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| Kanye West |
It's true. I am fascinated in him as an artist, especially the way he projects himself to the media. It all started with his his infamous interruption of Taylor Swift at the 2009 VMA Awards. I was amazed at the lack of tact and general narcissism at that event, like the rest of the world. There were many Facebook posts that dealt with his actions, and they went something like, "Kanye - what a jerk! And his music sucks, too! He has no talent!"
And I responded, "Wait, no, that's not true. He is extremely talented!"
Anyone knows me knows that - like country music - I am not a huge fan of rap/ hip hop as a genre. There are certain artists or songs that I like a lot. I do have quite a bit of rap in my collection. But as a genre, it is certainly not my favorite. (Although it is interesting to note, I am, and have been since 1987, a huge fan of house music.)
Part of my collection was Kanye's breakthrough album, "Graduation", which was one of my favorite albums. Like many of the rap artists, he tried to transcend the genre, using samples from Daft Punk and collaborating with Chris Martin from Coldplay. When I first heard "Drunk and Hot Girls", I realized that this guy was a real artist. Also, I consider "Heartless" one of the best songs of the last decade, no matter which genre one is considering.
So here I was, on Facebook, defending Kayne as an artist. I don't care how much of a jerk he is. I don't care how much chest-thumping he does, it doesn't take away from the fact that he is, as he claims, a musical genius. Last month, he made some outrageous claims to BBC about rock being dead, rap being the new rock, and he being the king. He also had a Twitter war with Jimmy Kimmel that ended with Kimmel inviting Kanye onto the show. I watched it and was amazed at how intense the man is. I kind of understood him. I have known and worked with enough artistic geniuses that I kind of know how they work. They are all intense, driven, opinionated, and socially awkward. Kanye is no different. I shared some of my observations on Facebook and was accused of having a man crush on him.
My wife thought it was funny, and so she suggested that I download the new album and review it. I had heard that Kanye had tried to veer off in new directions by going a bit acid house. I had to check it out.
So, on first listen, this album is really grating. Yeah, there is some acid house there, but one should remember - a lot of acid house was really repetitive and grating, even back in the day. It was that way on purpose, so that the deejay could mix it in with other tracks, making it more palatable. "Yeezus" is not that palatable, especially on first listen, right from the first track, "On Sight". But the more I listened it grew on me. Maybe that is the genius of Kanye. He intersperses the uncomfortable, enough to make you squirm, and then he throws in something that is exquisitely beautiful to bring you back on track. Generally, this album is very angry, and I don't foresee many of these songs getting a lot of radio play. It is just not that kind of album.
Once again, Kanye is very adept at mixing in unusual and refreshing samples into his album - from obscure clips from soul and even dog barks. "Black Skinhead" - one of the best tracks on the record - features Native Americans singing. "I Am God" has a part at the end with panicked screams and breathing blended in perfectly with electro, followed my an a capella choir. That is Kanye's genius coming out.
Musically - and surprisingly, the record is remarkably scaled back on percussion. The rhythm is mainly driven by keyboards, like on the song "New Slaves". In many places, the rhythm is implied in the negative spaces, kind of like drum & bass, only without the drums. Again, genius.
As expected, there is plenty of narcissism here, like in the tune "I Am God", where Kanye raps things like:
"I am a god
So hurry up with my damn massage!
In a French ass restaurant
Hurry up with my damn croissants!"
Of course, there is a ton of profanity. And not just the occasional "F bomb", but constant. The occasionaly curse word does not bother me. But when it is so gratuitous, it gets on my nerves. And I am talking about the constant sexually explicit comments. I am not a prude, but some of it even makes me blush. My kids raid my music collection constantly. But "Yeezus" will not be one of the albums they get to listen to, if I can help it.
So yes, I like this album. Kanye again proves himself a genius. But as I said, this is not my style of music. I probably won't listen to this record for much longer.
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