This album is a follow up to a generally revered album, often called Kanye's masterpiece, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. MBDTF is a cinematic, orchestrated album. It incorporates a lot of traditional "musical" elements. I bring this up because Yeezus is not like this. Yeezus is electronic, noisy, minimal(?), aggressive. This album has a really cohesive sound and that's one thing I enjoy about it. And while as a whole all these songs sound like one album, each individual song each does unique things. Let's begin.
The first track, "On Sight", introduces this idea with a noisy electronic intro that transitions into the main "melody", which kind is basically electronic beeps and boops - but in a really good way. There are no recognizable instruments, except for the sound of heavily distorted snares. A minute into this track all the noise stops and we hear a choir singing Kieth Carter's "Sermon", which ends as quick as it begins, and we're right back into the bleeps and the bloops. Lyrically, the song sets the example for the rest of the album. From the start this song really sets the tone, "Yeezy season approachin', fuck whatever ya'll been hearing, fuck what- fuck whatever ya''' been wearing''. The rest of the song is braggadocios, sexual, aggressive - and get used to it. There's a bit of a break down-y thing in the last 40 seconds where Kanye's voice is used as a sample and our favorite bleeps and bloops break down and hold up most of the rest of the song. I've slowly come to like "On Sight", it's minimal instrumentation relies a lot on you liking the distortion filled sound, and while I wasn't big on it during my first few times listening to Yeezus, I've come to like it and there's definitely some moods where this sound is what I need.
Next up, probably one of the more famous songs off the album, "Black Skinhead" or if you like, "BLKKK SKKKN HEAD". This was the first single off the album, and it's not hard to see why. This track is a really great blend of the noisy, distorted sound off of a lot of Yeezus, and a more traditional and human sound. And I mean human sound literally, "BS" uses samples of human breath as a big part of the melody, screams as a brassy sound, and a bass-line that sounds like a heavily distorted voice. There's also a good old fashioned regular drum beat. Almost every part of this song seems like it uses human elements as a musical instruments. And it works really well. The "instrumental" of this song is intoxicating and primal. You could say this track could make one "hype". Lyrically, this song deals a lot with race and Kanye's reputation. "They see a black man with a white woman at the top floor they gone come to kill King Kong" obviously talking about outrage over interracial relationships; "If I don't get ran out by Catholics, here come some conservative Baptists" a reference to how angry Christian America gets over his music. And there's some classic Kanye braggadocio in here "I'm aware I'm a wolf soon as the moon hit, I'm aware I'm a king, back out the tomb bitch" and he promises it won't stop "I've been a menace for the longest, but I ain't finished, I'm devoted" This is a really great song, and the first song of his that I really listened to on purpose.
The next track is maybe even more famous, at least in terms of it's usage as talking points of outraged "conservative Baptists". That's right baby, it's "I Am A God". This song... is good. And not just because of the line "In a French-ass restaurant, hurry up with my damn croissants", but it certainly helps. This track has stinging and creeping synths, a high stabbing melody, a deep bass line and an awesome intro sample by Jamaican artist Capleton. I really love the instrumenation on this song, it's mysterious and almost creepy. Lyrically this is one of my favorites. It has the classic croissant line, which is even kinda set up by an earlier line. And of course there's "I just talked to Jesus he said, "What up, Yeezus?" I said, "Shit I'm chillin' tryna stack these millions". The line "Soon as they like you make 'em unlike you" reverberates in my head every time I see a negative Kanye headline. Towards the end of the song, there's the sound of Kanye screaming and running which is just so bizarre and was really off putting at first, but for some reason I think it really fits in with the synths of this song.
"New Slaves" is one of the top songs musically, and deepest lyrically. The electronic guitar opening along with the "Chill" sample lead perfectly into the electronic marimba-y sound of this track. There are also choir-esque sounds and haunting reverb on certain instruments that give this song a lot of atmosphere. Several times Kanye just raps over nothing or just one instrument to drive some points home. Just over half way through the song the main music of the song comes to a full stop and there's a crescendo of an electric choir that slowly transitions out of the song. In this song Kanye tackles a lot of topics. The very first verse deals with segregation, slavery, and racism in consumerism. Notable lines here are "Doin' clothes you would have thought I had help, but they wasn't satisfied unless I picked the cotton myself" which is a reference to his ventures into the fashion industry and "You see it's broke nigga racism - that's that "Don't touch anything in the store"and it's rich nigga racism - that's that "Come in, please buy more". The second verse is huuuuge. The first chunk focuses on anti-consumerism, with lines like "Fuck you and your corporation, y'all niggas can't control me" which isn't subtle but if subtly is what you want, don't listen to Ye. He throws a couple lines in about his frustration with the paparazzi, "I'll move my family out the country so you can't see where I stay". He also throws in a line about the use of the DEA to jail minorities and private prisons. Oh yeah and about having sex with the wives of the ultra wealthy. It's a doozy of a verse, but it flows really well and is in top contender for favorite track of the album.
Hey guess what, we're not even halfway done yet.
"Hold My Liquor" has the honor of being the halfway point. The intro is held up by a soft keyboard and the vocal talents of Justin Vernon. This keyboard is the main melody and comes front and center to back Chief Keef's verse/chorus. The melody pretty much stays unaffected through the verse, it gets a side of stabbing synth, and an entree of slowly fading in boopy thing. Kanye holds down the verse almost single-handedly, helped by the rising volume of the instruments. After Ye's verse, the song shifts. You can still kinda hear the keyboard melody, but it's overtaken the slap of a distorted snare, autotune mumble singing, and Justin Vernon. An electric guitar slides us into Chief Keef's repeated verse/chorus thing, eventually sliding all around behind him. The song transitions again to Justin and Ye's autotune singing over a building combination of low bass and synths. That sliding guitar once again moves us into the next part of the song, which is a combination of that low bass, our melody, and an electric guitar just having the time of it's life. Almost half the song is just this, and it is really beautiful and imparts a sense of loneliness or isolation, at least to me. Lyrically, you have to give a lot of attention to Justin Vernon and Chief Keef, cause about half the lyrics are from them. Justin brings a really good isolated feeling to his vocals, and Chief Keef really sells the idea of a man resigned to continue down a path he knows is destructive - which is the entire concept of the song. Kanye's lyrics bring the feeling of both an angry drunk, "When I park my Range Rover, slightly scratch your Corolla - okay, I smashed your Corolla" and a lonely one "I'm hangin' on a hangover, five years we been over". He's destructive and he knows it. This whole song really sells these ideas, both through the music and the lyrics. It is really hard to pick a favorite song, but this one is the best at setting a mood or a tone.
Now we're half way there folks.
If "Hold My Liquor's" sin is gluttony, then "I'm In It" is all about lust. This track is head to toe sexuality, going as far as sampling female moans as a main part of the song. A big part of the intro besides the moans and Kanye's vocals, is the distorted bass and distant drums. These are supplemented by some great subtle background vocals and trap snares towards the end of this verse. An airhorn signals the transition into Jamaican dj Assassin's bridge and verse, which is backed by a whining siren, airhorns, pounding snares, reverb, and dogs barking. Assassin really brings a great edge to this song, and provides a cool contrast to Justin and Kanye. But the sound of Assassin's verse is the basis of the Justin/Ye's hooks that reappear in the song. The bass pounds with some choice snares, the drums really carry this song to another level. After J/Y's hook, Kanye gets a verse, with very little backing him. There's an intermittent bass, some airy synths and quiet snares as the verse goes on, but Kanye pretty much holds it down on his own. The hook follows, with Assassin, Justin and Kanye all combing into a giant ball of sex appeal(?). Once again, the song slows down with all of the attention given to Justin's lyrics. He gets a droning synth, a lot of reverb and eventually some sweet snares that carry us into Kanye's next verse. This verse is similar to his first, but instead of bass, he's backed up by a snappy bass drum and snares and that's it. The song ends right as his last verse does. This song's lyrics are all very focused on sex, in fact I might say that this song has the most focus of any on this song. There are some lines that I love that are so over the top, I don't know if I can quote them knowing my mother might read them. I might have to call out Kanye for ending every line on his last verse with "Uh". It does flow really well and maybe it's sexy to somebody? But I really want to give some credit to Assassin and Justin Vernon. Assassin brings a lot of energy to the track, and Justin's voice is the sexiest thing to hit the airwaves since "Gangnam Style". The features on this track are some of the greatest on the album.
Next up is "Blood on the leaves", which I already wrote about! So go check out that link, and come on back here.
"Guilt Trip" follows, and it's one of the tracks that I've listened to the least (for no particular reason) so lets give this a shot. Instrumentally this song is very reminiscent of Kanye's fourth album 808s and Heartbreak. Specifically this song is kinda similar to "Heartless", it has that airy electronic organ sound. This song is also the most "static" of the tracks, the basic musical composition doesn't shift all that much. We open with a droning synth and some (incoming musical ignorance) crescendo-ing scales(????). There's also that airy electronic organ/marimba thing and some nice piano. And this is pretty much what the song is for it's entirety. There's an intermittent sampling of Jamaican dj Popcaan (it's at this point I realize how many Jamaican artists are on this album). Kid Cudi's verse halfway through deviates a bit, it's similar - just more toned down. During this verse everything but the synth bass and scales(?) fades out for a bit before the song returns to the regular formula. The song shifts at the end to just synth drums, strings and it sounds very nice. This track is light on lyrics, with an intro and one verse from Kanye, with Popcaan's Jamaican hook and Cudi's repeated interlude. No lyrics really stand out, but I really love Cudi's performance. The song has a lonely tone that is also similar to 808s and Heartbreak. I guess I never really listened to this song because it's kind of lackluster. It's good, fine, but there isn't much that holds my interest like the other tracks. Glad we got to figure that out together.
Almost at the finish line.
Oh baby, we got "Send It Up" on deck. This song is about as "formulaic" as "Guilt Trip" but has a lot more energy behind it. We open with a siren-like synth and a killer sample from Beenie Man (guess where he's from). A minimal bass drum and synth join in for the entirety of King Louie's verse. For the hook, the song drops the siren, supplementing it with a whoop and a rising, distorted synth. We return to formula with Kanye's first verse, with a slight variation where the siren gets higher for a bit, it's nice. We get a break down after King Louie's second verse, with just the bass drum and synthy boops (I don't know man). After a bit we get an awesome sample from Beenie Man's song "Memories" which I recommend checking out, it's wild. This sample closes out the song. Lyrically we are treated to a standard sounding verse from King Louie, it's fine. He sets a good energy to counter Kanye. Again Kanye only has one verse, but I really like this one. His flow is smooth as hell and there are some killer lines. Highlights are "It's so packed I might ride around on my bodyguard's back like Prince in the club, She say "Can you get my friends in the club?" I say "Can you get my Benz in the club?" If not, treat your friends like my Benz, park they ass outside 'til the evenin' end". And of course I really love the Beenie Man sample. Weakest part of this track is easily King Louie's repeated hook "We can send this bitch up, it can go down". He repeats that line just a couple times too many. It's not full on awful, but it's not great. This song more than any other follows the screenwriting idea of "enter late, leave early". It comes in quick, with not much of an intro and just leaves me wanting more.
Alright kids. Last track. And papa Yeezy left us a biggie.
"Bound 2" is probably most famous for it's music video featuring Kanye and Kim Kardashian, and I want you to do two things with that video: recognize it is absolutely amazing, and forget about it for the entirety of this paragraph. In that order. "But Matt if you wanted us to forget about it then why is it the first thing you brought u-" SHUT UP I DON'T KNOW MY WRITING IS VERY STREAM OF CONSCIOUS. Were are thrust ear first into the throes of this song with a chopped up sample of The Pondersa Twins Plus One song "Bound", and the "Uh huh, honey" from Brenda Lee's "Sweet Nothings". This song is very reliant on the sampling, using the vocals, drums, and guitar heavily. The verses use the samples with hardly anything else it sounds like - besides Kanye's vocals. But then we get that sweet bridge by Charlie Wilson, which is thick with a synth bass and some nice Oooos to back up the lyrics. But that's pretty much all there is in terms of music. Charlie Wilson's second bridge is pretty much the first one, just longer with some more background vocals that lead us into Kanye's final words. Lyrically this is all about meeting a nice lady and eventually falling in love with her, and also having sex! This song has some really great lines on it, "They ordered champagne but still look thirsty, rock Forever 21 but just turned thirty" "Uh, this that prom shit, this that what-we-do-don't-tell-your-mom shit, this that red-cup-all-on-the-lawn shit". "One good girl is worth a thousand bitches" is seriously a classic. I always laugh at the frankness of "I wanna fuck you hard on the sink". I don't know. This song is pretty silly, Charlie Wilson's singing is so over the top. I get it. I get why people wouldn't like this song. But it's just so fun.
We did it. That's my giant write up on Yeezus. I hope that you enjoyed it. Or at the very least that if you didn't like it, you just skimmed so that I didn't waste so much of your time. This was really fun for me. Doing this analysis really reaffirmed my love for this album. Like I said earlier "Black Skinhead" was the first Kanye song I sought out. Yeezus as a whole was the first album of his I listened to fully, and it's what made me decide to listen to his entire discography. This album is also pretty mood dependent, sometimes I really don't want to listen to it. So yeah.
