Label: Roc-a-Fella, Def Jam
Beats were always Kanye's game and nothing proves it better than his dark, twisted fantasy. Yeezy takes hip hop in a different direction song by catchy song.
West borrows from everywhere: Rock riffs, keyboards, hand claps, piano ballads, crooked drum samples, symphonies, jazz legend Gil Scott-Heron and indie folk fave Bon Iver. Pusha T wasn't kidding when he called it "a collage of sounds."
For something so sprawling, it works. The scale is as big as anything West has done and the production values are stellar.
It's just a shame he has nothing to say. It's Yeezy's ego on display, with all of the pomposity and self-affirmation that comes with that: "Runaway" is a sweeping, nine-minute "toast to the scumbags," but the first verse about sexting is an eye roller. Nicki Minaj steals the spotlight on "Monster," with the hottest rhymes on the record.
However, words were never Kanye's specialty and there's more than enough to silence any doubters.
Here's how good this record is: It manages to transcend the microphone-stealing, George W. Bush-trashing Kanye West we know and make us forget about him for just a moment.
"Runaway" (featuring Pusha T)
Cauton: Some may find lyrics inappropriate
Comments