Kanye West, Yeezus, 6/18/13 (TBC because who knows anymore)

anyway looks like the golden thing is just a sticker or something applied over a clear cd front, the actual CD is just a continuation of the black/white graphic

xp: yeah, rock & roll! just watched all this yeezy. fucking awesome. maybe love the initial street projection bit best of all, even with the "cheezy" coda. sounds like he's doubling down on the super-distorted sound of MBDTF, but taking it far enough to be interesting. punk-industrial political outrage over minimal beats suits him surprisingly well. excited.

love the packaging, too

All I can say, so far, is that I'm intrigued.

it'd be kind of cool if his "political outrage" were a little less vague and didn't end up with him fantasizing about raping another guys' wife, imo

his "political outrage" really seems to be another version of his own self-aggrandizing IMO

I'm not really sure what's vague about his political outrage here? Does he have to actually use the words predatory capitalism, racism and the prison-industrial complex for people to get what he's going off about in "New Slaves"?

Also not sure why you assumed the lyric about fucking a Hampton spouse implies rape (though it's still pretty skeezy even assuming consentual sex)?

Skeezus

i mean he comes pretty hard and clear in new slavesimo

Meanwhile the DEA
Teamed up with the CCA
They tryna lock niggas up
They tryna make new slaves
See that's that private owned prison
Get your peace today

like if you hear cca + private owned prison and don't think 'prison industrial complex' you're not thinking hard enough

i mean the first line on "power" is

The system broken, the school's closed, the prison's open

hoos & greer & jordan & everybody otm

I don't think social commentary has really been an album-wide priority on a Ye record since the debut, though. Curious to see if that actually changes here.

Social commentary -- the world outside -- exists as correspondences for his self-regard (a compliment and insult).

Red sticker looks like it may cover a Ye face.

i don't like the album art. i like the anger on those two tracks though.

surprised there's no Death Grips involvement, though there's still time

What up from the not so distant past:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylT16QB6Uig

kanye's post-808s trajectory has really been a case of the abyss gazing back

honestly a little surprised that he didn't pop up once on a ctrl-f of the ilx deadpool

i'm pleased about these songs! easy to lol at the marilyn manson sample/skunk anansie vibes but they pique my interest much like 808s did (and as MBDTF completely didn't) - looking forward to hearing more

lol you are literally just bringing up skunk anansie because the song is called "black skinhead" aren't you

I don't get why he sounds so angry on his solo-album, but much happier on his collaborative efforts? Never-the-less, I liked MBDTF and like the new songs.

a kinder hokier death grips.

is what the world needed.

i believe the album art is by jon r4fman, artist who did the google street view thing.

new songs sound almost nothing like death grips, pretty lazy comparison

Why is it being compared to Death Grips- because it's angry, messy, etc.? I've only heard the performances on SNL.

I'm just talking about the one snl song.

shouty, punky, industrialized rap music w rock samples, not a hugely surprising leap

the other song sounds like bad something else. only heard it once. and it was on the side of a building so kinda hard to tell what it sounded like.

up for pre-order on itunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/yeezus/id650229924

also yeah lol at "death grips" suddenly becoming autocorrect for raps with shouting

actually listening again you could compare the side of a building one to death grips too. the vibe. so corny. he's a cornball. he's a dick AND an ear of corn. corn is kind of impossible to digest after you swallow it.

Scott, please tell me you will review this once it drops

I don't get why he sounds so angry on his solo-album, but much happier on his collaborative efforts? Never-the-less, I liked MBDTF and like the new songs.

― Frederik B, Monday, May 20, 2013 7:41 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i feel like if you really listen to Kanye's verses on Watch The Throne and Cruel Summer they're not really that 'happy'

Lots of good points itt about the fruitless narcissism of Kanye's anger and the way he tries to aggrandise it by pegging it to some wider political point that he'll probably never mention again. I've fallen for that before.

i dig kanye as national avatar so when he gets petulant and enraged and namechecks abuses of late capitalism like he's being frogmarched into a dystopian future by his own id it works fine for me

^

Twitter going nuts that one of the SNL songs is basically Marilyn Manson's "The Beautiful People"

just listening to this for the first time now and was about to make the same comment

this is the greatest thing he's done since "Love Lockdown"

okay "New Slaves" is pretty dope too

Mellow Gold: The College Dropout - the instaclassic debut of a generational icon
Odelay: Late Registration - proof this is not a flash in the pan
Midnite Vultures: Graduation - more of the shtick
Sea Change: 808s & Heartbreak - can't do the shtick right now because WAHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Guero: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - return of the shtick, sadness overcome but not forgotten
The Information: Yeezus?

mellow gold is pretty bad, does anyone consider it a classic? also you skipped the indie beck albums.

but don't let me fuck up your thinkpiece

mellow gold made spins top 100 alternative albums of all time upon release, and yeah i skipped side-projects and shit, this isn't a fucking scientific formula

that's like 15 hours of your life you'll never get back listening to those albums, anthony.

mellow gold is mostly great

One Foot in the Grave totally fucks up yr thesis tho nice ommission

Mutations too for that matter

think of what you could have done in that time. road trip to canada. acid trip. hot dog eating contest. all kinds of things.

scott that took me five minutes. this isn't a thesis it's a pair of testicles resting on your forehead