Let me start off by saying, I was never a fan of Kanye West. He had a few songs here and there that I enjoyed, but for the most part his music just didn't click with me. That all changes with Yeezus, which I enjoyed pretty much from start to finish. West completely changes his sound and embraces a more experimental and fierce sound rooted in industrial and house music. This more aggressive sound gives West a lot more room to explore and try different things production-wise and it easily makes for the best material he's ever created. Album opener "On Sight" gets things bumping right out of the gate. The beat by Daft Punk is an old-school, synth-heavy house banger that is just a master class in hip-hop production (Where was shit like this on Random Access Memories Daft Punk? I'll take pounding house music like this any day over the stagnant nu-disco that plagued that record.) Paired with that killer beat, Kanye delivers two very confident verses and breaks them up with a eerie yet triumphant sample of a church choir that adds even more power to this already monstrous track. "On Sight" is only the start of the onslaught that West has prepared for the listener on Yeezus. The next track, "Black Skinhead", is just as powerful on disc as the live version that was performed on SNL last month. "Black Skinhead" is an anthemic whirlwind of a track with a pounding drum line, incredible build-ups and West yelling like a banshee numerous times during the song. "Black Skinhead" is West's masterpiece and I'll be surprised if he makes a song that resonates with me this strongly again.
While the rest of the record doesn't quite top the behemoth 1-2 punch of "On Sight" and "Black Skinhead", there's plenty of other noteworthy tracks on Yeezus. Lead "single" "New Slaves" is a striking piece of social commentary about the current state of African-Americans in this country (though a bit of its sting is taken away by a bizarre and unfitting auto-tune section with Frank Ocean at the end of the song.) "Blood on the Leaves" is one of the very few times I've enjoyed auto-tune on a song in my life. "Blood on the Leaves" took be a little while for me to appreciate, but the bass-heavy beat and Nina Simone samples that are used throughout the track made it a chilling and memorable track. "I Am a God" is a unique take on a brag-rap track with West spitting verses about how pampered he is that he should be considered to be a god-figure. The cocky lyrics that run "I Am a God" and few other tracks here would normally piss me off, but they fit West's style well. West is a very in-your-face, arrogant shithead and he finally has the in-your-face beats to match his over-the-top persona.
Yeezus is a very satisfying and surprisingly excellent record from Kanye West. If you had told me earlier this year that I would enjoy Kanye West record this much, I would've questioned your sanity. Yeezus is the work of a man that wanted to break the confines of mainstream hip-hop and make a bold, bizarre record that didn't gel with the industry norms of a popular artist and West did just that. While it isn't quite Death Grips in terms of aggression and industrial, lo-fi production, there is a lot of rage and emotion delivered from West on this record backed by a plethora of amazing beats. Yeezus is a successful experiment from one of the most popular rappers in the world and I hope his willingness to change things up and go outside the box will inspire other popular hip-hop artists to take risks with their music instead of releasing the same carbon-copy pop rap garbage over and over again. In terms of this year's hip-hop releases thus far, Yeezus is absolutely lord.
4/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Black Skinhead
2.On Sight
3.New Slaves
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