a lb u m of t h e
“Kanye guess where my walkie talkie would be, if I were using it?”
mo n t h
Kanye West ‘Yeezus’
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(Def Jam)
Yeezy’s latest mixes borderline sacrilege with patisserie-themed frustration...
On ‘Yeezus’, Kanye West plunges deeper into the irresolvable conflicts that make him perhaps the only essential pop star in the 21st century. It’s a wild ride, and many have taken its title as continued evidence of the Chicago rapper’s limitless sense of self-regard. But in context, it works perfectly: ‘Yeezus’ is Kanye’s attempt to wrestle with his own Messiah complex by (to paraphrase a line in ‘Black Skinhead’) “getting my [primal] scream on”. Rejecting the lush arrangements of ‘My Dark Beautiful Twisted Fantasy’, Kanye pairs his stream-of-consciousness flows with a brutally sparse palette, overlaid with bloodcurdling screams and jarring segues. It’s a brave gambit, but one that pays off handsomely. the-fly.co.uk
‘Black Skinhead’ lifts Marilyn Manson’s glam-noir aesthetic wholesale, while ‘I Am A God’ resembles Nicki Minaj if she was more into Throbbing Gristle than trap (boasting an already-classic Kanye couplet: “In a French-ass restaurant/Hurry up with my damn croissants”). ‘New Slaves’ swipes the double-time raps of Kendrick Lamar, repurposing them for minimalist ends. And Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon again makes a great foil for our antihero on ‘Hold My Liquor’, soft synths punctuated by incongruous carcrash sounds. Lyrically, Kanye’s diatribes on race and consumerism are often more revealing of himself than they are righteous social commentary – ‘Blood On The Leaves’’ rancorous musings on an ex set to a sample from ‘Strange Fruit’ is one such dubious moment – but, ironically, it’s Kanye’s willingness to present the ugly aspects of his persona unvarnished that makes ‘Yeezus’ such a remarkable (if not entirely amiable) record. Alex Denney Download: ‘Black Skinhead’, ‘New Slaves’, ‘Hold My Liquor’
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