Yeezus by Kanye West : a thread

Likes & RT's appreciated

The first solo album after the mostly unsurpassable artistic high point that was MBDTF, Kanye returned reinvented as a loud,aggressive shit-talker with his attitude backed up by some of his best material yet.

It's is a rough, abrasive, in-your-face journey from beginning to end. It's like ten (maybe nine) continuous punches to the face. It's always referred to as "minimal" but to me it's got more complexity than most albums by stars of Kanye's commercial stature.

Kanye's urgent,galloping delivery across the whole project is the greatest highlight ; channeled through such manic energy,the quality of the lyrics themselves (not too great most of the time) is made almost completely irrelevant.

The beats here offer absolutely no comfort or relaxation up until the very last song. Hold My Liquor is a spiritual experience and Bound 2 is like a cut from a hornier College Dropout. There's not a single instrumental low point across the 40 minutes.

I wanna point out the lyrics about the ruthless prison system (New Slaves) and how it ties into what Kanye says even now (abolish the 13th amendment). His comments are disgraceful most of the time but some of the shit he says makes sense even through his really bad articulation.

I also really wanna talk about Bound 2. Kanye's straightforward declarations of love just have such a sweetness to it. It's an anticlimactic ending that still feels perfect ; a lot like Aisatsana from Aphex Twin's album that was released a year later.

The way it polarized audiences just solidified that Kanye only cared about living up to his personal vision regardless of how well it charts ; kissing people ass is so unlike him. There's nobody in the industry this willing to keep evolving no matter the commercial performance.

It makes me happy that a few years later it seems to be mostly accepted as a highlight for Kanye, it really just proves how ahead of his time the guy is. There's always gotta be one guy who gives up immediate acclaim for the good of the culture,and Kanye plays the role perfectly.

Some still consider it a black sheep in Kanye's catalogue but to me the album's just another testament to the ever-evolving nature of one of the music industry's most important figures. It's a totally kick-ass 40 minutes and it's as potent as an album twice its length could be.

End thread. Thanks for reading and like I said RT's appreciated.