Between the listening party preview and my eventual LA Weekly review of the Kanye record, I think I’ve said my peace.
As predicted, it seems to be a love-it or hate-it proposition. So now that you’ve heard it, which one is it?
Download:
MP3: Kanye West-”Love Lockdown”
MP3: Kanye West-”Heartless”
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16 comments
lampnasty says:
November 26, 2008 at 1:02 am (UTC -7)
fuck this. give me more royce.
Trey Stone says:
November 26, 2008 at 1:20 am (UTC -7)
i like it a lot, but i can’t help but feel like he ran out of good ideas in the last couple songs. “Street Lights” almost sounds like it could be the album closer anyway with maybe a minor tweak. don’t like “Bad News” or “See You in My Nightmares,” save Wayne’s so-bad-it’s-funny (i’m assuming unintentionally) verse on the latter.
right now i’d say i probably prefer his last two overall.
Trey Stone says:
November 26, 2008 at 1:24 am (UTC -7)
oh and i’m curious about what exactly Young Jeezy’s contributions were to the two songs where he’s credited as a co-writer even though he’s not a guest (“Say You Will” and “RoboCop.”) unless i’ve been missing some hidden adlibs
Sly says:
November 26, 2008 at 4:23 am (UTC -7)
i agree with trey it’s a good album.. but has a couple of filler shit… like that song with lil wayne is just rubbish and it should have been cut from the tracklist. but overall i like the way he rounded it all together with that heart break concept it works somehow. stop hating. start loving.
..oh and mr hudson got next!
blackmailismylife says:
November 26, 2008 at 4:51 am (UTC -7)
This may be my favorite Kanye album. I love where he’s taking his narcissism and how it’s playing out in public. I need to get on the record about this somewhere, but don’t know if I’ll have time to say my piece before bolting out the door for the holiday.
Zilla Rocca says:
November 26, 2008 at 9:11 am (UTC -7)
I love it because it’s compact, it ties in ideas and techniques from his last three albums without being formulaic or safe, and Kanye now has free reign as a pop singer to write some of the clumsiest lyrics of the decade without bragging of his rhyme skills.
Did anyone else notice how low in the mix his vocals are buried on “Welcome to Heartbreak”? Maybe it’s symbolic–I doubt it would slip past knowing the perfectionist he is. “City Lights” is going to be in movie trailers and on ABC TV shows for the next 10 years.
anne. says:
November 26, 2008 at 9:42 am (UTC -7)
i’m seriously into it. he’s balls deep in the art scene, so why wouldn’t we expect a more conceptual record? and what better time to release it? this new shamelessness looks good on him.
Passion of the Weiss says:
November 26, 2008 at 1:27 pm (UTC -7)
Glad to hear I’m not the only one. The reception among my friends and the critics seems to have been decidedly mixed, so I’m really curious what everyone else thinks.
Tray says:
November 26, 2008 at 3:15 pm (UTC -7)
I’m not even the slightest bit interested in hearing the record, but I’m surprised by your praise of a pretty mediocre Jeezy verse on ‘Amazing.’ Yeah, he sucked on The Recession and we seem to be the only people aware of that, but he’s certainly earned the plaudits he receives on My President Is Black. That really might be the song of the year.
Curtis says:
November 26, 2008 at 3:47 pm (UTC -7)
Honestly does anyone here listen to Kanye West for any other reason then to hear where he is taking the music? Personally I am impressed with a pop star of Ye’s magnitude that recreates his sound each album. I don’t want to hear Kanye West rap in 2008, I’m not sure if I want to hear a Kanye West soul beat in 2008, but a pop album? Why the fuck not? Heartless and Love Lockdown are the two best pop singles of the year.
Passion of the Weiss says:
November 26, 2008 at 3:52 pm (UTC -7)
Don’t. You won’t like it. I like “My President is Black” ok and it certainly trumps Nas’ black president efforts, but I feel Kanye understands how to use Jeezy better than Jeezy understands how to use Jeezy (see also “Can’t Tell Me Nothing”).
The pacing of Amazing is immaculate, the long pause between verses, the beats earthquake tremble, Jeezy’s voice used as blunt, bludgeoning object. It’s not the lyrics, it’s the tone. It’s probably the first time I’ve ever understood why anyone would like Jeezy.
Granted, I find listening to more than 16 bars of him tedious, but still. And yes, Recession remains totally boring, save for “Circulate” and arguably “My President.”
Ray Jackson says:
November 27, 2008 at 11:39 am (UTC -7)
“Indeed, a noirish nimbus of poetic justice encircles Kanye West’s fourth album: Gone are the encomiums to consumerism.”
LOL…who you tryin to impress brother?
The 1% of the population that actually knows what “nimbus” and “encomium” mean?
Just a little pretentious for a hip hop review don’t cha think homebody? This is Kanye West we’re talking about…it’s not that deep.
PEACE.
Passion of the Weiss says:
November 27, 2008 at 12:04 pm (UTC -7)
I don’t hold hip-hop reviews to different standards than non hip-hop reviews. Wouldn’t that be uh…racist?
There’s always Dictionary.com
Sly says:
November 28, 2008 at 6:19 am (UTC -7)
lol
Ray Jackson says:
November 30, 2008 at 2:21 pm (UTC -7)
^^There’s not a doubt in my mind that Sly knew what “encomium” means.
I myself had to look it up.
…such highfalutin verbosity is kind of intimidating.
bromwich says:
December 4, 2008 at 12:24 am (UTC -7)
@ Trey
Apparently (according to some interview I heard with Kanye) Jeezy was around during a lot of the recording of this album, and got to weigh in on some of the songs. Kanye said in this same interview that he thinks Jeezy’s a brilliant musician, and implied that he’s so brilliant because he can evoke such strong emotion with such terrible lyrics.
After about twelve listens I like the Wayne song a lot more than I used to. How come in every review I read Kanye gets a ton of credit for using auto-tune to sound cold and emotionless but Wayne doesn’t get any credit (and in fact gets only derision) for sounding like he’s being tortured as he records his verse. I think it’s pretty damn good.