Kanye West - Yeezus (W/Hidden Bonus Track 2013)

Kanye West - Yeezus (W/Hidden Bonus Track 2013) - Yeezus is a new path for American modern hip hop music, combining decently executed electronic soundscapes with bullshit rap lyrics which aren't enlightening or interesting in any way, shape or form. Kanye rattles on about sex and how great he is and how much money he has and how he drinks and passes out on your couch, but to tell you the truth, it's my couch and I'd prefer that he not pass out on my furniture from an alcohol induced slumber. He also says he's a God, but a man of God. How can you be a God and a man of God? Are you a God of a God? Are you a demigod? I should ask him that on his Twitter or Facebook account.

As far as the album goes, we must first consider it's packaging: a blank case with no album artwork, no cd artwork and a sticker. A big red sticker. How fucking pretentious can you get. "Oh, it's stripped down" he says. And Rick Rubin told Kanye that he didn't think the album was produced well enough, calling it "unfinished." So basically we've got what seems to be a rush-job of an unfinished album that comes to you looking like you bought it used at a pawn shop. Perhaps the album cover is invisible and I just don't have that hidden arcane knowledge that the almighty god, Yeezus posses and therefore I cannot perceive the majesty of the album's artwork. It all remains to be seen at this point.

As for the music, "On Sight 2:37" is just Kanye wrapping about bullshit to some electronic fuzz and beats. There's also this choir portion that comes in with no fucking purpose at all. "Black Skinhead 3:08" contains just a sample of Marilyn Manson (minus guitars) and there's a crow caw in it which is quite comical and makes me think that he's part bird. But he's a God, so maybe he would be part God. "I Am A God 3:51" where he talks about being a man of God, being a God and how his life is in the hand of God. If that's the case, then will the hand of God come down from the sky and crush this man like a bug? Or perhaps this giant foot will come down and commence with crushing Kanye West like a grape. Of course, there's this bold conversation where Kanye proclaims that Jesus Christ actually spoke with him and said "What's up Yeezus" and he said "Nothing, just trying to stack these millions."

Hmm... to me, that sounds like a very difficult job. Perhaps Kanye does work just as hard as the rest of us, as I can just imagine the pain and anguish in trying to stack large piles of dollars, a process that I surmise might take many days, even weeks or months to complete. Each dollar has to be perfect, set neatly beside the other dollars on each of the stacks and they cannot touch. How much monotony Kanye West must've went through in sorting each and every dollar - the one's, the ten's, the five's, the hundred's, the thousand's and the hundred thousands, unless he's actually got a few of those million dollar bills. It all depends on what bank he uses. At any rate, the meticulous work of stacking millions of dollars certainly has given me more respect for the man, seeing as how he had just enough time to make this album in between stacking the money that receives for his music. The labor must be next to back-breaking!

But I digress... and will continue the review. "New Slaves 4:16" is a bit of a hypocritical statement, because he says that people (in particular, black people) are slaves to corporations, which is extremely biased on his part; because it isn't just people of color who are oppressed, it is those who aren't in the top margin of society that become oppressed by the greedy (who apparently exist because of the devil, but if that's the case then there would be some very rich black metal bands) individuals who run everything. He also claims that "nigga's can't read" which I consider also biased and offensive, as it is a literal downgrade on a part of the population. There are some rather proficient people of color and they don't use the term "nigga" or any variation of it. Some of us have evolved far past the use of these terms. I don't call myself a "cracka" because I consider it very stupid. Why would I call myself anything more than human? As for the elctronics on this track, they could've been made by a five year old. If this is Daft Punk, it's time to quit. You're literally becoming "daft punks."

 "Hold My Liquor 5:27" is a piece of shit for more than most of the track, There's a guitar riff that fades in and out and that's all the music there is. It's practically acapella. There's some stupid autotune shit later in the song, but then at 2:45, there's a great use of guitar solo and electronics that's the only thing worth hearing on the album. It comes back at 3:53 and I just want to know who's responsible for that, because Kanye didn't compose that. I really like what is being done here and think that It would be so much better if IT HADN'T BEEN USED IN THIS SONG. Does Kanye now have copyrights to this piece? If so, someone needs to wipe him out so that the group can take it back and make an awesome electronic track from it. Again, this piece is the only thing worth merit on the whole fucking album. Thankfully, no lyrics interrupt the piece, but most closed-minded people won't understand it.

"I'm in it 3:54" is this song about fucking - big deal. But there's a demonic voice in the background that works. Then some crappy R&B shit starts. "Blood On The Leaves 6:00" makes me want to stab Kanye a dozen times with a screwdriver. I hate auto-tune already and it's man-bot sound, but then there's this other voice which yells "be!" over and over and I just want to strangle that person in all and any semblance of their being. They shouldn't have been allowed to even be on this album. "Guilt Trip 4:03" makes me think of a video game, but it uses those damn autotune vocals because Kanye can't actually sing. Then it uses the evil black man vocals, and to be perfectly honest I'd rather just hear the video game sound effect sample than all the other crap on this track. Can't you just put that on, I dunno... a better song by a more talented electronic artist?

"Send It Up 2:58" uses the some club synths over again until he uses some fuzz, then it goes back to shit programming. I'd really believe that Kanye did this one. Then there's that Jamaican guy on the track who sounds like he spent too much time in America, lost his accent and is now poorly trying to emulate it with the most effort on stereotyping as possible. He sounds like he's got something in his mouth. The end of this shit storm is "Bound 2 3:49" which is where Kanye uses this old sample from a 50's or 60's love song and he loops the chorus over and over again while he raps. It sounds like utter shit and nobody will give one shit about it. Then on the chorus of the song he uses another completely different track that sounds completely different than the one he's been looping. It was also poorly done. You can tell when he's cut off the chorus of the other song improperly. I'm also tired of hearing the "Uh, huh honey!  - I'm falling in love" over and over again, looping not even in tune with his vocals. "Bound 2" is nothing more than a rush job that he put together in one take. Mastering? Nope. Let's get this shit out as quickly as possible because he believes that black people have low IQ's and won't care? That's more what I'm thinking. "Bound 2" is the topping on the shit, one of the most amateur attempts that I've heard from a rapper. There's guys in their basements that can do a better job. You've got money, but you sure as hell don't use it.

Honestly, someone needs to knock this guy's ego down a bit. If your life is in the hand of God, Kanye; then I hope that God will help you find humility because you put out shit for the most part. "I'm Kanye West and I never had nothing in my life." You know what? Fuck you. If you gave such a shit, why wouldn't you make a decent album? Why would you rap about bullshit and not more important things? I hate to be rude, but why is it always white rappers who deal with world issues and real problems? Why are black rappers only rapping about women, cars, money and how great they are? Who started this trend? Who is responsible for this?

So much shit is going on in the world these days, and you think that Mr. Kanye West might give a shit about the horrible things that are going on. You mentioned corporations, sure. I'll give you that. But then you tell Jesus that you're counting millions. What in the literal fuck do you think he would say if you literally had a conversation with Jesus and he asked you what you were doing? I'm not very religious, but I do remember that Jesus pretty much told the rich man to drop his shit and follow him. Well, you still have your shit and you're trying to follow him. Keeping up appearances, are we? Go leave your lavish fucking home, take Kim and your child named after a direction and go out there to foreign countries and be a fucking missionary, if you consider yourself so holy. Go see the real Africans and visit the tribes out there in the middle of nowhere. Go to Ethiopia and eat with them. See what they eat, how they live. "Yeezus" was made not because you wanted to make music, but because you wanted to still be considered by people as a rapper. You just want to be edgy. This is absolute shit and the greats would piss all over your album despite the fact that you've used a few mediocre electronic pieces to illustrate your bland skills at poetry.

What's more, is that two of these songs were performed live on the SNL stage and you put some feeling into both of them. You damn near screamed these lyrics, there was no doubt passion behind them. But when I hear it on the record, there is no emotion, just a guy trying to get shit done as fast as he fucking can. Whew. Just let me calm down a bit before I go on. Thanks.

Though I didn't like one song on the album, I did like pieces of these songs, so I can consider it better than just a 1/10, but it's not amazing. I'll probably give it a 3 or a 4 at best. There's also this hidden track called "Teck Teck Tonic ft. Jessica Shores 3:57" but it's some bullshit pop song. So you don't need it. Hell, you don't need this album. Listen to anything, anything other than "Yeezus."

(11 Tracks, 44:00)

3/10