. I heard that it's basically like an open forum when they make beats. Everyone will contribute beats and they piece it together from everyone's beats but Kanye still does the final mixing.

 

[CGS]

Had this album downloaded since it got leaked but only listened to it the other day. Honestly after a first listen can't say I really care for it. I'm in it and Bound 2 are defo my favourite tracks to come out of it. Guilt Trips and new salves were also alright. All in all the album was just hella aggressive and part of me feels hard to really embrace Kanye as I did in the early and mid 2000s due to the guys every growing ego (I am god? Seriously?) really Do miss the older Kanye. Late registration itself is easily one of my favourite albums of all time.

Frankly I was listening to a few of the tracks again earlier though and I may give the album another listen too and make a fuller judgement on that. But for now its a good album but he could have done much better