NEWS
EVENTS
We Love Yeezus...
Friday 28th June 2013 | Tobi
The latest instalment in the musical journey of Ye’ remains as controversial as the rapper himself.
Yeezus, Kanye West’s sixth solo album dropped on 18th June with little or no fanfare; no radio singles, no music videos, no album promotion, only one impromptu listening session for music journalists and the sort in New York. But that has always been the Kanye West way; doing things his way without giving a second’s thought to what any other person or even the general media thinks or cares.
Ever since the fresh sounding-rap of College Dropout dropped on us, it has always been about the music to the Chicago-born rapper. And the French designer labels. And the girls. That doesn’t change much on Yeezus.
The album itself is as minimalistic as it gets in its production but it continues with the religious undertones started with ‘Jesus Walks’ in his debut album. The title of the album might scream blasphemy but the track ‘I Am A God’ employs a bullhorn to shout it from the top of the cathedral steeple. And Kanye reinforces his seemingly God-like nature with the soon to be classic line /I am a God/Hurry up with my damn croissants/
There are other bars that jump at you as they are delivered in West’s inimitable style. In ‘I’m In It’, Kanye exclaims ‘/Eating Asian pussy/all I need was sweet and sour sauce/’. And then he offers leadership advice later in ‘New Slaves’, ‘/You see it’s leaders and there’s followers/But I’ll rather be a dick than a swallower/’.
The album sounds like a pared-down version of Kanye West, riddled with primal screams and copious amounts of cursing. In the production of the album, Kanye steered away from the stereotypical hip hop producers and artistes he has worked with previously, preferring upstarts like Arca, Young Chop, Chief Keef and the veteran non hip hop producers like Daft Punk and Rick Rubin.
That the album leaked a few days before its release was a major surprise as Kanye is renowned for guarding his material very secretively with locked briefcases and secure hard drives. But that didn't seemingly even affect the sales as the album shipped upwards of 300,000 copies in the first week of its release reaching the number one spot on the Billboard chart.
The reception to the album has been intriguing, with critics giving it very high marks and praise while it has been criticised by regular people as being confusing and too far removed from the Kanye they have come to love. But as could be expected, his ardent fans have taken to the internet and social media to defend him vigorously.
All in all, Yeezus is a remarkable album, even as it still divides opinion. But one thing is clear and as Kanye himself rapped in the opening track, ‘On Sight’, /Yeezus season approaching/Fuck whatever y’all been hearing/
