Kanye West, Yeezus, 6/18/13 (TBC because who knows anymore)

My first impression is that "I Am A God" is the best thing Kanye has ever released.

that's what I thought when I heard "Black Skinhead" on the album.

The first three songs are so, so, so good.

If the Daft Punk album had sounded like this, I would have LOVED it (and everyone else would probably have hated it, lol)

nah, that was what people were hoping for from DP, I think? or more accurately, something like the live album where all the rough edges of individual tracks are worn down into over-riding grooves with lots of different bits thrown in.

which is really what kanye's m.o. is here, you get a sample, an occasional dancehall verse, some intense beats, and some ott bad lyricism... all in the course of one track!

the first four songs on this are terrific yeah

got the popcorn out for when DJP gets beyond them

okay I just got to "I be speakin' Swaghili" and dude clearly must be stopped

Lol

DJP couldn't like that song more if it was "I AM A GOTH"

okay I just got to "I be speakin' Swaghili" and dude clearly must be stopped

you're welcome

i like how he stresses "am" like he's contradicting someone

DJP couldn't like that song more if it was "I AM A GOTH"

Yeah no kidding! It got to the screaming and I was basically like "OH MY GOD WHERE HAS THIS BEEN ALL MY LIFE"

I am trying to give him the benefit of the doubt on "Blood on the Leaves" because it sounds interesting and he quotes Kendrick in the middle of it but the juxtaposition of the "Strange Fruit" vocal sample is testing my patience

I kind of picture him as a kid in a high chair throwing a tantrum in that song

it makes the croissant reference make sense, too

I feel like he thought the things people liked about "Runaway" and "Blame Game" were the codas and decided to make a song in the same vein that was all coda (re: BOTL)

"i'm speaking swaghili" is the best line on the album

you are everything that is wrong with America

lol

"raplic priest" is actually worst because it doesn't even have meme potential like swaghili, it's just plain bad

vomit on my sweater already, mom's swaghili

I don't even have anything to say about "Guilt Trip", which makes me like "Blood on the Leaves" more in retrospect

I'm glad "Send It Up" is switching up the tonal palette of the album here, I don't think I could make it through another navel-gazing sad-Kanye-is-sad song right now

sarge, you liked his bit in Beyonce's "Party," right?

It's pretty amazing that he's still clearing his rhyme books of swag puns from 2009 though

ha i totally didn't even make the "swagu" connection... no i thought that was really dumb

on spotify the artist field for "I Am God" is listed as "Kanye West, God"

man "Bound 2" is making me grit my teeth something fierce, the sped-up samples without supporting drum programming to make the beat pop gets under my skin so badly

"Have you ever asked your bitch for other bitches?" <--- I really can't say I have, no

ha i totally didn't even make the "swagu" connection... no i thought that was really dumb

how is swagu dumb and swaghili not...like how can you like one and not the other?!

I could see some of the songs on the second half of the album growing on me but MAN is this thing front-loaded

brb gonna play "Black Skinhead"/"I Am A God" on repeat (would include "New Slaves" if I could get Spotify to skip the coda)

how is swagu dumb and swaghili not...like how can you like one and not the other?!

― lex pretend, Tuesday, June 18, 2013 11:30 AM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark

sorry i don't have intellectual consistency when it comes to swag puns. one is funny to me and one is dumb, idk what to tell you.

Has anyone guessed that the coda was the easiest way to fit in a Frank Ocean cameo?

DFA RECORDS ‏@dfarecords

Are Jews for Jesus?
Are Yous for Yeezus?
40 minutes of "Bless You"
Like an album of Sneezus
-for @kanyewest

do I swag myself? Very well; I swag myself

I want to hit this terrible review over the head with a rolled-up copy of some dude's.

http://thequietus.com/articles/12580-kanye-west-yeezus-review

Revolution requires a spark, and West has chosen to be that spark, albeit one that recalls a virgin-seeking suicide bomber more than a molotov cocktail or gunpowder plot. Not that we’d expect any less from him. Yeezus, then, marks a subversive table turn of the Mandingo mythology, the trembling blackness thrust into Hampton wives as a sort of coup d'etat against the ugly and persistent status quo of culture, status, and race, a problem well-summarized by Gil Scott-Heron on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’s finale 'Who Will Survive In America'.

WHAT THE FUCK

i actually kinda thought the MLK tribute was the funniest line...

turns out that's the second time he's quoted that MLK line in a song. first time on "My Way" for more political purposes.

the trembling blackness thrust into Hampton wives

o_0

is that an actual lyric?

yep def

totally

it's a recurring motif that ties together all the songs

This bit is even worse:

West most effectively ejaculates his views with 'New Slaves', a soapbox screed or manifesto that addresses the counterproductive consumerism and oppressive constructs that hinder the success of black men. He shoves all this down our throats so that we might gag, that we too might prefer not to be “swallowers” as he bluntly puts it.

those are some poor verb choices

well, if nothing else, kanye is really making us think about penises. finally, the long hard national discussion can begin.

curious how the bon iver haters feel about his contributions here - i feel like his wispy harmonies make a nice contrast to all the noise and bombast, especially on 'i'm in it,' but expect others don't feel the same way.

i am ambivalent about bon iver as a solo artist but you have to give the guy props for being on a kanye album and a colin stetson album in the same year. actually kanye should have gotten colin stetson to guest on this album, would have fit in really well.

Kris Ex's review is really good, I think expresses more clearly or successfully some of the things I was trying to get at: http://blogs.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/2013/06/yeezus_review_kayne_kris_ex.php

i've never really heard Bon Iver music, but his voice on Kanye records is nails on chalkboard more often than not.

it's weird/lol that Kanye, who tries to get white audiences at his concerts to say the N words, has Bon Iver and Chief Keef sing more or less the same lines but lets Super Bon Bon do a N word-free variation

yeah that kris ex review is good too! i don't know why it's been so hard for so many critics to not start with the premise that this is a Defining Genius Album Of Our Times.

bon iver's contributions to kanye's music sort of wash vaguely over me, like his own boring stuff too

I haven't seen "ejaculate" as a verb since the last Austen novel I read.

i agree with kris pretty much. dumb lyrics, smart music. which is pretty much how i've always felt about kanye. and waka flocka definitely the best thing to play loud if you want to scare white people. i can clear my store in 2 minutes flat if i put him on.

i like bon iver and i liked bon iver on MBDTF but he seems out of place here mostly because that collaboration felt very of a time and place to me. it was sort of a moment in its own way whereas this is the sequel that no one really wanted.

ships i like your review. i like kris ex on this, too, especially for factchecking the c-murder interpolation.

i out bon iver checked him out after the watch the throne thread where i repped for "new day" and someone complained that it sounded like bon iver. i barely noticed him on this, though.

lol some of his review URLs still say "kayne"