[Mike, ever the contrarian, had to get his two cents in about Yeezus after our review yesterday. Mac asked him why he wanted to do it and all he did was scream "BECAUSE NO ONE REVIEW SHOULD HAVE ALL THAT POWER"]

Regardless of your opinion of Kanye West's public persona, the rapper constantly backs it up with compelling music. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy sounds like a greatest hits collection upon re-listen and his previous output demonstrates that he is in almost full control of his vision, steering the discussion of himself and his work. What gets lost in the discussion of his ego though is the equal component of self-loathing and of shame and contempt that comes through on albums like My Beautiful Dark Twisted Family. Yes, West often boasts of how great he is, his prowess with women, etc., but it is always equally countered by statements like "Bitch, I'm a Monster" (to be fair, Rick Ross says it first but the sentiment is echoed throughout). It is hard to hear the anger behind his boasts and the tone of disgust that pervades his delivery without sensing an equally powerful superego behind all that id.

So, we have the ultimately abrubtly released Yeezus, an album very different from previous releases. Yeezus signals that despite being decidedly successful and on the brink of fatherhood, West is far from settled, far from content. And while this is not a party record, leaning towards the thorny and difficult, it is a sometimes unsettling journey through the often contradictory positions engendered by fame.

As I said, it is hard not to hear West's ego-drenched lyrics without hearing his anger-drenched delivery. Certainly you would expect someone eagerly awaiting his flaky pastry to be a little happier (that was a joke, voila!). If anything, this album is a culmination of West's emotional landscape from the beginning, the conflicted nature of his lyrics finally boiling over into anger and wounded ego that was evident as early Late Registration. On tracks like "Black Skinhead" and "New Slaves," West himself wrestles with this fundamental question of why shouldn't he be happy. Yet, in those same songs, West proves himself equally aware of the vicissitudes of American racism and his potential to be framed as a menace as long as he keeps bringing up points about private prisons and miscegenation no matter how successful he becomes. This album deals in contradiction and discordance.

What further makes Yeezus so compelling is its production, itself reflective of the lyrical content. West could not and should not repeat the style of his initial albums, sample laden and fun and still write these lyrics. And, to West's credit again, he is well aware of the current pop and electronic landscape, working with producers like Hudson Mohawke and sounding obviously influenced by groups like Death Grips. These songs may not contain a fun hook but, in a certain sense, we have ultimately exhausted any interesting potential that could be drawn from those kinds of songs. It is to West's credit that he seems equally capable of working in this new mode as he was on College Dropout and Late Registration. These beats (and they are definitely beats) are gritty and echo the lyrics quite well.

Yeezus is not perfect, if anything West appears too unfocused throughout and the material he is wrestling with never quite comes together coherently. "Blood on the Leaves" is especially indicative of this, the haunting sample from a song about lynching  not entirely matched by lyrics about a failing relationship. Yet, you have to admire West for his failings as for his successes because at each point they point to a deeply unsettled artist trying to honestly assess his situation.

Grade: A-