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February 10, 2016 11:07 PM   Subscribe

Kanye West is set to release his 7th studio album today.

After giving it three different names, he finally settled on one. Apparently named after the greatest artist of the 20th century, the album may cement Kanye's status as the greatest of the 21st. The album will debut during a live performance/fashion show that will be broadcast in theaters around the world. The performance will also be the debut of Kanye's 3rd collection for his fashion line. The whole shebang can be streamed via TIDAL.

The album's rollout has been rife with controversy, an ever-present notepad, critically acclaimed songs, twitter beefs, and a promo single turned meme. This recent flutter of activity follows a relatively quiet (for Kanye) 2015 which saw the release of two Paul McCartney collaborations, his big break in the fashion world, an incendiary performance at the BRIT awards, and the announcement of a fake (?) presidential campaign.

Despite Kanye's influence, he is more often portrayed as arrogant and boorish. Of course, these criticisms have racial overtones.

But, maybe you're just here for the music. Below is a list of Kanye's projects with recommended tracks and miscellaneous links.

The College Dropout

"In hindsight, The College Dropout began the work of eroding boundaries. Kanye was one of (several, to be fair) artistic forces that prefigured and sped along the process of dissolving the barriers in the way we thought we had to listen to pop music in the 21st century."

"Jesus Walks" "Through the Wire" "Slow Jamz" "We Don't Care" (with bonus beat breakdown)

Late Registration

"The College Dropout changed rap — and really the course of music history, full stop — more than any other album this century."

"Gold Digger" "Diamonds From Sierra Leone" "Touch the Sky"

Graduation

"He’s literally transitioning into stardom before our very eyes and attempting to embody that moment in time. Kanye’s victory over 50 is the bookmark for when rap changed, it was no longer ran by the gangsters, the doors opened for Drake, Kid Cudi and J. Cole. Graduation is a monument, a hip-hop treasure, a Kanye classic."

"Stronger" "Flashing Lights" "Can't Tell Me Nothing" "Good Life"

808s and Heartbreak

"The innovation has shuddered open new spaces, and now artists of all stripes live there. Kanye West has spent the duration of his career attempting to establish his brand as an exacting tastemaker, thought leader, and trendsetter, but it’s possible he made his most impactful statement the moment he fully let his guard down."

"Love Lockdown" "Robocop" "Coldest Winter"

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

"The record comes off like a culmination and an instant greatest hits, the ultimate realization of his strongest talents and divisive public persona. And since the nerd-superstar rap archetype he popularized has now become commonplace, he leaves it in the dust, taking his style and drama to previously uncharted locales, far away from typical civilization."

"Runaway" "Monster" "Power" "All of the Lights" (Bonus full-length "Runaway" video)

Yeezus

"It all feels intended, which gives further lie to the notion that its maker is either dumb or nuts. Perhaps he just understands better than most of his peers that musical stars are meant to be extraordinary, provocative, divisive, controversial figures. Noisy, gripping, maddening, potent, audibly the product of, as he put it "giving no fucks at all", Yeezus is the sound of a man just doing his job properly."

"New Slaves" "Black Skinhead" "Bound 2" "Blood on the Leaves"

Bonus: a reddit thread with numerous videos of Kanye in the studio.

Double Bonus: Dave Chappelle's Kanye story

Last one I promise: Kanye singing a song he wrote for his mom to his mom.
posted by R.F.Simpson (49 comments total) 35 users marked this as a favorite
 
Apparently named after the greatest artist of the 20th century
...which led me to think he titled it BILL COSBY INNOCENT !!!!!!!!!! (yes, I went there)

And there is no reason to believe his 2020 presidential campaign announcement is fake... if we end up with 4 years of Trump, I'd consider him the perfect challenger...
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:05 AM on February 11, 2016 [6 favorites]


Wow. What a post! Kanye is a genius, and I hope this album is terrific. I'm curious to see what impact Kendrick Lamar's recent stuff has had on him.
posted by persona au gratin at 1:12 AM on February 11, 2016 [1 favorite]


I love Kanye and I'm looking forward to hearing this. Nice summary of his career.
posted by foobaz at 1:19 AM on February 11, 2016 [1 favorite]


The defending Cosby thing has really made it harder for me to defend Ye, I gotta say. Still have a soft spot for the dude, still think the venom he provokes from the whytz is bullshit, but man, yikes.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 1:59 AM on February 11, 2016 [14 favorites]


Great post, thank you!
posted by Fig at 2:24 AM on February 11, 2016 [1 favorite]


KANYE INNOCENT!!!!
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:42 AM on February 11, 2016 [5 favorites]


Just because a huge number of his critics are racists doesn't mean hea not worthy of criticism on a number of things. I've always liked his music, but I think he's hampered by his ego at this point rather than benefitted by it like in the mid 2000s. But we'll see--excited to be proven wrong!

(Beyoncé is the best rapper of 2016)
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:45 AM on February 11, 2016 [2 favorites]


No, Mozzy is the best rapper of 2016.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 2:46 AM on February 11, 2016 [1 favorite]


This is exciting news for me! My first new Kanye album. I discovered Kanye late - the only album of his that I know is Yeezus. What an amazing record! I love Lou Reed's review of it (which I discovered via MetaFilter). I'm vaguely aware that he provokes controversy, but I don't pay it any mind - I just listen to Yeezus, and enjoy the songs. A perfect album, five stars, in my opinion (and Lou's!).
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 2:55 AM on February 11, 2016 [5 favorites]


I'm a fan and I will undoubtedly listen to the album but he does seem to be losing the plot a little lately - or taking "no such thing as bad publicity" up a notch. I mean his old "scandals" ranged from "whatever" (Grammies) to "really the opposite of a scandal" (George Bush) to me but Cosby and the Wiz thing kinda just make me feel second-hand embarrassment.
posted by atoxyl at 2:56 AM on February 11, 2016 [1 favorite]


On a more positive Yeezy note I loved that Noel Gallagher said he likes him because he's the only legit rock star we have left.
posted by atoxyl at 3:02 AM on February 11, 2016 [1 favorite]


The last of the rock stars
When hip hop drove the big cars
In the time when new media
Was the big idea
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 3:06 AM on February 11, 2016 [3 favorites]


The album will have to be very good indeed to be as entertaining as Amber Rose's recent Twitter vengeance.
posted by colie at 3:08 AM on February 11, 2016 [3 favorites]


And to be clear as far as I know the full extent of his Cosby commentary to date is one all caps very punctuated tweet so, you know, not in good taste but fuck knows what he's on about really.
posted by atoxyl at 3:10 AM on February 11, 2016 [2 favorites]


Holy shit, my fave is problematic. This Cosby thing is just fucking weird and kind of upsetting.
posted by josher71 at 3:51 AM on February 11, 2016 [3 favorites]


If feels like Kanye is just desperate to build hype for an album -which he really doesn't have to be - but he's starting weird fights on twitter and trolling everyone with that Cosby bullshit so he can keep his name in the news.

I bet he is seething at how fucking masterful Beyoncé's weekend was.
posted by graventy at 4:45 AM on February 11, 2016 [6 favorites]


Well I only know Power and that via Saints Row 3, but I just watched Diamonds From Sierra Leone which caught my eye for its subject matter. Turned out to be about himself which wasn't quite what I was expecting. He does know how to pick a song worth sampling, I'll say that. Will definitely check out some of the other links before declaring him the Jeanette Winterson of Rap.
posted by comealongpole at 5:01 AM on February 11, 2016


The Cosby thing threw me for a loop this week... I love Kanye but between that, the way he goes in on Amber Rose at the drop of a hat (including attacking her kid? Kanye what the hell?!), it's getting harder and harder for me to pretend he doesn't have some misogyny showing.

Sigh.

Regardless, I'm sure I'll jam out to this at some point today, because I can't quit him yet.
posted by palomar at 5:08 AM on February 11, 2016 [2 favorites]


"Portrayed" as boorish? By himself, honestly. I'll listen because he's still all over our culture but...I dunno anymore.
posted by agregoli at 5:36 AM on February 11, 2016


The defending Cosby thing has really made it harder for me to defend Ye, I gotta say.

Saying stupid shit is the perogative of the rock star. Still, that's some exceptionally stupid shit.
posted by Artw at 6:09 AM on February 11, 2016 [2 favorites]


I bet he is seething at how fucking masterful Beyoncé's weekend was.

Probably not? I mean, she is his friend and married to his mentor/idol (and kind of an idol of his in her own right). He felt so strongly that she was being personally slighted that he interrupted multiple award ceremonies on her behalf, so I think he's likely to be pretty happy to see her do wonderful things and be rightly recognized as doing so.

I mean, Kanye has a million problems, many of them comorbid with misogyny, but "is angry that Beyoncé did something great and is celebrated for it" is not one of them, or would at least be a new and unexpected turn from him.
posted by Copronymus at 6:34 AM on February 11, 2016 [15 favorites]


Not "seething," maybe, but professional jealousy is a pretty common thing among all artists, and would make plenty of sense in that case.
posted by koeselitz at 6:39 AM on February 11, 2016


Whatever you may think of Kanye, this post is definitely a mic drop.
posted by blucevalo at 6:52 AM on February 11, 2016 [8 favorites]


Great post. Can you imagine if your creative output in a field was as consistently high quality as that set of albums, with no duds or really anything short of excellence?

I'm sad about that Cosby tweet and not sure how to reflect that as a consumer voting with my money and attention. Not sure I will be able to keep myself from listening. I wish I had the backbone...but I can't resist beautiful music.
posted by sallybrown at 7:32 AM on February 11, 2016 [1 favorite]


Killer post, thank you!

Don't forget Aziz Ansari on Kanye.
posted by papayaninja at 7:49 AM on February 11, 2016 [1 favorite]


Well I guess I'm in the minority. I pretty much think of him as a pretentious asshole who lives on an entirely different planet than earth (seriously, that fashion line? what the?) and once in a while has a song that might be somewhat kind of listenable.
posted by lock sock and barrel at 12:27 PM on February 11, 2016 [5 favorites]


I'll have to give this a listen, but I'm nervous. I was once a huge fan. Late Registration and 808 and Heartbreak really were staggering works of genius to me.

And then Yeezus was so homogeneous, so non-self-aware, so grandiose, and so devoid of any love of words that it actually retroactively turned those previous albums into the number one thing I can't stand in music - an asshole making music unironically about how big of an asshole he is. I really hope whatever this turns out to be can swing me back around.
posted by cmoj at 12:48 PM on February 11, 2016


We're only part way through the first livestream of the album, but I think this album will work better than that one for people who didn't like Yeezus. There's some super weird/interesting production going on, but it's not abrasive the way that one was.
posted by sparkletone at 2:11 PM on February 11, 2016 [1 favorite]


an asshole making music unironically about how big of an asshole he is

Listening to the live stream right now and you probably will not like this album since it's that to the max.

Some of the tracks sound great, though. The guy is like the Radiohead of rap, every album he's really pushing it to do something different sonically. "Real Friends" is an A+.
posted by windbox at 2:13 PM on February 11, 2016 [1 favorite]


First listen and I really enjoyed it. Excited to listen through it again.
posted by SarahElizaP at 2:15 PM on February 11, 2016


Haven't listened to the stream but some of the stuff released went back toward an earlier Kanye. "No More Parties in L.A." definitely returns to a "love of words"/rappity-rapping trying to compete with Kendrick. It's still to some degree about him being an asshole though - though also partly about him trying to show a softer side?
posted by atoxyl at 2:21 PM on February 11, 2016


Wonder how many Trump voters would vote for Kanye. It's not none.
posted by argonauta at 4:48 PM on February 11, 2016


There's some super weird/interesting production going on, but it's not abrasive the way that [Yeesus] was.

Thanks to Madlib, in part. Seriously, if you haven't heard his stuff before, there's so much goodness you can dive into. (And I love that he's from Oxnard, CA!)
posted by filthy light thief at 7:37 PM on February 11, 2016


I don't know much about Kanye so I haven't formed much of an opinion on him but he must be pretty special if he can call all 55 of Bill Cosby's rape victims liars in a tweet to his 18 million followers and have Metafilter joke about it, defend it, or hand-wave it away. It looks like the OP made a great post here so I have no beef with it, but this thread is curiously missing the kind of pushback I'd expect a rape apologist -- even a musically brilliant one -- to get here on MetaFilter. (I mean, people criticize goofy animal videos because they "humyiliate" the pets all the time, and it's not like MeFites are shy about expressing their opinion.)

I didn't come in here to criticize any particular comment but I am surprised there aren't more people in this thread going WTF??
posted by Room 641-A at 9:47 PM on February 11, 2016 [6 favorites]


Sample lyric: "I feel like me and Taylor [Swift] might still have sex. I made that bitch famous."

That's nice, isn't it?
posted by colie at 12:34 AM on February 12, 2016


Ruh-roh!
posted by Joseph Gurl at 4:27 AM on February 12, 2016 [1 favorite]


Sample lyric: "I feel like me and Taylor [Swift] might still have sex. I made that bitch famous."

Is that one of the new lyrics? I know he did that shitty thing at the Grammys but I thought they had moved on. Am I missing some context or young person slang? Because this also sounds like a weird thing to say if you're married.
posted by Room 641-A at 6:26 AM on February 12, 2016


Yeah that Taylor Swift line is hugely disappointing.
posted by postcommunism at 6:57 AM on February 12, 2016


This is a dumb question, but is it possible to buy this album? I usually buy stuff off Amazon, but I don't see it there and I don't see it on iTunes and I know that my desire to purchase his music and listen to it in my office might seem pedestrian to Kanye but it's weird that I can't do that.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 7:14 AM on February 12, 2016 [1 favorite]


This is a dumb question, but is it possible to buy this album? I usually buy stuff off Amazon, but I don't see it there and I don't see it on iTunes and I know that my desire to purchase his music and listen to it in my office might seem pedestrian to Kanye but it's weird that I can't do that.

I think someone might have mentioned this already, but in a turn of events that would seem suspension-of-disbelief-breaklingly improbable in a comedy sketch, Martin Shkreli offered Kanye's label $10 million for it, which for some reason means they have to formally consider it or something? None of it really makes any sense other than Shkreli laughing and trying to burn his money before the government takes it.

Assuming they don't take less money than the album is worth from an asshole who virtually everyone in the world hates and is only able to make the offer because he's out on bail, it sounds like it should actually be available in a few days. Or possibly only available on TIDAL because why the fuck not at this point.
posted by Copronymus at 9:16 AM on February 12, 2016


Martin Shkreli is an awesome, amazing phenomenon. Man, rap hasn't had this kind of exceedingly good villain since - well, since I don't know when. It always had to make its own villains, which made it hard for any of them to really be thoroughly evil. Lord Shkreli is not encumbered by any need to come out a positive figure, though. He's the villain we need, even if he's not the villain we deserve.
posted by koeselitz at 5:47 PM on February 12, 2016 [4 favorites]






Ehhh .... there are some supa dope beats, but his lyrics still don't grab me. I don't get the hype - he's doing more advanced stuff than the other mainstream rappers, but there are some really creative and weird producers who are topping this (or at least catch my ear more than this).
posted by filthy light thief at 11:34 AM on February 15, 2016


filthy light thief, who else are you feeling these days? There are a bunch of bangers on Pablo, it's my first day with it but I think I love it.
posted by pwally at 12:32 PM on February 15, 2016




(Plus bonus Martin Shkreli)
posted by Artw at 5:00 PM on February 15, 2016






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