Yeezus

Incroyable album que celui-ci, un chef d'oeuvre d'une rare densité qui va probablement faire date ! Kanye West signe ici une oeuvre brute, radicale, sans concessions en proposant des choses que personne n'a faites auparavant. On ne peut que saluer cette prise de risque assez énorme (d'autant que la pochette est délibérément absente, ce qui fait penser au fameux Black album de Prince, oeuvre tout aussi folle et radicale, à la pochette noire, anonyme). Il l'a dit et il le fait, Kanye West - disons-le clairement, peut-être le meilleur artiste de sa génération - profite de sa notoriété et de ses succès précédents pour faire avancer son art et l'art en général, quitte à déstabiliser son public. D'ailleurs c'est tant mieux si certains s'offusquent d'un album "sans hits", si ça fait râler les amateurs de sons "FM" standardisés et aseptisés, ça fait même plaisir ! Kanye West choisit le camp de l'expérimentation, de la radicalisation musicale (en même c'est peut-être juste une parenthèse, un coup de gueule passager, mais le pavé a bien été jeté dans la mare). Pour être justement apprécié, il faut quand même plusieurs écoutes pour percevoir l'architecture sonore incroyable de tous ces titres. Les meilleurs moments de l'album sont l'agressif "Black skinhead", le massif "I am a God", "New slaves", l'hilarant "I'm in it" ou encore le splendide "Blood on the leaves", qui utilise un sample du "Strange fruit" de Billie Holiday chanté par Nina Simone. L'ensemble est très sombre, difficile d'accès, offensif, avec des sonorités qui peuvent irriter les oreilles trop chastes. Kanye West assassine le rap, il signe une oeuvre punk, inclassable. Comme il l'a dit dans un élan d'orgueil maximal (il joue toujours son personnage à fond...) "Rap is the new rock'n'roll (...) and I'm the N°1 rock star on the planet", true.

Look all over this amazon.com page, what do you see? In the "Customers who bought this album also bought..." you will see a slew of artist and genres from Techno/Industrial Daft Punk to laid back rapper Mac Miller. Then look at the reviews, you will see the "Kanye haters" , the "Kanye fan", and the "unbiased listeners". All of this should tell you that: a) Kanye is a growing, and ever progressing artist, and b) he still generates enough interest to get the haters to his page. Regardless, if you are not a fan of Kanye, then why let him provoke enough energy from you to write a review? Like a great lawyer defending a good client, Kanye defends his craft, and his genius throwing us off again (just when we accepted 808's and Heartbreaks). From the opening, dub-step-ish "On Sight", Kanye rips a gaping hole in traditional rap with low end frequency 808, 90-120 bpm background music and flows with his schizo-grandeur lyrics. It is hard to deny a man of talents of this sorts when he started rap on this road (check back to his collaboration with Daft Punk on "Stronger" from his 2007 Graduation album), and with many artist attempting to continue what he started...they are just sounding sickly. To be honest, for such polar ended genres like Industry and Hip-Hop to be meshed seamlessly, you need an artist who IS AN ARTIST...not just a rapper or producer. Credibility goes to this song, and I find it difficult to understand why this was not released as a single. Then comes "Black Skinhead", a song that is abrasive and truculent. With lyrics like "...if I knew what I knew in the past/ I would've been blacked out on yo' a**" going over a Gary Glitter-like sports beat, this song is meant to be intentionally off putting to the listener. The beat is very catchy, too! No two songs sound even remotely similar, and he chooses to rap about very different subjects on each song to keep the vibe fresh. I love the fact that Kanye is as confrentational and brutally honest as he is. Songs like "New Slaves" and "Blood on the Leaves" leaves Mr. West without a truth filter. As many rappers claim to be real, but yet rap about girls and money...Kanye is on target with his sarcasm of the Government, himself, and other people. He just tells it like it is, and like the old saying goes: "The truth hurts!". Cynicism about glamor and glitz that he chases in "New Slaves" gives you a glimpse into his inner conflict. Every human suffers conflicted emotions and competing interest...but from this album and its content, I get the feeling that Kanye may be a borderline schizo who constantly argues with himself. This is the reason he can put out such an experimental album such as this and continue to collaberate with/produce for other artist without influencing them with this flavor. This album is really, and genuinely unlike ALL of the songs you hear on the radio, and to be honest I personally dont think this album is "radio friendly (formulated and contrived)" which is why I fell for it the second listen. If you like experimental, off-the-radar music then you wont be let down by a perfectionist who made an experimental album. I do have the faint feeling that this will be Kanye's equivalent to The Beach Boy's "Pet Sounds; hated now, classic later. UPDATE: This album definitely does grow on you, as do the subtle messages he gives you! After several(hundred) listens...I cannot help but to get the underpinning of Kanye's rebellion against Jay-Z. I am putting all of the pieces together...the coment he said about "Suit & Tie" while in concert, the "Big Brother" song from Graduation, and not the Performance of "New Slaves on SNL. A lot of the subtleties are saying "My soul is NOT for sale, regardless of what I dress in". He even uses Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" as a sample for blood on the leaves...this dude is deep. We all know that Billie was not talking about apples hanging from the tree in her time, which makes me ponder why he used a strong sample as this, and at this particular time on this album. Rebellion against dumbed down mainstream and Jay-Z are not easy tasks to perform, but I understand Ye given his history with Jay, and his history of how media dragged him down at every turn they could . "Hold My liquor" is one of those songs where you catch lines here and there, and he meant it that way with the background music going near silent, or dropping when he has something to say. A line like "...since those skinny jeans, they aint never liked you", and "Everybody know that you brought real rap back"...those shots are directed at someone! "Guilt Trip", "Send it up", and "Bound 2" are excellent tracks that build great momentum in sequence, with "Bound 2" teasing the listener of what a Ye album would sound like without his new direction. He reverted back to the likes of "Late" on Late Registration with the sampling and old school flow. Stand out tracks are: On Sight (originality at its best) Im in it I am a God Hold my liquor Blood on the leaves I can also understand how the critics praise this album in black and white, on paper...but anyone with a voice in radio (which is all one mega channel pushing Jay-Z down our throats) would spew hatred on Ye...knowing that Jay is going to drop an album that will starkly resemble Ye's production and sometimes even his out-of-genre guest (remember the Chris Martin dilemma?). In that case, these DJ's should check out J.Cole's album where he blatantly states that he "Let Nas Down" by following Jay's direction, and later in the Born Sinner album, Cole goes off on some "Soul not for sale" tangent also. Anyone seeing a pattern here? Why are these dudes who are so associated with Def Jam/ Roc-A-Fella fighting for their souls...and rebelling at this point? I dont buy into conspiracies, but I do think they saw something they wish they could "un-see" and are now putting these tiny morsels of information out there until the complete picture is painted. Spilling music from the heart like these two (Ye and Cole) are doing are bound to make classics, even if they use two different vehicles to deliver them.

1 van mijn minst favoriete ye albums maar nog altijd een fantastisch album. Met de hulp van Ye & Mike Dean en hun experimentele productie zorgt er voor dat dit album direct herkenbaar is.

Comprate questo album solo se siete pronti a farvi mettere in discussione. Non è un disco facile, non è un disco per tutti. Io all'inizio sono rimasto spiazzato, ma poi... wow. È come niente di cui abbia mai sentito prima. La genialità di Yeezus sta nella sua brutalità sonora: synth industriali, batterie aggressive, testi crudi e diretti. È un disco che urla, che provoca, che non chiede scusa. Brani come "Black Skinhead" o "Bound 2" sono estremi opposti ma mostrano entrambi la visione unica di Kanye. Lo consiglio a chi cerca qualcosa di diverso, di sperimentale, che esce totalmente dagli schemi. Non è un album, è un statement. Dopo averlo ascoltato, la musica non suonerà più la stessa.

El álbum es bueno, la calidad del disco está súper chida, corté con unas tijeras la etiqueta naranja para no romperla y quedó súper bien