Kanye's new album leaked on the Internet this week. I tried really hard to avoid it at all costs. But I gave in. It's been a long two years for Mr. West to come out with a new album, and I'm easily tempted. Sorry Yeezy.
There's still a good chance that I'll buy the album, because it's fantastic. It's unlike anything I've heard in a while from a "rap" guy. I should preface that I don't know all that much about rap, so my opinion should be takend with that in mind.
The thing I find so interesting is that all the songs sound so different. It's not like your typical record. Some have the auto-tune and some have more guests rapping than Kanye does. It's been a interesting couple of years for Kanye as he's had more and more events that seem to go against him:
-Taylor Swift.
-South Park/Fishsticks episode.
-His mother's passing.
-Anything he says is questioned/criticized/studied by academics/conversation.
-His random Twitter outbursts that make him look more tortured/bipolar than anything else.
-The whole George W. Bush claim of Kanye's racist comment was the worst moment of his Presidency. (HUGE SIDENOTE: I could think of probably seven WORSE things that happened during his Presidency. Should I name them? Sure. 9/11. Katrina. Causing the econmoic crisis that has caused so many people to lose money and their jobs. "Mission Accomplished." Weapons of Mass Destruction. Dick Cheney shooting someone in the face. The axis of evil. If I were W., I'd be more mad at Will Ferrell's INTENTIONAL representation of him as an idiot, as opposed to Kanye's rage of emotion for one single moment.)
The point is that he's been through a ton of hard times, even for a rapper. So it got me excited to see how he's channelled his emotions into 13 tracks.
(I've debated how to start this next paragraph for 20 minutes) I'm on the fence about my true "surprise of the album" however, since almost half of his songs were released/leaked early, mainly as part of his "GOOD Friday" campaign - which I think is great for music lovers everywhere. A star at the top of his game and one of the biggest stars on the planet releases a new free song every Friday for 5 months? That's awesome. Yet since some of the songs on his album were part of the Good Friday program, I knew them before they came out.
It's good and bad I guess. Good because who doesn't love new, fresh, good music? But it takes away from the excitement of a new album when you know half the songs well in advance of the album dropping. I think overall I liked the concept, because I'm typically over-critical on new music, so the idea of listening to a brand new album can be pretty overwhelming to me, and I tend to only listen to the hit single(s). So it's good and bad is my final judgement.
Anyways, I'm starting to babble, but Yeezy's new album is fantastic. Listen to it as soon as you can, and I hop you have similiar opinions, because to me, it truly is musical genius.
No one man should have all that power. (I'm a huge dork. Bye.)
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