Yeezus

Wherez the uuuh, hip hop? All I hear is edgy industrial wanking

Prefer earlier stuff and even Life of Pablo

This was probably the last Ye album I took much interest in, and for me it's nowhere as enjoyable as some of his previous efforts. That said, I give points for some of the legitimate innovation here.

After reading through the wiki, I kept thinking that it would be cool to get a cut of this album before they stripped it down to a minimalist style and made it more “abrasive”. Not that I don’t appreciate it stylistically (although I think some songs go a little far - New Slaves, Send it up), it would just be cool to hear chiller versions of these with some bonus instruments. Black Skinhead and Bound 2 are bangers.

I am left wondering what many of these songs would be like with something other than Kanye West with minimal vocal effects on them. The production on this album is sooooo cool - everyone was going EDM at this point, but no one was going for a gritty, dark, sometimes minimal electronic sound. Yeezus has a dream list of production support. The lyrical content and man in focus, on the other hand, is a different story. It feels like Kanye begins to lean too far into the anti-hero narrative with this project. I've always thought that after his mom passed, you could hear a marked tone shift in his music. "I Am A God" is the first good example of how lofty the production is, and how starkly different the dry, sometimes goofy vocals are. I dont need all the lines to be serious, but it feels like there are points where Kanye is just exercising verbal free-will more than actually saying anything. "New Slaves" has a total dancefloor synth hit, it was just decontextualized to something a bit more 'deconstructed' for lack of a better genre term. I LOVE the sample at the end - what a find! A Hungarian rockestra song! That's insane work. Shoutout to the trap beat that is so clearly Hudson Mohawke from the horn sound. I cant namedrop anymore producers or this would become a small book. "Bound 2" is by far the best song on here, one of the only times the hard cut production style succeeds. Something about this song is just soooo fun. Maybe part of it is the "Runaway" effect, where it's the closest you get to Kanye talking about something in his personal life that has substance and matters to him. Mixed feelings, it's always complicated with Kanye. A lineup of hall of fame producers creating some compelling, cutting-edge art. And Kanye kinda just...being Kanye on top of it all. Another step down the tragic spiral that guy took. 3/5

I’m not an expert but this seems like just about the point where Kanye the ego(massive) & overall trash human overtook Kanye the musical talent (also massive). Still pretty good here but with the benefit of hindsight you can clearly see where he’s unfortunately headed.

it was all right, started and ended strong/

Kanye is always creative and inventive. This album is no exception. It is also the beginning of the end for his career. Highlight Track: “Bound 2” The beat is ridiculous

First 4 songs have some iconic sound samples, then the album fades drastically in the middle, and picks up with the last 3 songs. Solid but I don’t think it’s his best

Kanye has lost it. He will go on as one of the greatest music makers ever. But after losing his mother, being in the media sphere of a family that has made a living on being televised (Kardashians), and having no living artists who are in a position to humble him, Kanye has his ego and mental health unchecked. This album is produced extremely well, but his vulgarity and themes are becoming more simple and juvenile. Funny he uses Justin Vernon who also seems to have achieved the status to be the arrogant indie king. Separate the art from the artist. I do not give a shit about his controversial/political/bigoted beliefs. I would enjoy this album more if the first 5 albums weren't already perfect.

trip out rap

Bit of a mix but still very enjoyable. New slaves, hold my liquor, blood on the leaves, guilt trip and ofc bound 2 the best tracks. Some shit ones though like I'm in it and I am a God. 3 and a half stars.

That dark electro-industrial sound is pretty great. Too bad Ye is such an asshat.

Exciting album to check out for me as I did not understand the hype around Kanye's music when I first heard it about 2 decades ago. The initial songs had me thinking the album was Marilyn Manson inspired.

5/10 A really interesting artifact in the man’s career, a record that stands as one of the most important and influential, being a significant ingnition for the prominence of artists like Arca and Travis Scott, as well as possibly being a great influence on the grand mass of weirdo abrasive SoundCloud rappers in the late 2010s (and JPEGMAFIA, fuck you JPEGMAFIA, I love you). It’s also the beginning of Kanye’s contrarian era, the more blatant attempt to be provocative in the most literal sense, which in retrospect, is completely pathetic in comparison to the high school white kid antics he’s been on recently. The songwriting on this album is abysmal, and not in the “haha it’s supposed to be bad” way that it thinks it is, what we see now are bars that Kanye post-ironically thinks are hard, while laughing at you for taking them seriously, but pissing into your own mouth in retrospect only really works when you don’t take yourself seriously, which Kanye very much does, it’s the difference between Jackass and a Charlie Kaufman film. The production has its moments, I can’t help but get chills when I hear the buzzing synths of On Sight, but it also pales in comparison to some of the best Experimental and Industrial Hip Hop production from the 2010s and even Kanye’s later music. Also, ΛΛ Λ Y Λ by M.I.A. created Yeezus, not Death Grips, I will tinfoil hat this theory till the day I die.

My opinion about West in his life outside music aside, I never vibed with him. His rap style always seems so basic, and this album shows it yet again. Reliance on auto-tune, nonsensical lyrics, mid cadence and rhytemn and he is so full of himself. Annoying. The one saving grace is that the beats, as always, are exceptional.

Decent listen.

listening to nazis letsgoo (not) Separating the dude from the art here Hes a good rapper. Thats a good album. Lyrics are superficial but sounds sound good. Like good good. Can't give more than 3 though tbh he really is nazi

with an album this contentious, the REAL controversial take is giving it the 3/5 it deserves

nah on sight- 5. its interesting at least. black skin head- essentially what kanye is atp. also, my mom did know a black skin head at one point. 6 i am a god- 4. okay, "in a french ass restaurant, hurry up with my damn croissants" is a funny bar new slaves- 4. "id rather be a dick than a swallower." huh. hold my liquor- 4. WAIT THIS IS BITCH IM BACK OUT MY COMA??? okay im sorry.... 6. did i just like a kanye song.... okay only that part. the rest sucks. 5, final answer im in it- i dislike this. 2 blood on the leaves- insane thing to sample. its really weird to sample a song about lynchings and make it about a relationship? 1 guilt trip- 2 send it up- 4 bound 2- 4 i dont know what to do with this

Not really sure what to make of it - contextually it is seen as a culturally groundbreaking album. For me personally, I found it a bit disjointed and difficult to listen to. Maybe that's the point.

Kanye is crazy. Period. The music is fun to listen to though. Hip-Hop is usually not my thing, but this is interesting.

27/03/25 I hate how little I didn't like this album. It's not even the worst thing I have heard, I just hate Kanye.

Surprisingly enjoyable. Some proper sick beats throughout, and lyrically really good.

Nostalgic as all fuck especially Bound 2. I'd listen again.

Honestly really good, it feels nostalgic. I would relisten (politics aside)

A lot going on with this album to the extent that it's exhausting to listen to. The over- production is the point here, and it's a tour de force, a calculated assault on the senses. Still not as enjoyable as it might be for me, but interesting for sure, there's so much to hear in this album.

hmmmmmmm....I mean I'll give it a try. Okay this isn't half bad honestly. Totally unique sounds and mix of genres. ooooh I'm in it is pretty sexy. mmmmI was tempted to give it 4 stars but I'm saying 3.

What a wild ride of decent to shrapnel

There were some quite interesting beats on this and he delivered some of it in an engagingly angry way. I don't think he was ever as good as the hype but there was something about his music. You can really feel Kanye starting to become unhinged on this, which was an interesting precursor to the horrendous prick he was becoming but a bit uncomfortable to listen to. Musically it was the okay but no desire to repeat it.

Never heard this album before. He's clearly well in his phase of believing his own hype here (I am a god). Nowhere near as good as college dropout we had before. He is much more crass here too and falls back on the old misogynistic rap tropes too much. Really don't like the whole auto tune sound which is throughout the album either. There is something about it in parts though... Something I can't help but appreciate. He can definitely rap and has good flow, but often what he is rapping about is utter nonsense (I still think they're is something wrong with him mentally). Honourable mention to "speaking swaghili" and "put my fist in her like a civil rights sign". I think my favourites were new slaves and hold my liquor, but I'm not sure I actually like them that much.....I do quite like the patois that features every now and again. I think 2.5 but it's interesting enough for 3. Doubt I'll be back though

The guy isn’t half as good as he thinks he is. There are many that are much better. Beats are decent, that’s about it. 2.5

The other two Kanye albums on this list are MUCH better

Okay

nazi :(

✅✅ I Am A God ✅✅ Hold My Liquor Per Last Call, the man's bread and butter is mixing beats. Much different than College Dropout, but still puts me in a groove.

all the daft punks and gesaffelsteins and arcas and bon ivers and frank oceans in the world cannot hide the fact that this dude is NOT spittin.

Better than other his stuff

Not my favourite of Kanye's stuff tbh I liked a very small handful of songs, the rest were alright - nothing amazing. Much prefer his other stuff 3 ⭐️

Well… if my favorite part is the sampling, does that mean I like the song lol? Wish Kanye hadn’t gone off the deep end. I do think he’s talented. So idk what to give this. Musically it’s fine, bound2 is a banger.

Blood on the Leaves and Bound 2 best songs. Not nearly as good as other albums.

I’ve never been a Kanye guy but I enjoyed some of the songs here more than I expected. I like the insanity and aggression of it more when I realize that it’s sincere—he is actually insane.

Meh. Love early Kanye. This wasn’t my favorite. Just dragging the wealth-obsessed while declaring himself God. Good beats, especially Bound 2.

Surprised but enjoyed it, one play only.

I can’t rank him higher than 3 on shear principle of the matter. But also, i don’t love this one either.

Honestly, the only negative here, albeit a large one, is the constant innundation of 9th grade humor and sexualy charged lyrics. Trust me I'm no prude, and I understand that hiphop is full of offensive language and I'm normally here for it. But this shit is the most vapid mindless garbage ever. This was the worst era of rap as well, whether or not Ye was at the top of that mountain. It's ashame too because the production seems right on par with earlier work, or at lease show evolution and growth. Every track is laced with original ideas, and different ones at that. No filler. I can still say I enjoyed Apocalypse 91 by Public Enemy (my previous album) better.

Mostly better without Kanye…

Was a 5 star for me when I first listened to it, barely a 3 now. How far he's fallen from SLOW JAMZ

Overall- fine album. It really pales in comparison to early Kanye albums though- it really does seem like he was trying really hard at this point. It does have some bops though

this album, in my opinion, is where we can look at Kanye's career and point at where his sound really started to change. I guess we could use the word "evolve" here as well, but it's definitely a jumping off point from his previous work. While 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy' (and 808 & Heartbreak) had moved away from his early chipmunk sound bites, Yeezus is a FAR jump away from the Kanye we had known at this point. Experimentation is good. I don't think any person that actively listens to an artist's discography will argue that. I like this album more than I did in 2013. I actually enjoy it a lot more. I used to really only 'Black Skinhead' and 'Blood on the Leaves'. I see myself listening to 'Hold my Liquor', 'On Sight' and 'Bound 2' more now. The sound on this album is definitely more abrasive. Without listening to Dissect, my guess is that Kanye was feeling on top of the world after his comeback with MBDTF. He literally feels like a God and that all of work is untouchable. I think where this album is the most difficult to swallow is the lyrics. After coming off a masterpiece that is MBDTF, for me the lyrics just fall flat. Some songs are better than others. 'Blood on the Leaves' with hints early in the album and a reference to an original Billie Holiday song are fantastic. However, I'm not really going to get past how stupid "Hurry up with my damn croissant" sounds. I think this album is always going to remain a place fans can point to when asked "when did Kanye really start to change". 3 stars. will have this more in the rotation and plan to listen to the Dissect season for it, but I don't consider this one of Kanye's best works

I definitely thought I was going to rate this lower before I listened. The reality is that this is some of Kanye’s best production. Specifically Blood on the Leaves and Bound 2 are fantastic. Really it’s between a 3 and a 4. I am going to lean towards the 3 for this one because I do think college dropout has better songs overall.

I think I have better memories attached listening to this album for the very first time than I do the music itself. The day this released, same day as J. Cole’s Born Sinner by the way, I was on a road trip with Hayden to Wilmington. This is the same infamous trip where I would fall asleep during game seven of the NBA finals and Jackson would scream and run by the ocean at midnight to celebrate the Heat winning the title. I’ll never forget being a degenerate flying down the highway with the windows down, my long hair in a mess all over the place, smoke billowing out of the car, and the look on Hayden’s face while he was blitzed out of his mind absolutely astounded by the beat on New Slaves. What a weekend. We almost got ran over by a semi on that drive, saw Zac Brown Band, partied listening to Get Lucky and Blurred Lines all night on Franklin Street, and I met Tyler Hansbrough who wouldn’t take a picture with my drunk ass. All that being said, when people ask me if I like Kanye I tell them: “everything up to My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is incredible, Yeezus has a few good songs, and I don’t care about the rest.” This still holds true. That and you can’t top a Kanye beat.

A reminder of this man's talent.

There's some really creative stuff here. It's better than I expected, though I know that this is generally considered the last masterpiece before the mess that was The Life of Pablo. I liked a lot of the beats and his flow was really good throughout. I can't stand most of his lyrics, unfortunately. The explicit nature of some pull me right out of the musical enjoyment. I would listen to this album again though.

interesting production Kanye got flow but he is so mad and filthy

I do not support nazis. But I wonder why the same people that claim they won’t listen to Kanye because he is a nazi never seem to draw the same line when it comes to David Bowie (https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/david-bowie-fascist-1970s/). Kanye West is clearly dealing with mental illness and drug addiction. He is also clearly very talented and ambitious and funny and clever and charismatic. I think this album is worth hearing despite the fact that I do not agree with Kanye’s recent statements related to basically everything.

"According to his new album, "Yeezus", Kanye West is a god. As if I needed more reasons to be an atheist" I went into listening to this album with a lot of preconceptions. I wasn't a big fan of Kanye's previous albums, and his controversial political statements and behavior also put me off. Additionally, I'd heard from many fans that they didn't like this album when it first was released. However, when I actually listened to it, I was blown away by the first four tracks. The power and intensity of those songs, the way Kanye expresses himself, and the industrial beats were all incredibly impressive. I was really excited about where the album was heading. Unfortunately, the album's quality didn't stay consistent after the first few tracks. The lyrics became simplistic, and the autotune usage felt overused and weak. It was disappointing and really devolved into nothingness in the end. Overall, though, this was the first time I truly understood why Kanye is viewed as a complex figure, a genius wrapped in idiot.

We've reached the experimental era of Kanye's music. I thought this album was ok, too extreme for my taste and thought that it has high highs and low lows. Love "Bound 2" more than anything else though a few others were really solid and reminiscent of what his music was prior to this album. Unfortunately, had to take away a star because in between the good songs is... not good. 7/10

It was okay. College dropout and late registration clear this by a good bit. 3.5/5 rounded down.

Let's be real, this is where he fell off. Could good tracks but nothing from his golden era.

This was an album I was only aware of cos it was everywhere. I was a huge Kanye West fan ("The College Dropout" being one of the first rap albums I remember loving), but by this point I remember having fallen off of him. On reflection, I found this record "interesting", but "interesting" does not necessarily mean "good". I love the dark, industrial production on this thing, but it does mean that most of the guests Kanye gets (Beenie Man and Assassin, to point to two specifically) don't fit well on the album and sound... outmatched by the beats. I'd argue the second half of the record is entirely not great, aside from *maybe* "Bound 2". "Blood On the Leaves" is, in my opinion, two samples trying to blend together (Nina Simone's "Strange Fruit" and an EDM sample from a group called TNGHT) that just never makes any sense. Kanye's lyrical ability is also the weakest to an album thus far; he is *obsessed* (and I mean *obsessed*) with sex on this one, so much so that, mixed with the grimy beats, almost feels violent. Near the end of the disc, he also tries to end the line with the same rhyme ("club" is one, and... "reputation", had to look it up) while changing up the interior rhyme and... it just doesn't work. It feels lazy. As I said at the top, it's an "interesting" album that I'm tempted to bump up an extra star, but just can't really bring myself to do that with so many missteps. Favorite tracks: "New Slaves", "Hold My Liquor"

He's catchy though this isn't my favorite. 3s.

Kan-ye or Kan-nay? Honestly, had a laugh listening to this album, and black skinhead is a cool song. I was entertained by his stupidity.

album has some really great hits, some were already in my liked songs on Spotify. But the whole album from start to bottom is quite difficult to bear 😂

72% Best: Black Skinhead, I'm In It, Blood On The Leaves, Bound 2 Must-Hear? No

A bold and dark turn which foreshadows the power of Kanye and an inevitable downfall.

Kanye West is a toilet of a person, but I can't deny that this is one of the wildest and most intense albums ever released by an artist at his level of popularity. Respect to the game, not the player

I heaved a great big sigh when I opened the generator today and saw this familiar disc staring back at me. The artist formerly known as Kanye West got me to begin listening to hip-hop. He made albums that I loved, and, for a while at least, was at least an interesting and bombastic public figure. Now he's just some asshole who hates Jewish people and mistreats women, refuses to meaningfully address his bipolar disorder, and makes unfinished music. He's forever scarred by the death of his mother and the subsequent long, long downward spiral has been awful to watch. I kept thinking he couldn't get any lower and yet he continued sinking. The last time he made music I really loved was 2016. It's a fucking shame. I loved 'Yeezus' and I know a lot of people who loved 'Yeezus'. It's one of the few albums I remember hearing for the first time: where I was and what I was doing, how I talked about it with my friends. It felt explosive and confrontational and fresh. Now I'm face to face with it again in 2024 and don't know how to rate it or what to say. It's hard to separate art from the artist when they have always been intertwined, tightly, with West. The bad lyrics on this thing (there are plenty) stand out more and are harder to forgive. Back then it came off as corny and funny; now it's embarrassing. In 2013, this was a 5/5 for me. "Blood on the Leaves" was one of my favorite songs ever, once. The SNL performance of "Black Skinhead" gave me chills. I put "Hold My Liquor" on repeat in college when I was deep in my feelings and unwilling to deal with it. That was then, this is now. And I do have to admit that I like this a great deal less.

Yeezus finds Kanye West at his most abrasive, experimental, and confrontational. Instead of the polished sound of his earlier work, he tears everything down and rebuilds with industrial beats, jagged synths, and an almost complete refusal to compromise. The ambition is obvious, and there are moments of brilliance, but the chaos does not always come together into something cohesive or worth replaying often. “Black Skinhead” stands out as the closest thing to a traditional banger, pounding forward with explosive drums and snarling energy. It is the track that best captures the album’s intensity. “New Slaves” also delivers, pairing stripped-down production with biting social commentary that makes it one of the more powerful cuts here. In the end, Yeezus feels more like a statement than a record built for repeat listens. Bold, daring, and undeniably influential, but not consistently enjoyable from start to finish. Favorite Song: “Black Skinhead”

Compared to MBDTF, it sounds much less grand and cohesive. Very conflicting and tough to rate. I really like the dark industrial sound, and just about every track has at least one good moment, but the lyrics and themes are frequently gross. Even where I like this album, I feel guilty about it - like the whole thing feels too crude. I was much more willing to overlook these things years ago when I first heard it, and I’m now I’m finding it harder to justify. With MBDTF, I was willing to let nostalgia influence my judgement; here, my view is less clouded by sentiment (although it’s still an album I’ve listened to and enjoyed more than once). Being obligated to assign this a rating, I’m giving it a 3…but I don’t know. I’m not sure how I feel about this one.

I remember listening to this album when it first came out, and my opinion is still pretty much the same. I appreciate the innovative and experimental approach, especially with electronic music. However, this experimentation sometimes results in an overly produced sound, where the complexity and layering of elements can overshadow the core simplicity of the music. There needs to be a balance between experimental creativity and maintaining simplicity; otherwise, the excessive production becomes a distraction of its own. As for Kanye himself and the lyrics, there’s no denying that he’s a talented rapper. Even though I would love to hate on him, I have to admit he has had a handful of songs over the years that I enjoyed. One of my favorites is “American Boy” by Estelle. He’s so suave on that track. But on the flip side, most of his lyrics are so brash, hubristic, egotistical, and arrogant, and on this album, he displays all of those characteristics as if they were on steroids. This is why all of his behavior and the hate he’s received over the last 10 years, I take it all with a grain of salt. Wherever the excitement or drama happens to be, Kanye is going to throw himself right in the middle of it, like a monkey in a cage shaking the bars. He thrives on chaos and always dives headfirst into the middle of the drama, drawing all eyes to his wild and uncontrollable antics.

63/100

It's a bit hard to write an unbiased Kanye review in 2024, and of course the first album of his I get is the one that's probably his most abrasive and unconventional. At best, I'd describe myself as a casual fan of Kanye's music (really, less a fan and more someone who's just been exposed to the hits at college parties and whatnot). I know a bit from his earlier albums, and I guess he started off as kind of an underdog story type of deal, with music that's generally pretty approachable. This is not that. At this point though he's at peak fame, and it's clearly gotten to his head (though he's not quite at the Antonio Brown levels of crazy that he seems to be at now). I'm not very deep into the Kanye lore, so I'm not going to overanalyze this, there's been plenty written about him. This thing is very experimental and abrasive. I have real mixed feelings to be honest. I came into this thinking terrible things about Kanye and expecting to not like this at all (it's called 'Yeezus' after all, he's clearly so far up his own ass). But honestly, I kind of liked it, I get the appeal. It has this harsh industrial sound throughout, but he does it in a way that generally works, and intersperses samples and verses that hook you in. What I'm struggling with is that I think this has like three top-tier songs ("Blood on the Leaves", "Black Skinhead", and "Hold My Liquor"), two decent songs ("New Slaves" and "Bound 2") and 5 really mediocre-to-bad songs. How do I rate that? This is definitely not my favorite thing ever, and I think Rick Rubin saved his ass by cutting it down from 16 songs to 10. When it hits it hits though. Also, I know he has a great reputation as a lyricist, but I wasn't blown away on this one. Even on the better songs the lyrics are often so abrasive that it makes it a bit tough to get into. This is probably the most negative "positive" review that I've written, but it kind of makes sense for this album. He's this incredibly unlikeable guy doing some crazy experimental industrial/electronic/alt-rap thing. I should hate this. I'm only adding half the songs to my playlist. But idk, something about it kind of works. My original feeling was 4 stars but I just think that's too high for an album where I disliked half the songs. Dropping to a 3, though it's probably more of a 3.5 to me. Favorite song: Blood On The Leaves Other: Black Skinhead, New Slaves, Hold My Liquor, Bound 2 6/23/24

It used to be easy to hear this as a creative exploration of the wild persona formed by the combination of American racism and cult of celebrity, a look at the bipolar contradictory pressures placed on Black artists in particular. He's funny: Proclaiming 'I am a god' to demand being satisfied with the most banal desires like croissants. He's poignant: tender gospel harmonies run through autotune testify to personal and family suffering, substance abuse and more. But he's so stupid: it turns out this wasn't an incisive skewering of megalomania, but just the early stages of it - a man driven into chaos by the structural conditions of the idiotic attention economy he used to be smart enough to observe but now, like so many, just exists in reaction to. The sound of the album is great - rich but spare, the beats the drops the samples and the textures all work perfectly together to create a dark introspective mood for the vocals to lash out against with extremely non-reflexive lyrics that just excrete straight from the id. The pairing of a sample of strange fruit about lynching with verses about issues with his wife and beef with his rivals shows how he transmutes structural critique into rationale for interpersonal self serving ego serving self justification.

never been the biggest kanye fan but this is the best thing ive heard from him since its noisier. most of it still bores me though so it gets a 6/10

Ik ben een bewonderaar van Kanye. Wat je ook van hem vindt, je komt er niet onderuit dat hij een gestoorde genie is met oor voor geweldige samples, hype-muziek, sterke en grappige bars, maar ook een narcist met een enorme god complex. Dat hij zó een controversieel figuur geworden is vind ik eigenlijk alleen maar leuk om van een afstandje te bekijken. De artiest wordt er niet minder om, en het hoort ook gewoon bij Ye. There's leaders and there's followers, but I rather be a dick than a swallower. Zo vat je Kanye wel samen, gewoon een klootzak, maar doet wel zijn eigen ding, en is er vaak verdomd succesvol mee. Op dit album slaat Kanye een meer duistere industriele/experimentele weg in. Dat komt tot een absoluut hoogtepunt bij Blood On The Leaves met de sample van Nina Simone. Tering wat een geluid. Ik snap dat heel goed dat men dit hélemaal schijt kan vinden, en dat begrijp ik volkomen. Het moet je liggen, en als je Kanye al afgeschreven hebt als een antisemitische mysogynistische narcist, wat overigens volkomen terecht is, dat kan je dit ook lastig waarderen. Ik durf wel te zeggen: Kanye is iconisch. Maar qua compleet album is dit nog lang geen peak-Kanye (808's & heartbreaks, MBDTF, Graduation, College Dropout). Rating: 7,5/10 Highlights: New Slaves, Hold My Liquor, Blood On The Leaves, Bound 2

Dit is voor mij peak experimental Kanye, net voordat hij volledig van de rails afging. Inherent aan Experimental Hip Hop, zoals ook bij albums van Death Grips of clipping, is de dunne lijn tussen baanbrekend lekker en totale nonsens. Er staat hier echt wel troep op, waar én de gekozen samples (wat soms bijna hardstyle lijkt) én de cringy lyrics van Ye de haren overeind doet laten staan. Maar piekmomenten als 'Black Skinhead', 'I'm In It' en 'Send It Up' behoren echt tot zijn meest interessante werk. Boven aan de top staat 'New Slaves', wat één van de beste in z'n genre is. Zieke banger en thematisch sterk. 7,5/10 Highlights: Black Skinhead I'm In It Send It Up New Slaves

Kanye klinkt een beetje boos op Yeezus. Dat brengt wel wat goeds naar boven, maar klinkt ook wel wat gefrustreerd. Zijn collabs waren altijd wel goud, maar aan het niveau van My Dark Twisted Fantasy kan Yeezus bij lange na niet tippen. Wel goud is dat mijn Spotify mij na deze plaat vanalles van MF Doom voorschotelt. Genieten. 6,5/10

Experimenting with styles, some work, some are annoying (see: auto tuning). I’m curious how much his tongue is in cheek on I Am A God.

Not too shabby

everyone giving this album a 1 star is so fake oh my gooooooddd like yes he did terrible things but you can't just hear on sight and not go kind of crazy in a good way. like listen he's a shit human being, i hate him so much, but you have to admit his music was amazing. people rating it a one star saying he's "talentless" are just racist i think. like sooooooooooooo many artists on this list have been pedophiles, drug addicts, racists, etc, but you still listen!!! and you still give good ratings to them!!!!!! and it's because they are white!!!!!!!!!! you only care about it when it's being shoved down your throats. he's an asshole and a terrible person, but this is a MUSIC rating app, not a news station. can you people be normal for once. anyways it's definitely not his best album, but it has some great tracks. 3 stars.

Interesting stuff - a bit crazy and hectic. Not my favourite kind of hip-hop but it's definitely captivating. Pretty sure I won't listen again but I'm glad for today's listens. I felt a bunch like the egomaniacal character of this record is maybe... less of a character than people thought it was when this was released haha Still the 'studio' skill is impressive and it definitely /sounds/ good. I think it's easy to hear this and long for Kanye's earlier stuff sampling soul records and being a bit chill.

While this is nowhere near his best album in my opinion, its still interesting and was kind of ahead of its time Favourite tracks: Black Skinhead, New Slaves, Blood on the Leaves

Kanye is rich. Kanye is horny. Kanye is pissed off.

Arrogant bastard. Some songs are good, but worse than his previous stuff

Never thought I would take Kanye West shopping. Two songs in I worried if I was being too harsh on him, but turns out that's because they were the only good ones. A dog looked at me like it knew what I was listening to when I'm In It was on... the shame I felt

6.7/10

Has its moments for sure, but not as consistently good as the albums leading up to it.

This was my favorite Kanye album, then never listened to an album by him after this. Listening to it again, the lyrics are terrible, but the music is still amazing. What would have happened if he stayed as another timbaland? I don't know how to rate this because his influence is so large in the music culture. So many great musicians exist because of him. But man what a horrible piece of shit human. Since everyone gives a 1 or a five I'll split the difference

I do like this sound-wise for the most part. Content-wise, I think at the time it felt like, a fun kind of arrogance. and now it's just like... awww.

Unfortunately a horrible person

Don't love the human being, but there's no denying the music is excellent.

I liked some musical arrangements, but not a fan of lyrics and/or Kanye as a character

musically it's very good, the production is top quality, but it's difficult to enjoy this album now

I enjoyed this one.

As hard as it can be to take seriously a man who declares, apparently without irony, ‘I Am A God’, the dark, abrasive production and intense delivery do give this album the feeling of a powerful, important statement - sometimes. On a few tracks it all comes together and feels thrillingly vital, while the desire to push sonic boundaries is admirable. However, 90% of the album sounds kinda claustrophobic and joyless. Which is fine if every track is a hard-hitting classic, but they’re not - the lyrics often don’t match the gravity of the music.

Not my cup o Yeezy

I enjoyed listening to this album, even if it hasnt aged well if some parts (the over reliance on autotuning being my main gripe). Some really good bars in songs that don’t quite fit together for me. Personally, I enjoy the sample driven songs more, so bound 2 was one of my favourites. Overall a mixed bag so 3/5

A mixed bag for me. Some of it is brilliant, the album's highs are extremely... high. And it's quite an influential album. Still wouldn't say it's really for me. Also Káně is a certified éshoul, sadly. So there's that.

Extremely high highs, but only when it is high, otherwise it's just ok

The industrial sound of the album is interesting. Some of the samples are a bit cliche. The lyrics are occasionally poignant, but I think this is around the time he lost his mind. So some of the "genius" attributed to this album is closer to "madness".

Some good songs like bound 2 and black skinhead, but i cant dig with the overt graphic sexual references and himself calling himself king and god it just sounds corny and lame. Embarassed for some of the collaborators on these songs. 3 stars cause the production and samples/beats are so damn good.

Een typisch Kanye album. Moet eerlijk zeggen dat hij betere nummers en albums heeft gemaakt

Classic Kanye: paar echt wel goede (black skinhead, hold my liquor) maar ook wel weer een hoop troep (on sight). En puntje erbij dat ie samen heeft gewerkt met Bon Iver (hold my liquor, I'm in it, I am a god) en met daft punk (I am a god)

Nose musica de personas pues de per alli, un fantasma el pavo este 3/5

Didn’t hate it. But this is the outcome of a narcissist with a Casio keyboard.

Ok. It would be much better without the whole rapping by Kanye thing.

His Megalomania is obvious

53/100 Based on this scale: 1 star - 0 to 19 2 stars - 20 to 39 3 stars - 40 to 59 4 stars - 60 to 79 5 stars - 80 to 100 This is a case of having to separate the art from the artist. As a person, I can't stand Kanye West. As a genre, I'm not a fan of hip hop, but I can appreciate it in moderate doses. As shitty a person as Kanye West may be, this album is on the better side of the spectrum when it comes to hip hop. I don't pay attention to lyrics in music, so while the bits I picked up were idiotic, that is irrelevant to me. If I want lyrics, I'll read poetry. That's probably why I'm lukewarm on hip hop as a genre. Anyway, this isn't bad.

A few bops the rest meh

Ok

Would be a 4 if it weren't Kanye West, credit for most of it should go to the songwriters

Some ‘classic’ songs on this album that I used to listen to a lot - shame it’s all ruined by the artist. Low 3/5.

I dislike the man himself but like the music! Really cool beats with a spot on soundscape.

Some bops but also some boops

I love Kanye’s early albums and would list Late Registration among my favorite hip-hop albums. But since his decline into…whatever he is now, I’ve tried to avoid Kanye West. There’s not a single step he’s taken that I haven’t found disgusting. Marrying a Kardashian. His comical stint as an evangelical musician. Rise to MAGA superstardom. It’s fair to say that he is my least favorite celebrity. But I don’t know another public figure whose descent has been so widely documented through pervasive media presence, and maybe I shouldn’t hold that against him. But my view of him as an human no doubt affects my view of him as an artist. I thought Nicki Minaj was the best thing about My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and that is supposedly a great album? Is he a genius? Is this album great? Is it as great an album as Kanye West is an asshole? Does it matter? Anyway - for all of the people who have been classified as geniuses and whose lights have faded too soon, I don’t know why this guy keeps hanging around like a barnacle. It’s a pretty good album, but I don’t like that Kanye West made .003 cents while I listened to it.

Hip-hop. Ni fu ni fa.

Un poco rollete, pero Kanye West guay.

My favourite parts were the samples

3,5

Is it a hip-hop record or a Marvel movie? Whichever, it sounds like one giant kitchen-sink fantasy. There’s a lot going on here – musically, production-wise, and in the protagonists’ ego – so one assumes there’s a reason the kids are into it. One’s not schooled enough to delineate the ironic posturing from the straight-up bluster but not sure how such insight would change one’s assessments anyway. It's too performative and over the top and obviously meant to make an impression, which seems to undercut quite of all the virtuosity and interesting bits (e.g., last half of "Hold My Liquor"). The beats too often play for a bad-horror-movie in effect and the auto-tune is reaching and more annoying than effective. The co-opting of civil rights themes and memes ("Strange Fruit," "free at last" in regards to unbound breasts) may be the most offensive (or offense-adjacent) bit – both aesthetically and morally (Ye certaintly thinks he's earned the right but ... well ... ). “Hurry up with my damn croissants” is the line that saves this from being a 2. And of course Rick Rubin was involved ... of course he was ... and this is definitely a rock star sort of record, but not in a good way.

Best Song: Black Skinhead. The samples and the narrative are the best on the album. Worst Song: I Am A God. Kanye's ego taking over here, and his lack of editing on full display. "Hurry up with my damn croissants" is just never going to hit as hard as he thinks it's going to. Overall: Less cohesive than Kanye's better work, with the main through line (for me) being the overall heavy/noisy production on the album. Everything crunches and screeches and booms, sometimes successfully, but too often not. Lyrically, it's still just Kanye. I don't know. Not his best.

Amazing album. Shit human being.

Creative and interesting hip hop. I enjoyed three out of the first four songs. Thought “I am god” was terrible. Then after New Slaves this album really fell off. I don’t think an artists art should be judged by their character. Dali was also a narcissist and nazi sympathizer, but I enjoy his work. To me this was not Kanye’s best work, but I do appreciate him taking artistic risks

Now, setting aside the monstrous amount of cunt that Kanye West is, this album was pretty good. It’s no Donda or My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy but nonetheless it’s an exceptional album full of big beats, big hooks and excellent lyrics. A bit too much misogyny but all hip hop seems to be. Great for what it is, not anything more than a three though.

Fine, but nothing special IMO.

A visceral ego- and sex-driven sonic journey. There's nobody like this fucking crazy man on the planet. I enjoyed it, but wouldn't feel compelled to revisit it.

Felt kinda gross listening to some of this today. A few good tracks. Most of it is pretty mid.

Some really good tracks on here - Black Skinhead, Blood on the Leaves, Guilt Trip. I do appreciate the more industrial sound he goes for on these tracks. Some really stupid decisions on this album too, the screams on I Am a God. Some of the sound effects - very abrasive. You can tell this is when Kanye was starting to really stray from the solid production he was known for, and when his ego went really overboard (some of the lyrics are awful, "Eatin' Asian pussy, all I need was sweet n sour sauce" - CANCELLED). I do feel like I would get into some of the tracks more on subsequent listens, but also with some of the sound effects, random screams, and odd sample choices ("UH-HUH HONEY" on Bound 2) I really don't want to.

ok

Even more going on here than earlier albums. Maybe a bit too much.

I can’t tell if I love it or hate it. The beats are pretty great. The lyrics are hit or miss. I’m really torn on this one.

Un poco rollete, pero Kanye West guay. 3

Kanye's megalomania is on full display on this album, and it's thoroughly off-putting. It brings to mind some lyrics from Ice Cube's "No Vaseline": "Ayy, yo, Dre, stick to producing." Swap out "Ye" for "Dre" and that sums up my feelings on Kanye. Great producer, okay rapper whose albums provide steadily decreasing enjoyment. I'll round up from 2.5.

I like Kanye, but this is not his best.

Je comprends pourquoi Kanye est tellement adulé pour ses talents de prodcuteur, ce sont parmi les meilleurs beats et la meilleur production que j'ai entendu sur un album hip-hop. Pare contre, il n'est pas tellement un bon rapper et certaines des paroles étaient vraiment gênantes. Aussi, fuck son anti-sémitisme. 6/10

Batshit but… decent?

It is impossible to put aside Kanye's recent hate speech and identification as a Nazi and all the rest - it colors lines like "I am a god" in even poorer light. Putting that aside for a moment, sonically one of the stand out things on this album is the minimalism of it. I was impressed by the restraint of even keeping the drums out in many cases, yet it still felt like there was plenty there to keep the songs together. Interesting to hear that Rick Ribin was brought on for just that - for stopping back and being a "reducer" not a "producer" as Kanye said. Also interesting to hear that he was inspired by Le Corbusier, and that he worked with architects in formulating his ideas about the album.

I love the instrumentation here with the distorted minimalist structure. Lyrics and song content though... they suck. Just typical sexual bravado that feels like a complete waste of the sonic strength of the songs. If I didn't understand English I'd say this would be a 4, but alas...

Good not great imo, I think he has better albums and there are other albums I would rather listen to

Dark, moody, surprising? I didn't hate it. I can somewhat tell what he's saying although mostly sounds like the usual arrogant bullshit although was that a 'rapolic priest'?! 😂 Mind blown that it's the original of Sigma's 'Nobody to Love'

The production, as always with Kanye, is excellent. Everything else though really gets bogged down in self-indulgence.

It’s got all of the elements of a solid Kanye album. The rap is tight and the flow goes hard. The mixing is fantastic and the beats go. I just don’t enjoy the lyrics in this one. Feels like an experiment, half polished. He’s very creative, and he takes chances. The buck stops there. Bound 2 was a banger 4 sure.

Experimenteel album van Kanye West. Een breuk in zijn eerdere werk, met contributies van Daft Punk, Frank Ocean en meer. Verfijnd door de goede features en samples, maar is net als andere Ye albums in geloofwaardigheid gedaald. leukste nummer: Hold My Liquor Als reactie op de lyrics "In a French-ass restaurant/Hurry up with my damn croissants" schreef de Franse bakkersvereniging dat Ye geduldig moest zijn: een goede croissant kost tijd om te maken.

This album showcases some truly brilliant production; some rather mediocre rapping; and lyrics so stupid that I felt my IQ ticking down a few points every time I fully tuned in.

It's hard to separate his personality from the music when the lyrics are so cringeworthy and uncomfortable in places. It does still have some nice tracks on here though, blood on the leaves is my favourite.

One of Kanye’s best albums, production is fantastic, bars could be better

All the colours of the rainbow listening to this one. One minute I was uninterested, the next I hated it, the next it was decent, then next I was really loving the music, the next I remember what a c*nt he is (mental issues aside), the next I thought it was a great. So middle of the road then.

I have to a knowledge the artistry and production. Many songs made me feel uncomfortable, which makes an album stand out.

Not my fave Kanye album but decent still. Love a bit of bound 2

probably a 3.5 for me, not my favourite kanye but still good

Loved this so much when it came out. Listening back now is a bit rough. Still some bangers in there.

Had better expectations for this one... quite the bad album honestly

I can’t deny that the music is innovative and fun to listen to. I also can’t deny the shitty, misogynistic lyrics.

I can see the appeal. Kanye's lines are still solid, the tracks are interesting and experimental. But I've always been torn that this was the album that started pushing the envelope for the sake of pushing the envelope. A lot of the lines were controversial just to be controversial. Maybe that's the point, that he'd achieved a status when he could say anything and people would love it. It wasn't as bad as Donda, but can't say it was more than middling.

brilliance in the process of going crazy

I enjoyed this a lot. Kanye (or whatever) can put together some belting songs, but I'm not a fan of his lyrics or themes.

Lot of silence. Weird. Rest was alright.

Straddles the border between genius and insanity, veers between radical and self-indulgent.

OK I have listened to Kanye before but just putting it out there that I'm not doing this as a fan any longer Artist #108 on my last.fm but i've only heard some of this album before

This review will be similar to the last one (My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy). I found the backing tracks and samples to be really, really interesting, well chosen, and enjoyable. Absolutely well crafted. (Except maybe for chipmunking Nina Simone's voice?) Again, however, I found Ye's rapping voice and lyrics to be mostly annoying and grating. I think my favorite part of the album was the instrumental last minute and a half of "Hold My Liquor." I would like to listen to this album with just the backing tracks. "Blood on the Leaves" and "Guilt Trip" were more listenable because he did different things with his voice, and I liked the sound of them.

Inte favoritplattan, lite för brötigt för mig så jag orkar inte riktigt lyssna. Men det kommer kanske tidigare plattor längre fram i projektet.

Hardcore if such a thing were possible in rap. I can see why people rate this, and the final track Bound2 is an absolute banger, but there's too little of the sweet sampling that powered the college trilogy and too much of Kanye banging on about this and that. Short though.

I find it interesting that Kanye has 2 albums listed on this thing whereas other acts which I definitely would have picked before him have only one. Billy Joel has sold over 4-5 times as many records as Kanye West, and he has ONE album on the list. Whereas Kanye has 2. Still, there's a lot of good stuff in the album, but there's a couple of tracks that have some annoying samples in them ("Bound 2" was kinda grating after a while, and same for "Blood On The Leaves"). And Kanye's grunts in his rapping made me think of the SNL parodies that the actors have done of him. That's not good. It's like the original song making you think of the Weird Al parody. It's angry, it's hateful. But not in a good way. And the way Kanye is NOW, it just makes it even more difficult. So as much as I want to be positive about the music, and there are a lot of good things in it, it's not something I am going to bring myself back to.

This is a tough album to review. On the one hand, Kanye is a tool (to put it nicely) and that makes me want to not even review it. On the other hand, when he keeps his mouth shut and just sticks to making albums, he is really good at what he does. Yeezus though, isn’t as good as his previous release, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, but it does have some great stuff on it. The album has a more industrial feel to it than MBDTF and that comes out right at the opening notes. “Black Skinhead”, and “I am a God” (no Kanye..you’re not) are great tracks. I don’t know what the hell he was thinking in how he used the Nina Simone samples on “Blood on the Leaves”, but that track is almost unlistenable. It has interesting how a pitchfork magazine reader’s poll had this album listed as both the most underrated and overrated album of 2013. Overall, Yeezus made a strong first impression but that didn’t grow with a subsequent listen while MBDTF seems to have more to offer each time I put it on.

Ugh, here we go. Time to separate the art from the piece of shit artist. The presence of autotune makes it even harder. I HATE autotune. That said, after a few listens I started to get his appeal. The music/samples are fantastic. The lyrics, well, what an asshole. But his rapping style is impressive. Going to call it a 3 - autotune is an automatic -1 for me. Being an asshole is at least an additional -1. Standout tracks: On Sight, Black Skinhead, I am a God (except for the obnoxious screaming), New Slaves (until the autotune started - that's a common thread here: song starts cool and then there's some strange twist at the end), I'm In It, Send It Up.

3.5/5 He's pretty great. Everything he does is fresh.

Dark

Hmm, "Black Skinhead" really hits different in late 2022 doesn't it? I was listening to this album a lot in 2014/2015, but then it fell out of rotation for me. Instrumentally, there's a lot to love here. However the VERY strong Death Grips influences on the best of the songs (On Sight, Black Skinhead, New Slaves) make it seem a but unoriginal now. I wasn't really familiar with DG at the time, maybe if I was I wouldn't have been so into this album. Lyrically, I think some of Kanye's worst are on here. There's some downright stupid bars, a lot of unnecessary sexism/misogyny, and some really terrible auto tune. The Billie Holiday sample on Blood on the Leaves is a bit of a headscratcher too. I know he was probably trying to spark controversy, but I don't see what a song about Jim Crow era lynchings adds to a song that appears to be about a divorce. Maybe I'm missing something? I like New Slaves as a song, but it's strange to think that we've reached a point as a culture where "I'd rather be a dick than a swallower" is considered a good hook, maybe even a deep one. Fav songs: On Sight, Black Skinhead, New Slaves. The rest are OK but a bit forgettable.

Was he already mad at this point? The album has highs and lows but I can't listen to it without a certain flavour to it...

Black Skinhead, genre defining

As much as I like and defend Yeezus, I listened to it this time in a context wider than Kanye's discography and with a little more attention. And sadly, that makes the album come across as markedly uneven. The fusion Kanye attempts - sex, race, noise - is interesting, but none of the raps are particularly compelling and the production is the real star. Put it on, bob your head, don't use it too hard. That's the approach I'll take in the future, at least.

On one hand I was pretty engaged for the whole record which I didn’t expect. On the other, Kanye is a douche (at least it’s the impression I get through his lyrics). The music/musicality is definitely strong and there’s no denying the words hit, but it’s just not my style.

T3B 1. Black Skinhead 2. Send It Up 3. On Sight Not his best, but still has some bangers. 3

Fav Track: Bound 2

Wow, I liked this so much more than "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy". I might even conceivably revisit this in the future! Minus one star for Kanye being a knob and the badness of "I'm in It" Fave track - "Hold My Liquor", I reckon.

not best kanye, but good kanye

Eeeeeh

A truly experimental album: Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t

Sucesión de canciones extrañas, un tanto psicodélicas, con ritmos variopintos y sonidos un tanto extraños. Aun así, tiene su punto en el cual se puede escuchar tranquilamente

Not the best Kanye album.

It was okay, didn't enjoy it as much as other Kanye albums

Pros: Good heavy beats on a lot of the tracks. Kanye has a great rhythm to his vocals. A lot of interesting unique sounds from song to song. Each song is pretty different from the others. The album has a different sound than most rap albums. I actually like the pulsating background beats more than the front music on a lot of the songs. I’d like to see someone take the background sounds and beats and put something else on top of them. Cons: Too many sound effects, it can get a bit cacophonous. Sometimes within a song, there are jarring changes in the feel and sound as it changes from a heavy rap, to a soft instrumental, to some random sound effects. Too much self-aggrandizing narcissism. I also just can’t help but think about how much of a crazy mofo Kanye is while listening to his music.

Ehh decent

West seemingly by design makes separating the man from the music harder than average. I thought My... Fantasy was stronger than this overall, among his mid-career output in this pre-off-the-rails phase. Crazy inventive stuff with beats and samples and the lyrics are as always clever but despite nods to black issues is there really much to it other than braggadocio and this curdled sexual Lothario routine?

Not my style.

Surprisingly attention grabbing electronic sounds alongside the usual hip-hop. Samples "Strange Fruit".

Apparently Kanye has spoken with Jesus.

Truly a masterclass in modern production, but it’s Kanye so the best I can do is a three

Wow totally weird I referenced Kanye then the next day he pops up! There's a few of my Kanye faves on this album but as a whole it doesn't hit like my dark twisted nightmare) or whatever it is called. Some of the more aggressive songs I didn't appreciate so much

I didn't mind it but didn't love it. I think this was when Kanye's unhinged period was ramping up. I found a lot of the lyrics hard to follow was he was actually going on about. For example: No sports bra, let's keep it bouncing Everybody wanna live at the top of the mountain

Preface: I am not a big rap guy... From technique points was not bad. Could not embrace it

Quite an unorthodox, electronic sound, not bad but not my personal favourite. With more traditional hip hop beats, this could have been 4 stars

I didn't hate this. I did find it overbearing and found the otherwise solid beats were ruined by Kanye's braggadocio

Not his best work but still solid.

Highlights: Black Skinhead, Guilt Trip. I don't know what to do with this album. I appreciate the industrial experimental production, and that it doesn't waste any of its time.

Pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed

Some good songs that I found myself bopping along to. Wouldn’t listen regularly though, also Kanye needs therapy

I wouldn’t listen to this regularly but I did like it. Dirty synths, Justin Vernon’s falsetto, annoying noises. All my faves

I'm super conflicted by this album, and I'm not the only one. In Pitchfork's 2013 Readers Poll, Yeezus was named both the Most Underrated and Most Overrated album of the year. The solo follow-up to MBDTF, Kanye's magnum opus, doesn't quite measure up. There's the usual helping of inane lyrics (Does Kanye know that 300 didn't feature any Romans?), the overuse of autotune, and the braggadocio, which he does better than anyone else (just ask him). But there's also the delightful use of obscure samples expertly married with cutting-edge beats, punctuated by excellent collaborations and features. This album also features the most Kanye song he's ever put together: Blood on the Leaves, a catchy tune about love and divorce where Ye spends half a verse talking about the cost of his wardrobe. Pretty standard stuff, except it's all happening on top of a sample of a 1965 tune about lynching that's been called one of the most important songs of the 20th century. The thesis of this album, made by a self-professed evangelical Christian who gives the middle finger to both Catholics and Baptists, and oh yeah, the thing is called YEEZUS, is that nothing is off-limits for Kanye. Best track: Bound 2

Bom.

Synthy warped melodies with driving bass and drum Oh and crazy raps all over the top. Actually pretty interesting

Whilst admirable for a mainstream artist to reinvent their sound so dramatically from album to album, Yeezus mostly fails to land and is a somewhat drab affair which becomes a bit of a chore to listen to. There are undoubtedly moments of inspiration - I’m In It segueing into Blood on the Leaves is a thrilling sound and Black Skinhead a thumping statement - but lyrically, Ye isn’t the greatest rapper and his content focusses too much on debasing women and name checking fashion labels to engage the listener. There are better Kanye albums.

A somewhat awkward and amateurish work despite the impeccable fusion of electronics and vocals, the impeccable collages, the impeccable production. (5/10) FT: Blood On The Leaves

The production on this LP is pristine - massive walls of synths cascading into quieter passages with some hard-turn samples thrown in for good measure. The bars usually rise to meet the occasion, but there are some lyrics that stick out like a sore thumb with their datedness or slightly cringe viewpoints.

Ne znam jesam ikad poslušao više polarizirajući album. Iz takvog jebenog savršenstva zna preć u čisto smeće honestly. Svakako, uvijek više gledam na ovo bolje, sou.

Test

Hip-hop. Ni fu ni fa.

Some trash

Esperava mais...

I don't get it. I just...I don't get it. I liked the Steve Miller sample on "Guilt Trip", some of the lyrics were clever, but mostly, I just don't get it. I'm glad I listened to it, but I'm not really sure I'll ever go back to it.

2nd listen stn. Getting better

Yeezus is on the list? Why is Yeezus on the list? I guarantee most listeners on this site will not give this album a generous rating. Honestly I don't blame them; Yeezus is far from West's strongest album and marks his exploration into more experimental hip hop. It is also, in my opinion, his most confident album. It is oozing with machismo and loud production. West wants to make sure you really hear him. Well, I heard it. And it's pretty damn good. Not great, but pretty good. It loses a bit of steam after New Slaves and takes a while to pick back up, but the product as a whole is undoubtedly a complete product. Here's the kicker about this release: every West album from here on out would be a mess upon rollout. The Life of Pablo would see post-release changes to the tracklist, Ye was lead by two controversial singles that are not on the album, Jesus Is King kept getting pushed back surrounding listening parties and a film, and, lastly, Donda is the most recent of West's bizarre releases with more pushbacks and listening parties. Here's the truth: at the time of Yeezus, Kanye West was THE hip hop artist. With a unique creative vision and total freedom in how he approaches his work, the music industry had little-to-no control over him after this album. This is a benchmark in West's career in more than one way, and I have no doubt that his mental health had some part to play. But, all in all, West is unmatched in the current landscape of hip hop: this album could be considered proof of that. I'm tired, you're tired, Jesus wept.

Better than I thought it would be

Music was fine even if Kanye did his best to get in the way.

Rap. Num gosto

Difícil dar nota para álbums cujo estilo não se acompanha, nem se gosta. Alguns me cativam e dou notas melhores. Não é o caso deste.

Meh, I think Kanye is already starting to go downhill on this one. Not a fan of his industrial turn, and he mostly just sounds angry. I really don’t like what he does to Billie Holiday on “Blood on the Leaves” either.

to com o amigo, esse é um dos mais chatos do kanye pra mim acho q fora bound 2, quero mais é que se foda

Kanye still gets zero stars, this album only gets 3 unlike My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. So that’s 2 stars overall.

I feel like I’m not cool enough to listen to this album. I don’t know why this was so well acclaimed, when it feels quite lower quality than some of his previous albums. But I also don’t have a good ear for rap so what do I know. 2/5

It was clear when this album came out that it was a big step down from prior albums. While Kanye was always eccentric (at best) and egotistical, this album signaled the beginning of his megalomania. The first third or so of the album is punchy and energetic, even if the lyrics aren't what you've come to expect of Kanye and relies too heavily on shock value. The rest of the album is just sort of nothing. It seems like Kanye took the line famously sampled on his prior joint album "It's provocative, it gets the people going" as gospel. Unfortunately, this album fails on the latter. 2/5

fav songs: bound 2 abrasive, hostile, overrated 40/100

Could only make it halfway through, I prefer his earlier stuff

This is alright, for a lot of the songs I enjoyed the samples more than what he contributed. Also -1 for a gross person

separate the artist from the art jk ts is ass 2 stars js cos bound 2 is on here

More scandals than substance. Vapid lyrics, lazy sound effects, subpar rapping, awful singing. Why is this dumpster fire so famous?

Nope

#420/1001. File under "egoistic assholes who make experimental music but manage to make it popular". But I guess if he would have put out metal machine music or would have sold gold. No wonder Lou Reed was jealous. Maybe experimental, but I got bored - by the music, of course the lyrics are horrible sexploitation and ego boost.

Huh. I actually thought I liked this album more than I do. I think Bound 2 is one of the highlights of Kanye's career but the rest of this is kind of the worst. Not even looking to start in on Kanye himself.

I've heard people say when this album came out, it was universally hated. But now, almost a decade later, they've gotten used it, even grown it like it. So I think I'll follow their footsteps and come back in a decade. Well see how I feel then.

Ok, taking the man out of the equation for the moment for this review. Overall, this is just a dumpster fire of ultimate cringe and edginess. The music, whilst not terrible, isn't great. The lyrics just scream I'm an edgy 13 year old. And there is no flow at all. It's like Ye was given some simple mixing sounds and pressed random buttons repetitively. As a hip hop fan, I really don't get why he's so highly rated.

While I have grown to tolerate and even dare say like some Kayne, this isn’t it. There are one or two other albums omitted from the list that should be on ahead of this one.

It’s messy and a horny mess. Not his best.

Too harsh and industrial sounding. 2 stars

The lyrics are dog shit. Misogynistic dog shit. I'm good, dude. I feel evil listening to this - there's some evil ass energy here. Some of the music was absolutely very cool and some of it was fucking chaotic and stupid. The production is wonderful but I wish it was just an instrumental album honestly lmao. I won't talk about him as a person - we all know. So many bad people are fans of Kanye as well. He draws in bad, evil energy and I can feel it when I listen to the music he made passed 2008. No way. Hold My Liquor was the worst song I've heard in weeks or even years?? Blood On The Leaves ??? holy fuck can a song be more excruciating then this? Poor Billie Holiday - she didn't deserve that. fuck this album it's bad! it's not good. One of the worst albums I've heard on this list so far. Sack of shit. 2 stars for the instrumentals only.

First impression is that he made this album for himself, not for the enjoyment of others. Hold my liquor is a nice mellow groove. Strange Fruit sample oh Lady Day had a hard enough life without seeing how this turned out.

Al principio sonaba bien, tiene cosas interesantes pero es muy raro. No creo que sea de sus mejores álbumes y aparte es muy oscuro. Mi puntaje es mas que nada porque aparece Rihanna y a ella la amamos.

I can see how polarizing Kanye is, so the aggressiveness of the lyrics is "Bound To" elicit a visceral response from many. I would say it's more than just typical hard-core rap bravado and machismo, though, and that he's just setting up a persona—until you look at how mentally unstable the artist actually is, so maybe these roles he's set up have claimed him. Kanye is somewhat adept at turning a phrase, but a messianic figure he is not. Also, after listening to some of the hard core and thrash metal on this list, my shockability is somewhat diminished.

He has way better albums

When Kanye wasn’t speaking, the music was enjoyable. His voice is annoying & lyrics are rubbish

Is Ye a good musician? As a self-declared Nazi, does he find Hitler a good painter? Really hard to get past some of his antisemitic and generally racist language and just rate his music. He has musical talent for sure. His lyrics are superbly immature, daft and cliché. I'll go for a 2.

The beats are great, and Kanye actually has good flow. But his whiny voice and his perceived sexual prowess (as evidence by almost every song being about sex) really killed the vibe.

So Yeezus by Kanye West wasn’t reallyyy my thing but there were a couple alright songs there. This guy really loves his bass because it is super prominent. It’s was okay, mostly just a bit meh and I hope if he comes up again it’s a bit better because if I’m honest I had higher expectations. Top three: On Sight, Bound 2, Hold My Liquor

Can I separate the art from the artist? Well, I didn’t like the art very much. But not as much as I dislike the artist.

So conflicted. Hate the man and hate the lyrics bc they are so misogynistic and narcissistic but the sound isn’t bad

Nope…

Not a big lover of rap. The first couple of tracks were OK however it steadily got worse to the point of wishing it would end.

One song in and I can just tell it’s not going to be something I enjoy too much. I can absolutely see why it’s got such a name for itself like the backing tracks are so good to be fair and I don’t actually mind his voice, it’s just not a genre of music I like. Although, the second track is sitting a lot better for me, I still don’t think I’d revisit but it’s not a bad listen. I feel like it doesn’t help that I already have a negative opinion about Kanye in general, so I’m not totally open minded to his music but I’m trying to be as open minded as possible. This album is giving such gym bro energy or like workout montage core. I am intrigued to listen to his earlier stuff at some point, cause he released a lot in the early 2000s, I’d be curious to see if it’s classic 2000s vibes or more like unique to him. Sorry the screaming in I Am A God is giving like Drew Barrymore in Scream it’s too funny. Okay so I didn’t even notice the transition into New Slaves, very smooth. The singing part in New Slaves honestly slaps. Lowkey some of the lyrics in Hold My Liquor make me uncomfy but the sound of the song overall I actually like, I just can’t get behind some of the stuff he’s saying and I’m such a lyrics gal. Who’s the old lady on Blood On The Leaves I can’t cope. Why did I forget the Bound 2 song was Kanye. Anyways overall, wasn’t as terrible as I’d thought it would be. I genuinely think if some of the lyrics weren’t so vulgar I’d actually like these songs more because I like the backing tracks and I quite like his voice surprisingly. 35/100

Meh

I was so excited for this after loving Dark and Twisted Fantasy. Alas, I struggled to enjoy anything about this one. Not even Lou Reed’s review could convince me. I added “Bound 2” to my playlist.

Black skinhead was a great track but otherwise pretty mid and man, that guy is obsessed with trying to get his dick sucked. He needs to chill.

This is hands down the most polarizing Kanye album. I'm a fan of experimental rap, but this is just not for me. Almost every famous experimental rap artist to come after this, I enjoy. (Danny Brown, jpegmafia, clipping, injury reserve) But not this. I respect it because it influenced artists that I love, but I just can't enjoy this at all.

abrasive, electronic soundscape with distorted drum machines and synthesizers. It draws from genres including industrial, acid house, electro, punk, Black skinhead

I hate this

Kanye's a nazi with a God complex. The album is FULL of explicit language. It may be pivotal or influential, or creatively a rap masterpiece. I listened to it and I have no love. There are a few songs that could be interesting, but I refuse to spend more time. Pitchfork: 9.5 Rolling Stone: Top 500 Albums #269

Nope

start of the derailment

I don't like Kanye's voice, rapping cadence or (for the most part) his lyrical content. I was ok with the actual beats and instrumentation, which were quite rocky/heavy, although this did feel a bit samey over the course of the whole record. I have said before that I intensely dislike Kanye as a human being, and I am sure that influences my approach to these records, even though I do try and put that aside. I certainly only listened to this once, even though I often properly listen to a 1001 album through once, then skim through it a second time to really confirm my feelings. It does really bug me that his album reviews are attracting 1 star reviews for reasons other than the music though. If you don't want to give him your £0.0001 of streaming revenue, I absolutely cannot fault you, but that's when you leave a comment about him being a terrible human being (because he has demonstrated he is multiple times), mark it "Did Not Listen" and move on. 1 star for the man (but only because it's not possible to give him 0 stars). 2 stars for the record (because much as I dislike a lot of this, is far from the worst content the generator has provided). 2/5

Ok and so but anyway, if I'm being as objective as possible, I have to give the music a five for originality, even though most of it was a bit dark for my taste. Lyrically, it's a one. Sophomoric, misogynistic, egomaniacal garbage. Having said that, Kanye is a piece of shit and should be completely ignored for the rest of time. 2

Have you ever looked into the liner notes of the Kanye West album? There is an army of people involved in every song. So for people to call him a genius - and subsequently, he naming one of his album in such a direction - shows only how little people delve into how music's being made today. I'm not saying Kanye West isn't involved in creating good music - just think of his work on Common's Be from 2005 which is also on this list. But does this make him a genius as he likes to proclaim himself? This album is a classical example of the harder they come, the harder they fall. Some interesting beats of Kanye and his comrades, but the lyrics are dumb and the production makes them sound 'cool'. They made better albums than this.

Black Skinhead huh? Me when the movie uses subtle foreshadowing. This album really is a product of the modern music industry, 10 people working on a song just for the end product to be some mid bars over a Temu Clipping beat. Blood on the leaves really got that baby's first day in FL Studio type beat.

First of all, fuck Kanye. As for the album, it’s not my favourite of his. I always find Kanye has so much juvenile stuff in his lyrics, but it doesn’t have the playful charm of other rappers. I don’t find it endearing, ultimately. The music is well produced and there’s some great beats, but yeah.

2/5 Nicht meins

Rap

ni zo goed als het ander

As usual for rap albums there is lots of talking, but Kanye gets credit for a little bit of actual singing here. He seems angry on many of the tracks. None of the tracks are memorable for me.

The album was okay. Some of the songs had good beats. But it's Kanye....

While Kanye West does have some bangers (Power, All of the Lights), I found this album to be pretty grating. Constant lyrics about what he'll do to women, bragging, and swearing. Black Skinhead is really the only track I like.

I like some of the samples. But that begs the question: why not just listen to the original song the sample comes from?

Conflicted on this one. Obviously Kanye has become a total disaster in recent years, and has aligned himself with terrible people and ideas. That said, I'm going to set that aside for this review, because I was and still am a Kanye fan, especially of his early work. I remember when this album came out, the hype was insane. MBDTF had been this huge turning point in modern rap, and everyone was waiting to see what he did next. This thing came out of left field, ditching many of his signature sounds for a colder, synthier, more future sound compared to his older souls flips and sample based projects. I was not a huge fan of this album when it came out, and I'm still not really on board today. It's the lyrics and not the music that bother me, I think. I can dig some Daft Punk produced electro beats, but his lyrics on this album really pivoted away from his earlier stuff, which while still shot through with tastes of his ego, retained a playful, relaxed element. This album is nothing but bald faced ego, and horribly misogynistic throughout. It was pretty rough to listen to at the time as a young man, but now as a dad with a wife and daughter it's just shitty. I'm going 2/5, I do appreciate the production here, I just can't get on board with the lyrical thesis of the project.

⭐⭐+ Först hade jag problem med den något stökiga produktionen men med några lyssningar växer den, framförallt spåren där Justin Vernon varit inblandad. Även om jag tycker helheten växer så är det ändå inte en topproduktion och nästan inget riktigt topp-spår, så det får bli en stark 2a. Bäst är Black skinnhead, Hold my liquor, I'm in it, Blood on the leaves och Bound 2.

ich habe schon besseres gehört. produktion ja, musik: musik?

Favorite Track: Bound 2

It’s hard to separate the work from the problematic nature of the artist. This wasn’t the album for me but I understand it’s spot on this list

He's a good producer. Never been sure about him as a rapper. But there's always something to grab onto in a Kanye album from ALL of 808s & Heartbreak to Niki Minaj's verse on Monster. But fuck him for making me annoyed by Billie Holiday. You're going to use Strange Fruit as a hook for a warped MDMA follow up to Gold digger?

Den öppnar maffigt med flippade syntar i On sight, både skruvat och svängigt. Men sen blir det genast ganska dåligt om än fortfarande lite intressant. Det dröjer till Blood on the leaves med en förhäxande Nina Simone sampling som sparingpartner till Wests autotune, då blir det riktigt bra och bränner till lite igen. Det är dom två höjdpunkterna. Det andra är rätt dåligt och Kanye är en rätt usel MC, inte De La Soul klass precis, så det kan han heller inte hänga upp nåt på. Men de bibehåller nåt som åtminstone stundtals är intressant. Det känns som här finns förutsättningar för att göra nåt spännande och bra men han slarvar bort den chansen. Jag gillar t.ex. det nedstrippade soundet och blir intreserad vad han ska göra med det, han gör dessvärre inte mycket vettigt. Han skulle kunnat jobba mycket mer med samplingar som motpol som i Ninalåten, det hade kunnat bli rätt bra. Nu får han nöja sig med en stabil tvåa för försöket.

Nog är Kanye en bra rappare. Men jag tycker inte så mycket om det blippiga kompet på den här skivan. Här finns ingen Jesus walks precis.

Sure, it is a decent album but listening to it in the context of today is... interesting. Like how looking at the 90's in hindsight.

By 2026, we can all basically hear Kanye crawling up his own ass and the brainrot setting in on this one. So much good interesting stuff musically, but so much shit.

I think this just isn’t for me. I was way too overstimulated listening to this. There were some cool beats, but then it was followed by some crazy steel pipe sounds or something. The lyrics feel edgy just for the sake of it and made to shock the listener. Not everything was awful, though. Bound 2 was probably my favourite song, Guilt Trip was my least favourite.

The public deterioration of Kanye is up there with Morrissey's alt-right turn in musical persona disappointments. I like his records up through The Life of Pablo, with this being the most challenging among them. Lou Reed sang this album's praises at the time and Nick Cave has said he wants "I Am a God" played at his funeral, but the open rage valve along with "New Slaves" and "Black Skinhead" titles mapped against the unconscionable things he embraced later make this a dodgy listen now.

I used to really like this guy, I know his albums well, never found the love for this one.

Inaudible par moments

Never heard a Kanye West album. Was hoping to keep things that way for my whole lifetime. Oh well. Open mind! I like the sound and production on On Sight but there lyrics suck. I can't not like the energy and delivery on Black Skinhead. That was great. Man I Am A God is so embarrassingly bad. "So hurry up with my damn massage" "So hurry up with my damn croissant" dude what. I really don't understand why cool beats need to be ruined by misogynistic lyrics. Yeah New Slaves, despite having some interesting things in there, is not good. Hold my Liquor does nothing for me. I'm In It... do you guys think Kanye West is edgy?!?!?!?! Do you guys think he does shocking things?!?!?! And includes them in his shitty songs?!?!?! At least this song made things easy for me, since not only are the lyrics bad and the performance predictable, but the beat is so shit. It sucks ass (and he eats ass, did you guys know?!?!?!?!). Is the constant throwback to Strange Fruit supposed to make a comparison between the struggles related in that song and the ones represented in this one? I don't know, this is not my hill to die on, but it does feel disjointed. The song also just does not sound good (besides a good part at about halfwaythrough). But yeah, what I think was supposed to be the most emotional moment of the record fell flat. Oh my God, more autotune, yey. Send It Up is mostly fine. Interesting beat, but goes nowhere. Bound 2 is supposed to be one of his masterpieces, but it genuinely does nothing for me. The sample that serves as the song's base gets tired fast, and the vocals are kind of grating. Don't love the lyrics either. Meehhhh This record's hability to go from great and innovative sounds to absolute dogshit is its most interesting factor. I'd be more intested in knowing more about what lead to this contrast than in relistening to the album (I will not do any further research though, because I do not care about this man's career). Most of the album ranged from mid to bad. Some moments of genuine brilliance are found in the first two songs, but man everything else mostly sucks. I get that his 2000's and 2010's albums were very influential, and it is true that a lot of new sounds are explored here, but while some of them are cool, some are very bad! So no, this is not a good record. I love it when I don't feel the need to separate the art from the artist, cause they both suck.

meh

Só gostei de uma musica que foi a última.

Sonically interesting, but dumpster fire lyrically. The soundtrack of a talented individual completely losing the plot and giving in to all their worst impulses.

Great sound, crazy lyrics. Hard to believe he only got crazier from here

This sure ain’t the first couple Kanye albums

Kids, let me tell you a story about what happened when Kanye and Rick Rubin listened to Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music...

Ugh, fucking Kanye

I find this a hard one to get through. I was once a big Kanye enjoyer, and his early career is really interesting and the production is amazing. But I just can't get past his shitheadery in real life, and have no interest in supporting him anymore. This album is experimental certainly, I was no bored lol, but I don't like it.

On one hand the production is insane but on the other the lyrics are gross and he’s a nazi

Це, мабуть, 1,5. Можливо слухати, але мені не сподобалось. Лише в середині пісні On Sight є прикольний момент

I feel about Kanye West somewhat similarly to how I feel about Brian Eno: I prefer the music they produced to the music that they released themselves. But at least Brian Eno didn't ruin a Tadao Ando house. Everything else I have heard about Kanye West hasn't helped my opinion of him or his music, either. But there's one big thing about this album for me - I think the minimalist (lack of) album art is one of the coolest looking albums of all time. Favorite track: "Bound 2"

Stand-out tracks: Black Skinhead, New Slaves, Bound 2

Feels like a crazy man’s fever dream. Only reason it’s not a 1 is because Daft Punk worked on it.

One of my least favorite Kanye album's, but I can respect it. Some cool production choices and a couple of fantastic songs

2.5