There’s no denying that Kanye West is a polarizing figure in the music industry. However, whether you love to hate him or you hate to love him, there is no denying that he usually makes music that everyone will talk about whether the music itself is good or bad. That’s great for record sales but at the end of the day, your output is a musician’s legacy so does Yeezus pass muster? The answer is a resounding Hail No.
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Yeezus pretends to be an album that is relevant and ground breaking however the truth of the matter is that it’s really neither. Even though the production on the album is amazingly dope like all of ‘Ye’s albums, it’s really a mish mosh of other genres that are currently bubbling underneath mainstream music’s surface. It’s like he thought to himself, “Alright, dancehall and electronic dance music is hot right now so I’m going to mix that up with some hip hop drums and I’m going to add some shit that sounds like Nine Inch Nails to make it feel like there is some depth of emotion. I’M A VOICE OF A GENERATION!” You would think that would sound super weird but surprisingly, it works.
Where this album loses me is his actual rapping and, at times, the auto tune singing. Yes, you heard correctly. Kanye has decided to pick up the auto tune again and it’s as god awful as it was on “808′s and Heartbreaks”. The song “Blood on the Leaves” could have been great with it’s blaring drums (and homage to C-Murder at the end of the song), the Nina Simone sample of “Strange Fruit”, and the fact that the theme of female betrayal is tackled in an interesting way…..but ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh auto tune. “I’m in It” is a hilariously terrible and sophomoric song that I’m sure is causing Robert Kardashian to spin in his grave as we speak. Let me give you an example of such terribleness: “I’m a rap-lic priest….getting head from a nun.” MIND BLOWING. Oh, Oh, I can’t leave “Black Skinhead” out of this. How about “I keep it 300 like the Romans.” Huh?!?! The last time I checked, the movie “300″ was about a battle between Spartans and Persians. Did Kanye even watch the movie or did he skim through it? Also, if I worked at a Dunkin Donuts or something, I would refuse Kanye his croissants. I mean, it’s not all bad. “New Slaves” and “Bound 2″ are legitimately great songs. However, everything else has a case of the mediocre or is like cancer to my ears and it’s not not benign, b.
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This album is Kanye at his most self-indulgent. After awhile, it just gets grating. Sure, he shows moments of weakness but they seem fewer and farther compared to his last albums. On the totem pole of his albums, it’s not as bad as “808′s”. Nothing is that bad. However, it is clearly his second worst album. It is pretty much the equivalent of Kanye jerking off and jizzing all over himself while listening to dancehall and industrial rock. It’s tough to imagine me revisiting that kind of scenario.
Baggydizz’s grade: C-
