{"id":20475,"date":"2018-06-22T10:00:32","date_gmt":"2018-06-22T15:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/?p=20475"},"modified":"2018-06-21T11:03:17","modified_gmt":"2018-06-21T16:03:17","slug":"henrys-time-capsule-yeezus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/tartan-news\/2018\/06\/22\/henrys-time-capsule-yeezus\/","title":{"rendered":"Henry’s Time Capsule: Yeezus"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0Hey everyone, welcome to Henry\u2019s Time Capsule, a new series on the Clarion where I\u2019ll be taking a look at a piece of media that\u2019s celebrating an anniversary. We\u2019ll talk about how it was received then and what legacy it has now. For all intents and purposes I\u2019ll be keeping it to a five-year minimum.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0So today we\u2019re going to talk about Kanye West\u2019s sixth studio album \u201cYeezus,\u201d released on June 18, 2013. Five years ago West released his most unconventional album and one I consider his second best, only to \u201cMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0The album came after West\u2019s first foray into the fashion and designing world, where he was excluded and wasn\u2019t pleased with how he was treated. This, coupled with the sour public reaction to him even following the release of his magnum opus \u201cMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,\u201d led West to record some of the rawest and angriest music in his career.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Compared to the wealth of samples, sounds and guest appearances on the previous album, \u201cYeezus\u201d is much more minimalistic, as it goes for a length of 40 minutes and features only seven guest appearances. \u201cMBDTF\u201d ran for nearly 70 minutes and had over a dozen high profile guests, including Elton John. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Yeezus_Tour_11_21_13\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0It went from 16 tracks to 10 at the suggestion of legendary producer Rick Rubin. West also collaborated with Rubin 15 days before the album\u2019s release and tweaked it constantly, barely finishing it before release.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0This would start a trend of West\u2019s perfectionist attitude leading to several delays or lost music in his albums, the most obvious example being \u201cThe Life of Pablo.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0The sound of the album was different from everything else West had done in his career, with more industrial sounding beats, darker themes in the lyrics and a lack of any promotion. It came out with minimal hype and the first single was released after the album was released.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0The actual CD reflects this attitude, as it was just a clear jewel case with no artwork. There was a piece of red tape on the packaging and a sticker containing the sample credits and the albums UPC.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0West talked about the intentional lack of promotion: “With this album, we ain’t drop no single to radio. We ain’t got no NBA campaign, nothing like that. S***, we ain’t even got no cover. We just made some real music.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0It did lead to the Yeezus tour, which fans and critics heavily praised for its cinematic nature, elaborate sets and costumes. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Yeezus_tour\"
It kills me that I wasn’t able to see this tour or the Saint Pablo tour. They look like such fantastic spectacles and the music would be the icing on the cake.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0West would later describe the album as “a protest to music.” The distorted drum beats, electronic synths and creating glitches similar to the sound of a CD skipping helped make the sound unique from anything that came out that year. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0When the album came out, it was well-received by critics, getting an 84 out of 100 score on Metacritic. Many of his other peers in the music industry praised the album.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Velvet Underground founding member Lou Reed said of the album (and West) in 2013: “He’s really trying to raise the bar. No one’s near doing what he’s doing, it’s not even on the same planet.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0However, the general public reaction was very mixed. People weren\u2019t fond of the lyrics, which ranged from very misogynistic to being too self-absorbed to just plain goofy. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0This, along with the brand new aggressive production and lack of promotion was seen as off-putting by some, and many in the industry considered it career suicide.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0However, in the following years, \u201cYeezus\u201d gained popularity and praise from listeners online. The dark aggressive lyrics were seen to represent West\u2019s growing anger and angst towards both the music and fashion industry. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"10989767784_dff1cb41e1_b\"\u00a0 \u00a0His non-traditional approach also paved the way for many of the rap artists of today to follow suit, such as Travis Scott, The Weeknd, Lil Uzi Vert and others. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0It could be argued that an album like Kendrick Lamar\u2019s \u201cTo Pimp a Butterfly,\u201d which took heavy inspiration from jazz and sounded very experimental, wouldn\u2019t have been as popular in the public eye if \u201cYeezus\u201d didn\u2019t exist.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0The album has moved from the lower area of the album rankings to near the top, with me personally ranking it second.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0But my personal experience with \u201cYeezus\u201d is probably different than the majority of Kanye fans: it was the first album of his I ever heard. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0One of my friends, who was a huge West fan, played \u201cYeezus\u201d for me while we were on a trip, and hearing \u201cOn Sight\u201d for the first time blew my 16-year-old mind. In that time I only listened to classic rock music and didn\u2019t have a wide spectrum of genres I like. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0This album opened up the floodgates of my mind to rap music, and I went down the rabbit hole, listening to the rest of West\u2019s discography and finding others my friends liked, such as Kendrick Lamar and older artists such as Tupac. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Kanye_West_Yeezus_Tour_Staples_Center_1\"\u00a0 \u00a0For that reason, it holds a special place in my heart, and it has only grown after subsequent listens. Things I didn\u2019t catch on my first listen showed up, and things I didn\u2019t understand when I was 16 are now much more clear now in my 20s. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0It seems that, along with me, the general public started to see more value in the album. It was a time that West can never replicate, and none of his work after \u201cYeezus\u201d ever caught that rage, and the desire to no longer be commercial. The acid house and industrial feel is gone. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Perhaps that makes the album even more special to me, as it captured West in a moment in time where he truly was different than other rap that year. 2013 saw big rap releases, like Jay Z\u2019s \u201cMagna Carta Holy Grail\u201d and Drake\u2019s \u201cNothing Was the Same.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0In the end, \u201cYeezus\u201d was Kanye\u2019s rebellion against the music industry, which made him a pariah following the Taylor Swift incident. Its unique sound and jarring style compared to the rest of West\u2019s music was off-putting at the time, and it sticks out now more than it had five years ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

Henry Wolski<\/strong>
\nExecutive Editor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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