It is almost as safe to assume that an artist of any dignity is against his country, i.e., against the environment in which God hath placed him, as it is to assume that his country is against the artist. -H.L. Mencken
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about hating hip-hop and rap. Or, more accurately, not knowing Weezy from Yeezy, Lil' Kim from Bow Wow, or my ass from my elbow when it comes to those genres.
I feel like it behooves me, as a writer for a music blog, to at least taste a pretty goddamned big slice of the musical pie. And it's in my best interest as a human being to get to know something as culturally significant. That said, I'm working my way through our readers' suggestions. I really do appreciate everyone who took the time to write back. Thanks, guys. I'm also combing through Brendan's Straight Dope every week - it's a fun read, even if I don't understand what the kids are listening to these days.
So it's with some trepidation I offer my two cents on Kanye's most recent release, Yeezus. I'm probably the least qualified to talk about that album - it's just that I can't stop thinking about it, especially after the hubbub over Joe Speranza's review.
I liked Yeezus. Maybe "liked" isn't the word. I listened to it. I was completely turned off by it. But I couldn't bring myself to turn away. Here's what I mean: I couldn't stand "Blood on the Leaves." The samples on that track struck me as completely obnoxious - "trees!...trees!...trees!" But I'll be damned if I'm not thinking about it days later. It's stuck in my head. And not in the same way "Call me Maybe" is engineered to lodge in the sugar-and-dopamine sink of my brain along with all the other bubblegum I've chewed and swallowed. I forced myself to sit through "Blood on the Leaves" - I held my nose and choked it down. And it stayed in my guts. Apparently that song was too much to ruminate all at once, because I keep regurgitating it to chew over like an idiot bovine parked in someone else's pasture.
So maybe not "liked." I keep coming back to Yeezus long after I've finished the album - and I love when that happens.
I disagree with Joe's review, but kudos (whatever the hell those are) to the writer just the same. Despite the broad praise heaped on Yeezus by just about everyone, he had the gall to say he didn't like it. And readers weren't afraid to tell him what they thought. Mike was so moved he wrote and posted his own review. Fantastic. Good art is supposed to get people thinking, and it looks like Kanye stirred up a good fistful on our sleepy shore of Lake Erie. However you feel about Joe's review, it sounds like the record made him think, and that's always a good thing.
Speaking of controversy, Cliff reassessed his stance on boring Buffalo, which generated some friction all its own. All I've got to say is, keep up the good work, Cliff. You've got people talking.
Whether it's Tolstoy or Kanye, Picasso or Vampire Weekend, it doesn't much matter where the conversation starts: once the germ is there, it tends to spread; once you start thinking about what you're putting in your ears, you might wonder why you just sat through another Here Comes Honey Boo Boo marathon when you could have been doing, well, anything else. And, who knows? You might get to thinking about other things, like why is downtown a giant parking lot? Why did it take this long for dudes to win the right to get married to each other? Is the U.S. seriously thinking about getting involved in another sectarian conflict, and how is Syria different from the clusterfuck that was Afghanistan?
Or not. Probably not. It's just a Kanye album. But at least it's got some people thinking. At least it's not Honey Boo Boo.
Kanye West sucks
thanks for understanding! haha
-joe s.
That sample that you hate so much is from the song "Strange Fruit" by Nina Simone. Go listen to it.
I've heard the song (Billie Holiday's version, though). The way Kanye used it was grating and off-putting, which was exactly what he meant to do.
I didn't hate it. In fact, I'm struggling to find a term other than the vague "liked," that denotes something along the lines of "I enjoyed the song on an intellectual level while finding the form aesthetically challenging." It wasn't just ugly for ugly's sake, or a sample for the sake of sampling. Part of my point was that Kanye has achieved an artistic tension with that song and choice of sample that was obvious even to someone such as myself who knows nothing about hip-hop.
Which is to say: dude made art, even if Anon thinks the artist sucks.
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