Kanye West's Yeezus - Album Review

by Sam Wolstenholm

On June 18th, 2013, Kanye West released Yeezus, one of his most controversial projects. It's notorious for being either loved or hated, but there really doesn't seem to be much in-between. Personality aside, Kanye West has released some of the greatest hip-hop music of all time. He has his public issues (and private too, I'm sure), but his cultural impact cannot be denied. Yeezus is not one of his most popular or best-selling albums. However, it's one of his most talked about. For that reason alone, I'd like to share my own thoughts about it.

I'm writing this introduction before starting the review. I haven't listened to this whole album in years, and that's because I really did not like it the last time I did. I understand the polarizing nature of this project, and I plan on doing this review as thoroughly as I can. I'm actually hoping that I like this more than I used to, but my hopes are higher than my expectations.

[EDITING PARAGRAPH: ALSO I completed this review and typed out everything except this paragraph maybe a month ago. Kanye West (or Ye) is a piece of garbage. He's gone through shit, and I understand that, but that doesn't excuse his behavior. I won't go into any more details because this is supposed to be about the music. Kanye makes that difficult though. I've removed all the links to his songs, albums, & websites. I've also decided to take out the music videos that exist for this album. That way, if you want to access his content, it won't be from my website. I contemplated just not releasing this review at all, but ultimately decided to since I shit on the album anyway. I hope this man gets help (because he clearly needs it).]

1. "On Sight"

Holy shit this hurt my ears, literally. The first sounds that play on this album forced me to turn my volume down about halfway (for reference, I usually listen at max volume...it's bad for my ears I know). It's some super crunchy synth. There's some robotic drums too. It is VERY loud. It honestly isn't pleasing to my ears. When Kanye starts rapping over this part of the beat, he drops some real gems. "Get this bitch shakin like Parkinson's" and "Indian hair, no moccasins" are two that stick out more than the others...and this is just the first verse. Maybe lines like this would slide if there was a good delivery over a good beat, but there isn't either one. Thankfully, the beat changes about halfway through the song to an organ and the vocals of Holy Name of Mary Choral Family. Unfortunately, that only lasts for a few seconds, and it doesn't make any sense paired with the main beat. The electronic sounds go absolutely ballistic at the end of the track, and I just don't get it. I like weird, but damn Kanye. It's still got to sound good! This song is horrible, and I don't even want to talk about the other stuff Kanye said on here (yea, the lyrics are going to be a common theme).

2. "Black Skinhead"

This one is better, a lot better actually. There's a real melody going on, but the heart of the instrumentation is the drums. The drums are honestly amazing. They create an almost tribal feel (which I'm sure was the point) and pair well with the breath noises to keep the song upbeat and constantly moving. There's some Yeezus synths on here too, but not nearly as much as, frankly, the rest of the album. There's a structure to this song too. Normally, I wouldn't mention that, but it kind of sticks out here, especially after that last song. Lyrically, he's actually talking about something too. Basically, he's wilding. Like, he's actually trying to sound crazy, and it works. A "skinhead" is a term that basically means the same thing as white supremacist or neo-nazi (no spell-check, I refuse to capitalize that). Kanye is essentially saying he's the black version of that? I mean, I think he does a good job playing that character, and I take it as a release of inner demons and dark thoughts related to the topic. Yea, this is one where his attempts at sonically portraying anger and intensity does work.

3. "I Am a God (feat. God)"

Facepalm...for the title alone. I'll talk about the godly feature later. This track comes in with some heavy 808s and synths with some wild vocals going over it. There's promise to this one at first. The drums that first come in kind of wrap everything together well, but of course they cut out when the joke of a chorus comes in. You know, I'm not inherently against calling yourself a god, but you're going to have to give reasons. Back it up. Kanye definitely does not do that. He just raps about how people hated on him and he proved them wrong (I wish I were simplifying). The lyrics of the chorus are just...I don't know if they're bad-bad or good-bad. "I am a god. So hurry up with my damn massage. In a French-ass restaurant. Hurry up with my damn croissants." I can't help but laugh at this, but it completely takes away from any serious tone Kanye is trying to set. You can't be a god with bars like that. I know he can do better than that. At the very least, make up for the chorus with the verses. Sadly, he doesn't do that either. This song is bad. Oh yea, God did nothing to improve this track. A terrible feature, in my opinion.

4. "New Slaves"

An interesting energy we have going on here. The synth lead pretty much just loops across the track until the weird (but necessary) beat switch. This second beat sounds like something that'd be on The Life of Pablo or Ye. In fact, from that point on, it starts to sound really pretty thanks to vocal assistance from Frank Ocean and Kóbor János. The first beat isn't bad though, but it is pretty bare in terms of instrumentation. I think it helps the song though overall. Kanye is rapping about commercialism and how businesses are taking advantage of wealthy black people. Instead of slaves to actual slaveowners, Kanye is saying that "new slaves" are slaves to companies. He doesn't seem to lose sight of the non-wealthy racism that occurs though too. Really, it could be interpreted that he's saying nothing has truly changed and black Americans are still slaves but in different ways. This is one of the stronger tracks on the project, worth a spin.

5. "Hold My Liquor"

The length of this track isn't what bothers me. In fact, I think it does a structurally good job of filling out all five and a half minutes. However, all the sections that fill it out are not good (with the exception of Kanye's verse, partly). Justin Vernon opens the track with a...chorus? There doesn't seem to be a typical song structure to this, but that's fine. It just makes it harder to talk about. Anyway, I just am not vibing with his voice. I can't understand what he's saying, but I guess that might be him trying to sound drunk. That point is completely negated though right after that when Cheif Keef comes in saying, "I can't handle no liquor" while sounding clear as day. I think I might even dislike his feature even more. I don't know who thought Cheif Keef would be a good feature for singing on a fairly emotional song. It does not work (due to both the performance and the melody itself). Justin Vernon sounds a lot better after Kanye's verse, but still nothing amazing. Speaking of Kanye's verse, I think it's cool how the beat slowly crescendos the whole time. I think his flow can get a bit too repetitive, especially when there's the same beep noise in between every line. I'm not even going to talk about his lyrics. They're passable compared to the rest of these songs. What an outro we got going on here though. There's a really cool distorted guitar that helps bring down the energy to a slow exhale. If this track wasn't so damn all over the place, it could've been decent...but alas.

6. "I'm In It"

Oh no. Within the first ten seconds of this one, we are exposed to some Yeezus synths and sex noises. What is it with rappers and sex noises? Even if the song is about sex, I can't play this in the car with my friends. I even feel weird by myself hearing that shit. I guess I should actually talk about the song though...but I don't want to. This one was tough to get through. If you can even get past Kanye's sexual and not clever first verse, a guy called Assassin comes in with a jarring performance. If you know what he's saying, you know it isn't anything special. It develops into an alright verse from the guy, but that's only relative to his competition. Justin Vernon shows up again here too. I don't know why Kanye couldn't get someone better to do his parts but whatever. The instrumental is, of course, all over the place and super loud. Really leaning on the bass and the basic drums, I don't think the beat is good enough to make up for these performances. It makes it even worse to know that these guys are singing about sex in the most unappealing ways possible. There are so many little moments I'm neglecting to mention here. There really are a lot of things wrong with this one. The best part comes at 3:10 when Justin Vernon sings "star fucker" three times. Seriously. Then Kanye ruins it with another verse. This doesn't need to be four minutes long. ETC.

7. "Blood On the Leaves"

This one had potential to be a good song, but it just tries to do way too much. I guess I should say Kanye does. He does some awful singing and plasters it in autotune. It works for a couple lines (I'd say the beginning of the choruses), but not even close to the whole song. Definitely not the verses. I can't even tell what the song is about. Please, somebody tell me. There are two cool sounds in this song. The first is the Nina Simone sample (of her singing "Strange Fruit") that is basically in the entire song. The other sound is the electronic horns. I get trombone vibes, but it could be any horn to be honest. The first time it comes in, it goes super hard. However, it definitely overstays its welcome. I'm annoyed with it by the end of the song (which lasts for six minutes by the way).

8. "Guilt Trip"

Wow, what do you know? Another synth bass attempting to set the tone of the song. Oh what's that? There's way too much going on and it's too loud? What song is this again? Okay, I have to be fair though. This one isn't the worst. It actually sounds like a song. The drums are crunchy, distorted, and fat. I don't like how they sound for the most part. However, this one has got some cool sounds. There's a swirly synth and an actual piano. Like, it sounds like a real piano. They don't all work together though, regardless of how good they would be on their own. During Kanye's verse, there's a lot of laser gun sounds. At least, I'm pretty sure that's what they are. No sound effect can cover his stupid bars...again. "Star Wars fur, yea I'm rockin Chewbacca." Popcaan does sound cool for the chorus, even though his voice is chopped up and caked in effects. I also don't know what he's saying (that seems to be happening a lot). Kid Cudi is also on this track for some reason. I like some Kid Cudi every now and then, but he's just crooning over this one. He only says one phrase over and over again for a whole section. He doesn't even do any cool humming. There are some good string additions toward the end though that almost sound like Cudi humming. I guess I'd call this one my dark horse (I really wasn't going to do one, but I changed my mind).

9. "Send It Up"

Oh my god. This qualifies as a song? Truly, this is difficult to listen to. An extremely annoying siren/synth plays the same stupid melody for the whole song. The drums are boring. The flows are basic. The bars are very subpar (even for this album, I think). The mix is horrible. Honestly, this song perfectly exemplifies what is wrong with Yeezus. King Louis delivers a bad verse and a repetitive chorus, and he is still better than Kanye here. This song sounds like it took ten minutes to make. I really don't know what else to say. Never listening to this song again.

10. "Bound 2"

I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I think this is one of the better tracks on the album. I personally can't say I like it, so I'll explain the positives before the negatives. First, the sample of the Ponderosa Twins Plus One song, "Bound," sounds good. It reminds me of when Kanye made good music. The track also has a good structure to it that makes it easier to listen to than most songs on this project. That Charlie Wilson bridge sounds really good too. I don't like how it feels just stuck in the middle of the song though. In fact, that might be my main gripe with this whole song. It feels like a bunch of pieces of different puzzles were put together to try to force something unique. The "Uh-huh honey," a Brenda Lee sample, sticks out like a lake in a desert. It just doesn't work for me. I do respect the creative risks though. At least with this song he's trying to make something that sounds good. Some twisted version of a love song. Again, I just cannot stand half of Kanye's lyrics on this thing. He rhymes the word "reputation" with itself four times, and he doesn't even pronounce it right once. This song frustrates me because I want to like it, but I just can't do it. It's too messy, and there's nothing that helps clean it up.

Overall

I can't. I'm sorry. I just can't enjoy this. It's probably even worse than I remember it being. One good thing about Yeezus is that it is consistent. All the tracks do, in fact, sound like they are on the same project. It just doesn't seem like any love or real effort was exerted in the making of this album. The mixing was not good. There were so many sounds that were overpowering. I couldn't hear or understand half of the choruses. The features sucked too. Kanye himself had horrible lyrics all across this thing. Even when he does get one of the corny ones to stick, it's ruined by something else he says in the verse. There are maybe two or three tracks that make me think at all. Most of the time, I was looking to see how much time was left in the song. Yeezus is an experience for sure, but not one I want to go through again.

This is the lowest I've scored an album so far. It cannot even be a 3 because I haven't even considered a full three songs on this album to be of quality. Even the ones I kind of liked ("Black Skinhead," for example) were lackluster compared to pretty much the rest of his discogrpahy. I considered going even lower than I did, but I had to give props to Yeezus for a couple reasons. I mentioned its consistency. I also respect the creativity. It does sound weird, and I have more respect for an artist that does weird than one that always plays it safe. There are also some moments in this album that did actually sound good. There weren't many, and they usually didn't last very long, but they were there.

2.4/10

If you've read my review, I assume you have already heard Yeezus, so I want to hear what you think. What'd I miss? Did I tear apart your favorite song? Or give too much credit to one that doesn't deserve it? Any questions or comments? I'd love to respond. Feel free to drop review requests too! I will strongly consider them.