A few weeks ago, Kanye West released his sixth studio album, Yeezus, and as you probably expected, it's amazing. As with most of his efforts, it's unlike anything he's done before; a brutal, uncompromising set of some his most audacious tunes. From the rage of "New Slaves," to the damn-straight-I-went-there "I Am A God," it's one of the best albums of the year, and continues one of music's greatest winning streaks.
When discussing Kanye, one thing that inevitably comes up is what it means to call him a hip-hop artist. It's the genre he predominantly works in, but to some, the title seems limited and does not give full credit to the diverse array of styles appearing in his work, particularly on 2010's My Beautiful Dark twisted Fantasy, which was one of the most ambitious albums in any genre to appear in some time.
So, in that sense, we can see how it would be logical to say that Kanye's music goes beyond hip-hop. There iss basically no genre that he hasn't interpolated into his music at one point or another. At the same time, I can't help but wonder if the assertion does a disservice to the genre of hip-hop itself. Are we saying that it's a limited genre, and that Kanye's one of few artists to go beyond it? That might not be an accurate assertion.
Let's be honest, saying that an artist transcends rap or hip-hop is usually what people who don't like rap say in order to explain why they like one particular artist. I'm pretty sure 5 million white people said it about Outkast between 2000 and 2003. It's not so much that Kanye doesn't utilize other genres, it's that plenty of other hip-hop artists do the same thing, and to put one guy above them - even if he is the most talented - does a disservice to their work.
First off, it's not like there is any kind of "generic hip-hop" (except for maybe Kevin Federline). Every artist has different ideas about what they want to do within the genre. If you like the work of Kanye, Jay-Z, Drake, and Lil Wayne, you find some commonalities, but probably more differences. Hip-hop is merely the template the artist uses to make their work.
It's not that Kanye doesn't work beyond the medium of hip-hop, it's just that plenty of other artist do the same thing, and to only make that claim about him seems like a cop-out, a way to avoid understanding the genre. Kanye may be the most talented, diverse hip-hop artist around, but it isn't like his contemporaries are just pooping out bland, generic rap. the genre of hip-hop is as exciting as its ever been, and if you think Kanye is the only one trying new things, you're missing out on a lot of fun.
Sentences that are not true in this article:
“A few weeks ago, Kanye West released his sixth studio album, Yeezus, and as you probably expected, it's amazing”
“Kanye may be the most talented, diverse hip-hop artist around”
“There iss basically no genre that he hasn't interpolated into his music at one point or another”
“the genre of hip-hop is as exciting as its ever been”
Truth rating of this post: 4 Pinnochios
The Atlantic ran a "hater's guide" to Yeezus a couple of days ago: http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/07/the-6-things-i-needed-to-appreciate-em-yeezus-em/277556/
It's obvious Kanye is up for something with Yeezus. From the cover to no singe release prior to the album, he's trying to break barriers but I think he went overboard. I would still check out his new stuff and hope his vision work out.
Yeah, he's the first person to ever not release a single prior to his album dropping - such a trailblazer.