Kanye West - Yeezus Album Review
rating: 5
Rapper. Designer. Megalomaniac. Genius. God. Deluded. Hypocrite. Ridiculous. Revolutionary. Kanye West has been called many things since his debut album was released in 2004; he has polarised critics and audiences alike, with his claims of god-like grandeur and his endless embarrassingly quotable outbursts. However, he certainly rouses a reaction, whether it is love or loathe. On the back of his sixth studio album and controversial interview with BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe last week I'll assess the highlights of the four-part rant and argue why Yeezus is one of the bravest and most ambitious albums ever put forward by a rapper. Kanye's interview was supposed to in aid of his most recent album, which was released this summer, but West had other things on his mind: mainly fashion. " brought the leather jogging pants six years ago to Fendi and they said 'no.' Now, how many motherf*ckers you done seen with a leather jogging pant? When I see Hedi Slimane, and it's all like, 'OK, this is my take on the world.' Yeah, he's got some nice $5,000 jeans in there, some good sh*t here and there. But we culture. Rap is the new rock 'n' roll. We the rock stars! We're the new rock stars, and I'm the biggest of all of them." A typically modest statement about West's lack of credibility in the fashion world this obviously bothers him a lot, as he uses any opportunity to bring the conversation back to fashion, even if it's completely unrelated. Kanye should be focusing on his music; it's where his true talents and revolutionary potential lies. Put simply: Yeezus is a modern masterpiece. The experimental samples and influences (ranging from industrial dance, to Nina Simone) make for an album that is sonically unique from any album put forward by a mainstream rapper in history. But Yeezus Christ already knew this hence some of the lyrics. Highlights include: "I am a God, even though I'm a man of God"; "I just talked to Jesus/ He said 'What up Yeezus?'" and my personal favourite, "I am a God / So hurry up with my damn massage / In a French-ass restaurant / HURRY UP WITH MY DAMN CROISSANTS!" Despite verging on the ridiculous, the album still works because Kanye is honest. All rappers pretend to have the most amount of girls, the best cars and endless amounts of drugs and Patron; the difference with Kanye is that his god complex is not a façade - he genuinely believes he is a revolutionary, and this is the reason he is. If we compare Yeezus to Jay Z's extremely disappointing Manga Carta Holy Grail we see the true difference of West's artistry. Jay Z attempted the almighty grandeur (evident in the title) but failed with mediocre and mainstream songs; if these claims are going to be made then the music should back them up. Magna Carta seemed to be a very rushed album Jay heard a few of Timbaland's beats while working on albums for others, and decided to make the album based purely on the instrumental for Picasso Baby. Furthermore, he had the song Oceans recorded for about a year a run-of-the-mill rap/feature-chorus song that even Frank Ocean could not save. Jay's album also features a song with Beyoncé, a sequel to '03 Bonnie & Clyde entitled Part II (On the Run) the mid-tempo R&B song is enjoyable, but is carried mainly by Beyoncé, and feels like a bit of a commercial ploy for a hit. Kanye steers clear of this kind of blatant PR on Yeezus. To introduce the album he set up a series of projections around the globe of his distorted face rapping the powerful first single New Slaves; Jay Z, on the other hand, set up a multi-million dollar deal with Samsung which ensured a million copies of his album being sold in the first week. "Fuck you and your corporation ya'll n*ggas can't control me" comes to mind. Kanye's ridiculousness comes hand-in-hand with his impressive music: without his omniscient ego he would not make the music of this caliber. People do not seem to understand this connection many of the public openly hate him and dismiss him, claiming to like only his music but his god-complex generated this music. So let's revisit Yeezus. Next? The track by track review...