I respect the guy for being bold and trying to transcend a genre but to me it just didnt work out with this album. Not for me anyways.
It amazes me that Kanye keeps getting edgier as his career progresses. In general, musicians get less bitter, less edgy and less challenging as they become successful. Moreso for Kanye's genre (look at Jay Z's catalogue). Kanye continues to do the opposite. And this guy's devotion and the work he puts into his craft is just unmatched. Exciting stuff.
Okay I just listenend to it. Let's start with the good things: 1. Bound 2 is a great track, love it. 2. Couldn't find more good things... Now to the bad: I hate the album, absolutely hate it. I'm not against progressive hip-hop or concept albums. I loved albums like Deltron 3030, Roots - Undun, the new Ghostface album, Streets - Computer Blues,... But this here is just uninspired and follows no clear path. Lyrics are absolute trash, production is horrible. The whole album sounds like something you'd do when as sh!tfaced as possible and out of your mind. I don't understand how anyone here can love this album or sell it as great, progressive hip-hop. If this anyhow indicates the future of music I'm out. Kanye released absolute **** here and gets the pass because of his reputation. Again, if you think this is progressive rap and how a concept album should sound, listen to Roots - Undun, Deltron 3030 or something similar. Yeezus sounds like trash compared to these. I'm glad that at least the people on the hip-hop sites I follow agree that this is a horrible album and not what hip-hop is about.
And Send it Up will be one of the top clubs songs pretty soon. kanye did good. send it up, bound2, holy my liquor, I'm in it, New slaves, and blood on leaves are the best.
I think he's driven by going outside of what's expected of his genre. Plus, good artistic expression is supposed to challenge people. When evoke a strong polar reaction from people (love & hate) you know you're making an impact. Although I love the album, I can see where you're coming from (except your take on the production). But I will say you have this give this one more than one listen.
Maybe I shouldn't have narrowed it down to hip-hop. Let's just say I'm open to experimental music, but this album overall seems uninspired and like bad music to me.
I like some of it. For the people proclaiming this as revolutionary, I wonder if they're actually listening to the lyrics. Their are some clever lines here and there but they kind of suck. Sounds like he worked off the beats and wrote them in a rush.
Finally got it yesterday and listened to it all the way through this morning...I have always enjoyed electronica so I love this direction that Kanye is doing. I thought it was very good the first listen through - it is no MBDTF but then there is no album that would top that one. I think within time that just like Kid A was the logical followup to OK Computer so was Yeezus to MBDTF.
<object width="560" height="315"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/SlDgh99aqII?hl=en_US&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/SlDgh99aqII?hl=en_US&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object> Ok, this is a stretch to categorize Kanye with this song but his lyrics have consistently on down. Production wise, he's the best out there but rap is based off lyrics. I've recently got around to download A$AP Rocky, J Cole and Kendrick Lamar and I prefer those three over Kanye's new album.
Okay, I have listened to this album (as others in the music thread have pointed out) countless times now and I really really dig it. I am not crazy enough to say it is better than MBDTF but it is easily Kanye's 2nd best album. Track by track with my ratings: On Sight - 8/10 Black Skinhead - 10/10 I Am a God - 7/10 New Slaves - 10/10 Hold my Liquor - 10/10 I'm in It - 8/10 Blood on the Leaves - 10/10 Guilt Trip - 8/10 Send It Up - 8/10 Bound 2 - 10/10 Overall - 89/100
Yea, CF is full of guys that think they're listening to rap but it's hyped and uninspired BS that's totally disconnected from the roots of the genre. Lyrics in this album are so ridiculously bad, it's a shame what happened to Kanye-
I'm one of the biggest Kanye fans out there, but I cannot even listen to this album any longer. There's maybe 2 decent songs but it's mostly just garbage. It comes off as if he just sat down for an hour, wrote every track and produced it in a week. Just horrible all around imo.
