Yeezus

DiRtyFranK38 wrote:

I really like it but I'm not getting as genius of a feel as everyone else... the last record was unreal... his lyrics on this just aren't THAT great... the music is amazing.. but idk

How can you be a musical genius when all you do is sample other artists work on your songs, lip synch at your shows and need to use a computer because you cant sing. I don't get the love for this hack. :fp:

musicismylife78 wrote:

Kanye's complex. I dont like my art with a bow on it. I like humanness. Misogyny and sexism and all that deserves to be called out when anyone engages in it. But alot is going on in the lyrics of Yeezus. he samples a nina simone cover of Billie Holidays strange fruit, a song about lynching. The songs themselves criticize apartheid, call out people who are offended by interracial couples, discusses the prison industrial complex and how its big buisness, criticizes materialism, denounces america for being horrified at the bloodshed in iraq while ignoring when young black males die in the streets in urban america, and chastizes the audience and himself for participating in consumer and capitalist culture that enslaves us all.

Tupac was the same way. Whats interesting about Kanye is he does all this even within the same verse. Blatant sexism then social critique.

People love to hate. Kanye's achievements and impact are solidified. Anyone questioning them is either unwilling or unable to deal in reality.

Tupac and Biggie's importance to hip hop and exposing the world to the grim realities of being black men in the 90's were also filled with the same thing. Born to Die is a stone cold classic. Paints disturbing portraits of the lives of people deemed by society to be lesser than. Yet within that are lines that delve into sexist and even homphobic terrirory.

The issue here is holding two ideas simotaneously. Criticizing the artist for their sexism, but also praising the work for its ambition, scope, experimentalism and artistry.

How can you call Kanye complex and throw admiration at his supposed worldliness and awareness when he can't even get the difference between Romans and Greeks?! Just because you throw out historical references and mention topical issues in your music doesn't make you relevant or a groundbreaker or a genius. Even worse, when your references are factually inaccurate, it makes you look like a buffoon.

Kanye isn't even in the same league as 2pac or Biggie, don't insult them by making that comparison.

i think like any great artist, he has layers. Any artist worth anything does. The stuff I mentioned being in the lyrics is undeniably there. Thats the dangerous slippery slope that a few people seem to be engaging in. Im all for liking conscious and positive music, but its impossible to weed everything out. Takes too much time. I dont know if Dylan or Van Morrison or John Lennon, or whoever was really a great person. They made great music and art, thats about all that matters at this point for me. John Lennon's one of the greatest songwriters of all time, but clearly had alot of issues. Im not going to stop listening to him or tell others not to because he was flawed. It just makes the conversations about the music more interesting anyways.

Biggie and Pac's importance only heighten my point. Neithers music portrayed women as equals, sexism and objectification was rampant in both. Ready to Die portrays the reality of urban horror better than just about any other album. Yet its littered with references to women as objects. That needs to be discussed and criticized, but im certainly not going to write biggie off as meaningless and an idiot because of it. Tupac could be the ultimate example. Possibly raped a girl, yet wrote one of the best pro-women anthems ever penned by a male hip hop artists with Keep ya head up.

Pac and Biggie are giants and legends but lets not pretend either was squeaky clean choir boys who also didnt have their real demons as well.

The sheer guts to take a sample about lynching and include it on an album thats going to be played loud and danced to by lots of teens who have no idea what lynching even is, only shows his genius more.

Kanye's legend is solid. his work is legendary. His producers work is also legendary. Its fine to not like an artist, its your right, but to deny his influence and the acclaim his work has achieved I think is just being silly.

Can't believe I am saying this as a 46 year old white jewish male, but this album is awesome... I really like Death Grips, so to hear Kanye do something like this hopefully opens more of the world to this harder core genre...

Really don't know much of his stuff... where else should I go?

Tim Simmons wrote:

I don't know about that. kanye has a great flow and has pretty clever and funny word play. It's a package deal that makes him awesome.

I guess for me the whole shock and awe factor that he goes for with these lyrics faded for me when 2 live crew sang about being so horny......when I was 12.

DiRtyFranK38 wrote:

Bronx Bombers wrote:

AllNiteThing wrote:

Another new lyrical gem - "Eatin' Asian p*ssy, all I need is sweet 'n' sour sauce."

Yes, he's an artistic genius enlightening us all to the issues of the world. :fp:

How about this one :fp:

A monster about to come alive again/ Soon as I pull up and park the Benz/ We got this bitch shaking like Parkinson's (On Sight)

Listen to the song 'Gorgeous' from his last album... that has amazing lyrics... the cockiness, wittiness, and politically incorrectness of it is the point... its kanye, its hip hop... but listen to the meaning in that song and what he is really saying. some amazing stuff. and crazy metaphors if you catch them.

this^ MBDTF was among the most dense and complex albums in modern hip hop history. Expertly discussed what it means to be a black male celebrity in modern day america. I viewed it, and still view it as Kanye's version of Dante's Inferno. He paints a depressing and scary portrait of the fast life and being famous