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

But that's chiefly because 808s had hooks.

obviously 808s was more pop/accessible, but i think we're talking more about subject matter or sentiment

there are hooks on this album, you just don't ever want to say any of them in public

nah i will be belting that Charlie Wilson shit

like, you can get away with muttering "so keep your love lockdown" or "how could you be so heartless" to yourself on the train without drawing too much attention; muttering "I'd rather be a dick than a swallower" or "hurry up with my damn croissants" is going to get you some serious side-eye

(btw CAD had this album come out in time I totally would have tried to put "I Am A God" on yr wedding playlist)

like, you can get away with muttering "so keep your love lockdown" or "how could you be so heartless" to yourself on the train without drawing too much attention; muttering "I'd rather be a dick than a swallower"

says the Bostonian

well the croissants line isnt a hook but i already hear people quoting it lol

i was, like, seeing kanye/croissant photoshops the first hour the album had leaked, before i even knew it had leaked

http://24.media.tumblr.com/1352090f28dd20b87cd00d7f57762e94/tumblr_mogtlgMTxn1sw13a0o1_500.jpg

Lol

well the croissants line isnt a hook but i already hear people quoting it lol

this is what i meant by its memeification

such a horrible line to quote

Not too far from an R. Kelly "lol he's talking about food" meme.

It's a funny line. It does not require photoshops.

"then she came like AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

There's rumours that apparently him and Kim Kardashian have named their kid 'North'... if so, I have no words.

I fux with that.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_fA_JNpEHMs/Tq3B4TTg-JI/AAAAAAAAAIY/sWIyBK0bhds/s1600/sdo00i.jpg?

i think the album is *about* its contradictions...

not saying this isn't right (and i think the incoherence/messiness of the whole thing is kinda what makes it compelling) but hasnt this been kanye's schtick, more or less, since day one?!

yeah, but metastasized this side of graduation

The "since day one" thing is my problem these days. I revisited All Falls Down and there's nothing Kanye's said since about conspicuous consumption, the perils of wealth and his inability to shed his own bad habits that he didn't say better in that song. I feel like we've been praising his contradictions for almost a decade without him either changing or discovering any new insights. So money doesn't make you happy - OK, got it, now what?

sort of trolling but: nobody ever complains that rothko kept saying the same thing over and over. maybe kanye found his great subject early on and just dug himself in. not changing or discovering so much as refining. or maybe he's lost his damn mind.

http://i.imgur.com/8ydh7oE.gif

Always thought of Rothko as being more of a Just Blaze man myself.

I'm riding dirty, tryna get filthy, Pablo Picasso, Rothkos, Rilkes
Graduated to the MoMA, and I did all of this without a diploma

Also, his sound has changed massively, and develops from record to record, which always means his subjects will be handled differently. All Falls Down and New Slaves can hardly be called the same song, once you take the productions into consideration.

this is an interesting take on what we've been talking about: http://33revolutionsperminute.wordpress.com/2013/06/21/man-in-the-mirror-the-politics-of-yeezus/

(btw CAD had this album come out in time I totally would have tried to put "I Am A God" on yr wedding playlist)

― DJP, Thursday, June 20, 2013 8:47 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

would have slotted in nicely between "love shack" and the weezer song my mom made me play

That's terrific, ship. Thanks.

yeah really good piece

this in particular is excellent: Complaining that Kanye is self-obsessed is like wailing that Sir Mix-A-Lot likes big butts — that’s the schtick — but when that self-obsession thwarts or travesties the language of protest it’s a problem, not an achievement.

It's definitely not an achievement but I don't really see how it can unequivocally be called a problem.

he's an egotistical misogynist who's remarkably open about the totally valid contradictory emotions and stances he has towards the racist society and culture he was born into. the question is whether the latter is enough to make you accept the former, and then there's still the question of "do I wanna listen to his musical product over which he wrestles with this shit?" For the most part I'm in the "do your thing, hopefully having a daughter will make you think twice about what you say about women (like having a mom listening to your albums did), but I think this was all fresher several albums ago" dept.

this doesn't really sound like several albums ago at all, not just sonically but thematically

i agree with everything that piece says pretty much, but on the other hand, i try to compare this to recent albums ive heard of any genre and there's so much more there

maybe i'm just interested in it as intellectual exercise idk but i like thinking about this album. he's done a good job of, at the very least, creating a piece of art that looks different depending on which angle you look at it.

Everyone who complains about Blood on the Leaves, including that piece, misses the absurdism of it. He says alimony is like lynching, because he was supposed to use that money on cocaine. 'Now your driver say that new Benz you can't afford that / All that cocaine on the table you can't snort that / That going to that owing money that the court got'

i don't really know how the absurdism is supposed to make me feel tho

Upset. Like he is a paranoid idiot. That would be my guess. The hook is about taking molly for the first time. I think it quite clearly is about personal paranoia, there is really nothing in the lyrics about society. The sample is offensive, then, but you can't deny that it works to create a mood.

i'm pretty sure no one missed the absurdism of a song about alimony being laid over the top of a sample of the most famous song ever about lynching

i think i spent all my generous readings of kanye west music on 808s tbh

I pretty much agree that there are many points here were he crosses the line from "entertaining navel-gazing" to "horribly unforgivable, actively offensive navel-gazing" but at the very least the first four songs are so appealing to me sonically that I feel like figuring out how to make piece with the lyrics

lol "peace" RIP spelling

i think i spent all my generous readings of kanye west music on 808s tbh

― call all destroyer, Friday, June 21, 2013 10:37 AM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

eh yeah i never liked that one so

i'm pretty sure no one missed the absurdism of a song about alimony being laid over the top of a sample of the most famous song ever about lynching

― J0rdan S., Friday, June 21, 2013 10:36 AM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah this is the hard line for me. otoh i think it's different that he thinks he can pull it off b/c he's clearly targeting the guy mad at alimony...i don't think that character is supposed to come off well

by 'it's different' i mean, i don't think he's literally comparing the struggle of having to pay alimony with lynching 1:1 like that

but he still doesn't pull off the use of the sample

I pretty much agree with that, D-40. But I've seen quite a few pieces taking it down for being a bad protest song, which is not really what it tries to do.

http://www.spin.com/articles/yeezus-female-roundtable-kanye-west-sheezus-talks-a-critical-roundtable/

I look forward to reading that but: Sheezus Talks

http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view3/3909447/kanye-head-shake-o.gif

these broads just don't get it.

For me, the album is sonically incredible: Producers Hudson Mohawke, Daft Punk, Arca, and Gesaffelstein went jamón, and West should be praised for his openness to bass-centric sounds that most people outside of the dance-music underground haven't really been exposed to. (Please, for the love of god's son, stop calling it "EDM.") These guys flipped some of the trillest Blade Runner dancehall and creepy, peeled-apart minimalism. Lyrically, I'm embarrassed by about 35 percent of it, though – not "I'm in It," so much as phoned-in lines like, "Mi casa es su casa / That's that cosa nostra" that are just like, dude, gimme a little more to work with here.

why would you... i mean... ??????