Yo, did you guys hear rapper Kanye West has a new album out? You probably just heard it today because you had an iTunes gift card burning a hole in your pocket, but let me be the first to tell you, it’s swell. Seriously though, any lingering musical complacency gets abruptly murked with Yeezus. But even in his sincerest embrace of his own conflicted vanity, with the over-produced orchestrations stripped away and lost within the vortex of Rick Rubin's salt and pepper wizard beard, Yeezy can’t help being Yeezy. He can’t help but think it’s a good idea to put Bon Iver on every track. He can’t help hindering his album’s potential timelessness with references to social media platforms that probably wont exist in five years. And he can’t help making a corny white dude like myself uncomfortable and awkward at least once every song.
Angelo Spagnolo is a writer living in Portland, Oregon. Read his blog here and follow him on Twitter here.