On Sight

Black Skinhead

I Am A God

I was there

New Slaves

Songs of the Day

Okay, so I decided to stop today's review after track 4, even though I feel like I could have done this whole album tonight.  Today's tracks are "On Sight," "Black Skinhead," "I Am A God," and "New Slaves."  If this set has taught me anything, it's that Yeezy has gone out of his goddamn mind.  "On Sight" is hype song, but I find the beat so distracting from Kanye, which isn't all that bad in this case since he doesn't really seem to be saying much.  He performed this at Governor's Ball, and I can't say I'm any more impressed than when I heard it then.  Also, that "and put my dick in her moooooooouth" with the laugh at the end makes me want to slap him.  I can get down with the beat on "Black Skinhead," but this is the song he played the men in the KKK hoodies on the jumbotron, so I don't have the best association with this one.  I listened really hard to hear a line that blew my mind, but it's not in here.  The song is definitely fun, I'm sure I'll get hype to it after a couple of drinks at a party or something.  His growling "God" continuously at the end is really fucking weird though.  Once I heard that a) Kanye's new album was called Yeezus, and that b) it included a song called "I Am A God," I knew he had gone fucking crazy.  So it's easy to say that I've had a bad taste in my mouth about this song before I even heard it.  I'm trying to find something in this track, but I can't when I can literally feel his arrogance through the track.  But that's probably want he wants, shock factor and all.  The beat could have been so much better.  If you're gonna call yourself a God, you better have the track to back it up (this isn't even it).  Then he's gotta end the song with this weird screaming and running loop.  No thanks.  Kanye (luckily) redeems himself lyrically on "New Slaves," the first song I can say actually seems to have some lyrical merit.  "You see there's leaders, and it's followers/but I'd rather be a dick than a swoller" - I want to hate on that, but I can't.  But as this song is about consumers being the new slaves of this time, Kanye actually seems to have some morals on this one.  I kind of hate the beat though.  The motif is fine, it's all the extra, really shitty-sounding synth sounds they add do it - it could have gone in a little more.  I also wish I didn't feel  like Kanye wasn't yelling at me the whole time.  The B section groove at the end is cool, unfortunately Yeezy's gotta fuck it up with his really dumb, auto-tune voice.  Nobody wants to hear that, shut the fuck up.  Especially since I really dig where the B section groove goes, but of course it doesn't last very long. 
Old Kanye: 1
New Kanye: 0

Album Factoids

Yeezus

Released: June 18, 2013 (oh hey, today)
Genre: Rap/Hip Hop
Label: Def Jam
Producers: Kanye West, Daft Punk, Mike Dean, The Heatmakerz, Hudson Mohawke, No ID, Rick Rubin, RZA, Travis Scott, Symbolic One, Young Chop

Week 87: Kanye West (pt2)

So, I had to do it.  Yeezus came out today (even though I've had it since Sunday, thank you internet), and I had to do it.  I reviewed Kanye's last album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - hence the "pt 2" - and he's gone even crazier since then, so I had no choice.  I saw him in concert last weekend at Governor's Ball, and let me tell you, the man has lost his damn mind.  The first song he played, there were men in black KKK hoods on the jumbotron, and it was uncomfortable.  But that's Kanye - he's about the shock factor, and the wow factor, and all of the other how-can-I-get-people-to-notice-me factors.  I wasn't too keen on the new stuff I heard, but I'm gonna get into it a little deeper and see if I can find any redemption in his calling himself a God. 

This Weeks Album...

Final Grade: C+/B-

Well, this took me forever, but I had to get back to it.  I thought this album was ok.  Random Access Memories definitely had a couple bangers, namely the Pharrell tunes "Lose Yourself to Dance," and "Get Lucky," but I think that this album could have been much better.  I was very attracted by Daft Punk using real instruments on this album, but I don't think they did anything revolutionary with it.  There were a lot of odes to disco and sounds of the early 80s, but they could have gone with better grooves from those eras, as well as enhance them in ways to make them cooler.  I really didn't like "Touch," it was probably my least favorite song on the album.  I know that Daft Punk is super talented, and I was hoping that would translate with real instruments, but not as much.  I love "Get Lucky" and was hoping the rest of the album would be on par, but that was definitely the highlight of the album.  There are definitely a couple tracks I'll keep on rotation, but not the album as a whole.  Maybe they should just stick to electronics...

Get Lucky (ft Pharrell Williams)

Beyond

Motherboard

Fragments of Time (ft Todd Edwards)

Doin' It Right (ft Panda Bear)

Contact

Songs of the

Decided to go hard and review the rest of the songs on the album since I'm so fucking behind.  Got "Get Luck (ft Pharrell Williams)," "Beyond," "Motherboard," "Fragments of Time (ft Todd Edwards)," "Doin' It Right (ft Panda Bear)," and "Contact."  There's a reason that "Get Lucky" is the first single off of this album, and that's because it's the best track on the whole damn thing.  The groove is on point, bringing together a good blend of an old school groove with new school (electronic) elements.  Pharrell's voice works really well with the groove and allows the listener to have a better connection with the song.  The chorus is also hilarious, because who isn't up all night to get lucky?  Under normal circumstances, I would find the song to be a little long, but I like the groove so much that it really doesn't matter.  Definitely the highlight of the album - it's been on repeat all week!  The rest of the album is just okay.  I like the string opening to "Beyond," but I definitely didn't expect the groove that came in afterward.  I like the groove, it's super chill and the guitar riff is cool, but I think I would enjoy it more with an actual voice instead of the electronic voice - I think it takes away from the groove.  This is another groove that I think goes on too long with no change.  The groove is nice and chill, but it's not enough to keep my attention for the full 4:50.  Otherwise, it's a decent song.  "Motherboard" suffers from the same thing.  It's a relaxed groove, and I like that there's a gradual build, but it goes on for way too long without changing.  And then when it does change, it's not the B section it could be.  The transition section into the B section is kind of weird, as is the B section itself.  I feel like although the drums are cool in the B section, they're a little too loud and kind of cloud the rest of the groove going on.  But the rest of the groove isn't that great anyway, I'm not into the synth sound going on.  Not really into this one.  I would have been nice if "Fragments of Time" made up for the last two, but it doesn't really.  I like that this track gets back into an actual groove of sorts, but I think it's kind of corny.  I'm also not the biggest fan of Todd Edwards' voice, so that doesn't help much.  The groove in the verses is decent, but the chorus is pretty fucking corny.  I think it's a mixture of the chord progression and the sounds used that result in a corny groove.  The slide guitar is not helping anyone on this track.  Not a fan.  Luckily, "Doin It Right" makes up for it a little bit.  I dig the electronic, harmonized voices on this one, because they work with the groove since it's so minimal.  Panda Bear also works really well with this groove, so I dig the sound they add to the texture.  The simplicity of this groove is pretty cool considering it's by far the most stripped down groove on the album.  I do think the groove goes on a little too long though, but that's nothing new to this album.  Aaaaand we reach the end with "Contact," which I'm pretty disappointed by.  I dig the opening thing with the astronaut talking about seeing a UFO in space - I dig aliens - but I don't think the groove does the monologue justice.  It's cool that the whole thing is like a spaceship taking off, but I think it could have been executed better.  I really don't like the organ that comes in, I think it makes the groove sound very cliché 80s, which certainly could have been avoided.  I like the idea they had with the extreme drums, but I think it could have been reworked to have not been so isolated within the sound.  And the whole pick up is pretty annoying - I really don't like that sound that gets higher and higher.  Bleeeeeeeeh.  Not my kind of album ending.

Within

There's no YouTube video of it, so I used the grooveshark.

Instant Crush (ft Julian Casablancas)

Lose Yourself to Dance (ft Pharrel Williams)

Touch (ft Paul Williams)