Kanye West
Yeezus (2013)
Def Jam
Left-Field Rap
I've
never liked Kanye. There are three good reasons to have an overly
cocky attitude. 1) Because you really are the best. 2) To be ironic.
3) As an act that is a part of your persona. Kanye falls in none of
those categories. Obviously he's not the best, though he thinks he
is. He's not being ironic however, as he actually thinks he's the
best. It's not an act, as he has proved countless times in his
personal life, and making a moron out of himself taking it too far in
front of cameras. He can't even speak like an intelligent human being
half of the time (see Sway in the morning).
Now that I've gotten my general Kanye hate over with, I tried to listen to this project without any bias, as I know he changes his style frequently. Here goes.
01) On Sight --- Beats- See Death Grips- Lost Boys. And then a choral sample, which just sounds out of place over the beats. Lyrics- Weak. One mediocre pun about getting off, and then he whines about the media again. And then says he doesn't care. Make up your mind, if you don't care, then don't keep bringing it up.
02) Black Skinhead --- Beats- Somewhat reminiscent of I've Seen Footage, not a complete ripoff though. Lyrics- A little more creative, but they also display one of my biggest problems with Kanye. He acts like a spoiled baby. He whines about his haters and then says he doesn't care, much like in the last song with the media. If you don't care, please stop talking about it. But his lyrics aren't complex, despite what his fans will tell you. He makes it seem like double rhymes in one section by ending every sentence with shit like Kendrick did with bish, but it doesn't accomplish anything in Kanye's verse.
03) I Am A God --- Beats- Nothing to mention. Death-grippy background noises. Lyrics- Here we go. Classic Kanye humility. He just really knows how to acknowledge his faults. As an atheist, I don't have a problem with his sacrilege, but he's definitely not a god of rap at least.
04) New Slaves --- Production- Meh. Lyrics- Of course, Ye needs to try and be deep and political. The fact is he's an idiot politically, and this song is disrespectful to civil rights. He's comparing slaves picking cotton to the way the capitalist system implores him to buy expensive items. Racism does still exist, but the real problems haven't moved to hollywood, they're still in the ghetto! This is distracting from life or death situations such as that of Trayvon or any number of cases of police brutality.
05) Hold My Liquor --- Production- Autotune is one of the most obnoxious inventions of all time. When used right it's bearable. That high lead doesn't contrast or even clash nicely with the beat, it's just annoying. Reminiscent of Hacker/The Cage. Lyrics- Shallow, sexual lyrics, dehumanizing women with no redeemable qualities. He wants to 'own her', and with 'one more hit' he can (I know he's making a drug reference, it's a joke).
06) I'm In It --- Production- The voice effect is similar to either Blackjack or Bitch Please, I can't remember which. It sounds like it's barely holding together at the seams, with reggae, Kanye, death grippy beats, the aforementioned voice effect, and Justin Vernon carelessly thrown together. Lyrics- We get it, you're being disrespectful and you don't care, but really? Free at last to refer to titties? I guess his having sex is a great civil rights struggle, also referenced in later lines ("Put my fist in her like a civil rights sign").
07) Blood On The Leaves --- Production- More nauseating autotune. Oh god. No. It's all autotune? This song reminds me of something, can't quite put my finger on it. Not Death Grips though, for once. Could he please stop the autotune? I'll take Pain over this. Hell, I'll even take Future over this. At least he's catchy. There's that song it reminds me of. He uses the same quote that song does- "Fuck them other niggas..." It's the Kendrick version, Tammy's Evils which it sounds most like, which of course is referencing C-Murder's song. This is basically a remix of TNGHT song it turns out. That's why it doesn't sound like Death Grips. Lyrics- You can write raps with great depth, great flow/rhymes, or both. Kanye chooses neither, rhyming: somebody/somebody/party/molly/body/body/love me.
08) Guilt Trip --- Production- Holy shit. Do we really need more autotune? I never thought I would hear more autotune than when I listened to Future's album, but... Fuck I thought it was just the intro this time. 1st verse, still autotuned. And then he tops it off by sampling Cudi's pathetic attempts at beautiful singing. [edit: When I was looking up lyrics to make sure I got everything right, I noticed this beat is a partial rip-off of the Steve Miller Band's song Fly Like An Eagle] Lyrics- This verse was definitely better technically, with some internal rhymes. I liked the line "Your feelins like Zulu, then nothing is a Shaka", and this song was lyrically more heartfelt than the rest, but the autotune detracts from this in the performance. Of course it's still a 'nobody really loves me' song, which Ye is proficient at.
09) Send It Up --- Production- Slowed down remixed version of The Cage (Death Grips of course). Lyrics- More about shallow hoes. If you really want a relationship with depth, you're gonna need to stop fucking everything with a nice ass.
10) Bound 2 --- Production- Is that woman's voice in the background talking to Kanye? It sounds like his mom telling him she likes his music, even though the big bad haters say mean things about him. Other than that irritating sample, probably the best song off the album production-wise. Lyrics- Fucking more shallow bitches, I'm surprised there were any left after the last nine tracks. That's not a bad thing though, lots of rappers talk about shallow bitches (virtually all). Most don't talk about how they want a real relationship at the same time though.
I came out of it disliking him even more. At first I thought the first half of the album was bad. Then I listened to the second half. Damn, he doesn't even seem to try, barely even has verses on some songs, and uses random reggae artists. To those saying it's not a rip off of death grips, have you actually heard death grips? Half of those beats are just like The Money Store, albeit lower quality. I'm fine with artists using influence in production, as without it subgenres like g-funk or left-field hip-hop wouldn't be formed. My problem is when an artists uses virtually the same sounds, and doesn't put his own stamp on it. Many of Kanye's beats are minimalist versions of Death Grips, which means he isn't pushing the boundaries of rap, he's staying comfortably within them while allowing everyone to think he's the edge and ignore the real far-out groups.
Now that I've gotten my general Kanye hate over with, I tried to listen to this project without any bias, as I know he changes his style frequently. Here goes.
01) On Sight --- Beats- See Death Grips- Lost Boys. And then a choral sample, which just sounds out of place over the beats. Lyrics- Weak. One mediocre pun about getting off, and then he whines about the media again. And then says he doesn't care. Make up your mind, if you don't care, then don't keep bringing it up.
02) Black Skinhead --- Beats- Somewhat reminiscent of I've Seen Footage, not a complete ripoff though. Lyrics- A little more creative, but they also display one of my biggest problems with Kanye. He acts like a spoiled baby. He whines about his haters and then says he doesn't care, much like in the last song with the media. If you don't care, please stop talking about it. But his lyrics aren't complex, despite what his fans will tell you. He makes it seem like double rhymes in one section by ending every sentence with shit like Kendrick did with bish, but it doesn't accomplish anything in Kanye's verse.
03) I Am A God --- Beats- Nothing to mention. Death-grippy background noises. Lyrics- Here we go. Classic Kanye humility. He just really knows how to acknowledge his faults. As an atheist, I don't have a problem with his sacrilege, but he's definitely not a god of rap at least.
04) New Slaves --- Production- Meh. Lyrics- Of course, Ye needs to try and be deep and political. The fact is he's an idiot politically, and this song is disrespectful to civil rights. He's comparing slaves picking cotton to the way the capitalist system implores him to buy expensive items. Racism does still exist, but the real problems haven't moved to hollywood, they're still in the ghetto! This is distracting from life or death situations such as that of Trayvon or any number of cases of police brutality.
05) Hold My Liquor --- Production- Autotune is one of the most obnoxious inventions of all time. When used right it's bearable. That high lead doesn't contrast or even clash nicely with the beat, it's just annoying. Reminiscent of Hacker/The Cage. Lyrics- Shallow, sexual lyrics, dehumanizing women with no redeemable qualities. He wants to 'own her', and with 'one more hit' he can (I know he's making a drug reference, it's a joke).
06) I'm In It --- Production- The voice effect is similar to either Blackjack or Bitch Please, I can't remember which. It sounds like it's barely holding together at the seams, with reggae, Kanye, death grippy beats, the aforementioned voice effect, and Justin Vernon carelessly thrown together. Lyrics- We get it, you're being disrespectful and you don't care, but really? Free at last to refer to titties? I guess his having sex is a great civil rights struggle, also referenced in later lines ("Put my fist in her like a civil rights sign").
07) Blood On The Leaves --- Production- More nauseating autotune. Oh god. No. It's all autotune? This song reminds me of something, can't quite put my finger on it. Not Death Grips though, for once. Could he please stop the autotune? I'll take Pain over this. Hell, I'll even take Future over this. At least he's catchy. There's that song it reminds me of. He uses the same quote that song does- "Fuck them other niggas..." It's the Kendrick version, Tammy's Evils which it sounds most like, which of course is referencing C-Murder's song. This is basically a remix of TNGHT song it turns out. That's why it doesn't sound like Death Grips. Lyrics- You can write raps with great depth, great flow/rhymes, or both. Kanye chooses neither, rhyming: somebody/somebody/party/molly/body/body/love me.
08) Guilt Trip --- Production- Holy shit. Do we really need more autotune? I never thought I would hear more autotune than when I listened to Future's album, but... Fuck I thought it was just the intro this time. 1st verse, still autotuned. And then he tops it off by sampling Cudi's pathetic attempts at beautiful singing. [edit: When I was looking up lyrics to make sure I got everything right, I noticed this beat is a partial rip-off of the Steve Miller Band's song Fly Like An Eagle] Lyrics- This verse was definitely better technically, with some internal rhymes. I liked the line "Your feelins like Zulu, then nothing is a Shaka", and this song was lyrically more heartfelt than the rest, but the autotune detracts from this in the performance. Of course it's still a 'nobody really loves me' song, which Ye is proficient at.
09) Send It Up --- Production- Slowed down remixed version of The Cage (Death Grips of course). Lyrics- More about shallow hoes. If you really want a relationship with depth, you're gonna need to stop fucking everything with a nice ass.
10) Bound 2 --- Production- Is that woman's voice in the background talking to Kanye? It sounds like his mom telling him she likes his music, even though the big bad haters say mean things about him. Other than that irritating sample, probably the best song off the album production-wise. Lyrics- Fucking more shallow bitches, I'm surprised there were any left after the last nine tracks. That's not a bad thing though, lots of rappers talk about shallow bitches (virtually all). Most don't talk about how they want a real relationship at the same time though.
I came out of it disliking him even more. At first I thought the first half of the album was bad. Then I listened to the second half. Damn, he doesn't even seem to try, barely even has verses on some songs, and uses random reggae artists. To those saying it's not a rip off of death grips, have you actually heard death grips? Half of those beats are just like The Money Store, albeit lower quality. I'm fine with artists using influence in production, as without it subgenres like g-funk or left-field hip-hop wouldn't be formed. My problem is when an artists uses virtually the same sounds, and doesn't put his own stamp on it. Many of Kanye's beats are minimalist versions of Death Grips, which means he isn't pushing the boundaries of rap, he's staying comfortably within them while allowing everyone to think he's the edge and ignore the real far-out groups.
2.0/10
Favorite Tracks: Bound 2, Black Skinhead
Favorite Tracks: Bound 2, Black Skinhead
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