Fighter: Kanye West
Trainer (Gym): Kanye West, Rick Rubin (Def Jam Records)
Cut Men: Kanye West, Rick Rubin, No ID, Lupe Fiasco, 88-Keys, S1, Ackee Juice Rockers, Arca, Benji B, Carlos Broady, Brodinski, Ben Bronfman, Evan Christ, Eric Danchild, Daft Punk, Dom Solo, Mike Dean, Jack Donoghue, Gesaffelstein, Noah Goldstein, Lunice, Hudson Mohawke, Che Pope, Sham Joseph
Weight Class: Rap Heavyweight/Vanguard
Notable Fire: Blood On The Leaves, Bound 2 (Featuring Charlie Wilson)
Notable Trash: I Am A God (Featuring God), Hold My Liquor (Featuring Chief Keef & Justin Vernon), I’m In It (Featuring Assassin & Justin Vernon)
Tale of the Tape: Where to begin?
Nobody can drum up controversy and intrigue quite like Mr. West. This is a guy who — in lieu of a traditional marketing scheme — used a baby to promote his latest album, boldly entitled, Yeezus. Okay, that was admittedly tongue-and-cheek. But West’s sheer star-power has been on display of late, as he elected to do very little publicity for the release of this highly anticipated album.
Never one to shy away from the unbeaten path, throughout his career Kanye West has pushed more envelopes than Newman. This, his sixth solo studio album to date, was no different. When considering the enormous transformation Kanye’s life has undergone in recent years, it’s easy to understand why that transformation would be reflected in his music. But as we stated in our Summer 2013 in hip-hop piece, the charming young producer/rapper from the Chi-City has long since faded away.
Sidebar: It was nine years ago that Kanye brought us The College Dropout. To close out that album, Ye walked us the story of his rise to fame. We saw him hungry, we saw him humble, we saw him struggle. If 2013 Kanye West listened to The College Dropout (not knowing it was himself), I’m not so sure he wouldn’t call it wack.
The unconventional production of Yeezus immediately jumps out of your speakers upon the first listen. A quick scan of the credits will show you how Kanye has moved away from carrying the production load. We have an astonishing 24 cut men listed for this album (some legends, others unknown). Anymore and Kanye would have had to employ the buddy system in the studio.
Right from the start, the opening track, “On Sight” was downright abrasive. If you didn’t know any better, you’d swear your speakers were broken. It was also far from the only questionable sound on the album. The random screams at the end of “I Am A God” was unsettling to say the least, and failed to serve any real purpose (more on this song later).
Kanye quickly moved on from the standard rap subject matter on the intro (although some of the wordplay does make you laugh— in a good way) and got into much heavier material in the next three tracks. Yeezy touches on everything from the media breathing down his neck, to the vicious murder rate in his hometown Chicago (aka Chiraq) on “Black Skinhead”. This record seemed cathartic for Kanye, as he was able to vent about many of the frustrations he has, with both society and hip-hop.
“Stop all that coon shit/These niggas ain’t doing shit/Them niggas ain’t doing shit/Come on homie, what happened?/You niggas ain’t breathing, you gasping/These niggas ain’t ready for action/ Ready, ready for action”.
This trend continued as West took aim at slavery, both past — and more notably — present day on “New Slaves”. Specifically, Kanye calls out the prison system and the overly-materialistic nature of (Black) America. Ye refuses to succumb to the slave-like mentality that has claimed so many of his peers, and he uses this record to reject these institutions in the most visceral way possible (again, more on this later).
“I see the blood on the leaves/I see the blood on the leaves/I know that we the new slaves/I see the blood on the leaves.”
Powerful imagery is invoked here by Kanye West — the kinda stuff that got him his “Brad reputation” — as he references the blood of lynched black slaves on the leaves of the trees bearing “Strange Fruit” (song originally performed by Billie Holiday).
Two problems persist with these records: Neither song is very pleasant to listen to from a musical standpoint and sandwiched between these two tracks is the reprehensible “I Am A God”.
Seriously, what is the appeal of this song? The garbage production? The offbeat rhymes? The unadulterated arrogance of him literally calling himself “a god”? The terrible rhymes (“I am a god/So hurry up with my damn massage/In a French-ass restaurant/Hurry up with my damn croissants!”)? The aforementioned screaming at the end of the song? Or maybe it was the ridiculous explanation behind why this song was ever created? To steal a line from Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, “this song is huge in Guantanamo”.
The ironic part is, Ye states on this record, “But everybody know you brought real rap back”, yet this song is one of the furthest things from “real rap” that can be heard in 2013. “I Am A God” is quite possibly the worst Kanye West song of all-time.
Sidebar: We’ve heard all about the back-and-forth between Kanye and Jay-Z when they’ve collaborated in the past, specifically on Watch The Throne…this is what happens when Jay isn’t in the room.
After Kanye followed “New Slaves” with two more embarrassing songs, Yeezus finally takes a turn for the better. “Blood On The Leaves” is the overall best effort on the CD, and kicks off a strong finish to an otherwise completely forgettable album. The Nina Simone sampled song sounds much more like the traditional hip-hop we’re used to from Kanye. He even gets back into his autotune roots, which is a dope change of pace for the back-half of the album. “Send It Up” (Feat. King Louie) is the only song on the album that you can easily envision people rocking out to in the club.
Yeezy follows that up with “Bound 2”, a song that’s soulful sample harkens back to Ye’s mixtape days in the early 2000s. And then…the album ends. After all the hype, Kanye gives us 10 songs; 40:02 of music— not a second more.
Fight Night: Loser By Unanimous Decision
A weird premise, some last minute tinkering, and too many cooks in the (production) kitchen and what do you get? An incomplete, conceited, largely out-of-touch finished product that even with Kanye West’s star-power, still caused a fair amount of this going on in the stores…
Sidebar: Notice the empty J. Cole rack. Granted, Ye did still take home the #1 spot that week, but sales were still down from per-release expectations.
Update: Yeezus record sales are officially plummeting now.
This is also an album overtly laced with contradictions (kind of like The Bible, ironically), a topic that we indirectly referenced after Ye’s SNL performance of “New Slaves”, but others have gone to much greater lengths to uncover.
While the second act of Yeezus was markedly better, it wasn’t enough to salvage the the horror show that was the first six tracks. Still, Kanye’s overall brilliance as an artist has left many trying to convince themselves that Yeezus was just that. And why not? He’s earned the benefit of the doubt. But in situations like this, people often have a tendency to talk themselves into thinking anything is good, all in the name of loyalty. How else do you explain Mark Sanchez’ run with the Jets?
Sidebar: Obviously, everybody is entitled to their opinion. But I’ve personally heard many hardcore Kanye fans defend this entire album…I just don’t see it.
The immediate reaction to Yeezus by a large portion of the public can best be described as “extreme”. Many fans found it to be the most recent example of Kanye’s ahead-of-the-curve genius, while others felt it was the most horrific piece of garbage they’ve ever heard.
Like most things of this nature, the truth most likely lies somewhere in the middle; finding truth is never easy but it’s pretty safe to say that if you never liked house or acid house music, you probably won’t mess with Yeezus.
Again, what’s hard to ignore is the transition that Ye has endured in recent years. His music and popularity soard to new heights, only to see it come crashing down around him after the Taylor Swift incident. His sneaker line took off, he was sued by Evel Knievel and began a seriously relationship with Kim Kardashian, which is either fantastic or horrific, depending on who you ask. Yet it was the death of Kanye’s mother that stands out as an event that may have reshaped this man more than anything (not a knock on him, most people are never the same after losing someone like that— and perhaps his new baby will settle him a bit).
When Mike Tyson lost Cus D’amato, he still went on demolish anyone who stood across from him for five years, however, in actually he lost far more than just a friend. He had lost his mentor; the guiding light in his life. Soon, he began to spiral out of control, whether he knew it or not. It was only a matter of time before the loss of Cus’ wisdom would eventually result in a loss for Tyson inside the ring.
Of course, Kanye West is not nearly as reckless as Iron Mike was in the late 80’s and early 90’s, and it’s impossible for anyone to truly know how the loss of his mother may have affected him. Furthermore, no one is saying that West is any real danger— just floating a theory here. But judging off his erratic behavior (as compared to that of the first five years of his career), the way he so publicly showed affection towards his mother and his lackluster new album, it’s easy to wonder whether or not Yeezus is in fact Kanye West’s Buster Douglas.