Yeezus – Kanye West ★★★★

Year	Album	Artist	Stars	Score	Genre
2013	Yeezus	Kanye West	★★★★	81	Hip-Hop	Alternative Hip-Hop	Electronic R&B

Kanye West was on quite a run heading into 2013: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in 2010, Watch The Throne in 2011 and Cruel Summer in 2012 showcased his skills as a producer, a lyricist, a curator of different talents and a hit maker.  

So when Yeezus came out and was anything but radio friendly, it was a head scratcher. Not because Kanye wasn’t one to switch his style up — he had done that plenty before —  but because it’s rare to see any artist intentionally steer away from the sounds that had clearly been working and successful so recently prior to the switch. 

Yeezus was void of warmth, filled with brash noises that echo back and forth across a sparse soundscape, with subwoofer hits so intense you can hear the vibrations, and samples so choppy it felt like you were standing under a propeller. Club beats were replaced by abrasive, whirling mechanical sounds. Big-name guest features were replaced by brief contributions by more indie names. And his frequently clever lyrics were abandoned for crude imagery, darker tropics and overindulgent metaphors. 

It all created a captivating mix of minimalistic layers and over-the-top noises, which was in contrast to the luxurious, grandiose production of Kanye’s past. Nothing felt like an obvious hit like “Power” or “All of the Lights” or “Paris” or “Mercy.” Nothing was as lushly produced as “Runaway” or “Devil in a New Dress.” 

From its opening moments, the album is constantly challenging the listener. Fuzzy synthesizers become confrontational staccato computer bleeps and bloops. Songs abruptly start and stop with character-changing samples thrown in with little warning. There’s plenty of silence between the notes and phrases.

The cool, electronic based production — unlike anything heard outside of U.K. Grime or maybe the very best of Shabazz Palaces — keeps you intrigued. The guests and samples draw you in. The over-the-top vulgarities force you to keep your distance at all times, or at least forces you to realize you’ll put up with a level of Kanye West’s insanity if it means enjoying Justin Vernon say “Star fucker” over and over again on top of pounding drums.  

West doesn’t get all the credit for creating the new sound. A lot of the darker production was influenced by Travis Scott, still an up-and-comer at the time and a co-producer on a few tracks. The glitchy, more dramatic moments show off Arca’s handiwork. The mechanical, electronic loops are courtesy of Daft Punk. No I.D. helps on “Bound 2,” the soulful and more conventional closer.  And West’s longtime co-producers Mike Dean and Noah Goldstein return to lend guidance here, as well as Rick Ruben. 

Hey, if you don’t like Yeezus because of either the dumb album name or the disappointing lyrics, or the untraditionally production, I get it. Yeezus was also the beginning of Kanye’s slow decline into…well…whatever it is he’s doing now. Still, it has a lot of catchy songs, highly compelling production, memorable moments and Kanye’s signature brand of humor, even if it is more crass than the albums that came before it.