“America, I’ve given you all and now I am nothing…” – Allen Ginsberg
Up there at the Brit Awards Kanye West brought everyone he could out on stage clad in black. “All Day” was set to be premiered, and his gorgeous figurine of a wife introduced him to the London crowd. Then the flames and a bored-as-fuck Ye´ went up there to do God’s work. It was underwhelming. Not because the song wasn’t good. It was. But because he looked like he was reaching for something out there in the void, in the crowd, and it wasn’t there.
Each Kanye album brings us someone new. This has been Kanye’s modus operandi for some time now. Perhaps not a change as radical as his later years would give us with 808’s, MBDTF, WTT and Yeezus showing us vastly different personalities pushing against some boundary. But it is there, bubbling quietly under the cloud of emotion he surrounds himself with. It’s that cloud of emotion that propels him forward. But now that same ion charged mixture of gasses may be sapping Ye´of some of his mojo. We’re not sure what is happening, but we do know that this year has been the most disappointing output of music of Kanye West’s career. Well, save for a few titular highlights.
Every once in a while, now, you’ll see the son of Donda West crack a smile. It’s becoming a rare occurrence these days. It should. Kanye West is scouring the earth for inspiration and he’s coming up empty. At least in music. He’s spent the last decade plus dazzling us with his penchant for soaking up the world around him and transforming it into art. On the College Dropout, he and G.O.O.D Music took the stylings of Tribe, Common, Mos’ and Slum Village — his heroes at the time — and his love of good ole fashioned soul and jerry-rigged it into a classic. But as his flawless catalog becomes older, it must be difficult to find more of the things that inspire you. There is no Taylor Swift incident this time around to spur a jilted Kanye West to dark, twisted greatness. And there isn’t the specter of being on the outside looking in and your very own celebrity use to encase you like there was on the sparse Yeezus. Equally, there isn’t the “I must prove myself at all cost” Kanye of the College Dropout and Late Registration era.
Perhaps humility is to blame. No, not that the world’s most interesting egoist hasn’t used enough, but that this year, maybe, he’s used too much. For Big Sean, he helped out on “All Your Fault” and “I Don’t Fuck With You.” He also hopped on “Blessings,” though he says Drake’s rise to king of the summer propelled him to a last minute verse on that one. But his best work has been on other people’s records. His verse on Tyler, The Creator’s “Smuckers” is easily his best in a few years and one of the best verses of the year. His ridiculous stream-of-consciousness on A$AP Rocky’s “Jukebox Joints” and his strange co-existence with Rihanna and Paul McCartney on “FourFiveSeconds” are two more examples. Then there’re the snippets we’ve heard of his banger with The Weeknd “Tell Your Friends.” And let’s not forget his tweet that implied Kendrick’s To Pimp A Butterfly sent him back to the lab. Compare that to his own work and you may see my point. The lukewarm “All Day” sounds aged and it only dropped months ago. “Wolves” with Vic Mensa and Sia feels like a Kid Cudi single without the quirky magic of Cudster. Then there was a visibly drunk Amber Rose calling out Kanye and alleging that he doesn’t even write his new music, Travis Scott does.
He’s also just plain old preoccupied. His wife is a Venus de Milo jutting out of the sea and his child is beloved. That would put any creative person in a bind, right? Maybe he’s just too happy? Then there’s the fashion. Perhaps Kanye’s comet has gotten too big to move quickly, even for him. And maybe we are seeing the general decline of one of the greatest artists of our generation. Or, maybe, and hopefully, I’m just being too hasty. Either way, I’m worried about this Kanye West album, and you should be, too.
Andre Grant is an NYC native turned L.A. transplant that has contributed to a few different properties on the web and is now the Features Editor for HipHopDX. He’s also trying to live it to the limit and love it a lot. Follow him on Twitter @drejones.
just admit it people, “all day”
completely sucks. like “wolves” – its an attempt to sound like drake and copy his repetitive catchy style but they fall flat. hes better off going the Watch the Throne or Yeezus route.
Wolves sucks, but All Day does not suck dude lol. He sounds nothing like Drake on that track. More like the Kanye who made Mercy or I Don’t Like Remix. You don’t know much about hip hop huhhhhhh
Only One is nice! Wolves is mediocre, but All Day is undoubtedly trash. I still want plenty of Kanye rapping on this album, but make the lyrics worthwhile! Whatever happened to wordplay?
You mean sound like Q. Miller
FourFiveSeconds is the worst song of the year! Paul said he “liked” it and kanye went crazy and recorded the p.o.s song. Rihanna literally has no talent and singing skills. I noticed that the loser kanye is featured on some of the lamest “artists” of our generation and he likes to work lames in order to make him look more “artistic” than others. It also doesnt help that he married a gold digger thot that got famouse bc of a porno. Smh
Breathe dude… Ye must’ve fucked yo bitch or something..
I’m not worried, it takes patience for greatness, in due time my friend, in die time. I think all the happiness he’s experienced lately is a good thing. Hopefully wr don’t get a dark album, maybe we get graduation 2015′
Cool I hope all you lames stop liking Kanye now so us underground heads can have em back
Kanye’s worst nightmare is becoming an underground artist.
he just needs to bump a little drizzy to get his mind right.
You mean, Quentin Miller?
what a clever and original comeback…. smh
Worried? Theres an article in forbes how both allday and only one went gold four singles from yeezus went platinum two singles from wtt went triple platinum power and flashing lights went quadruple platinum and jesus walks reached septuple platinum……..i wouldnt need to drop an album either
THIS YEAR
Dude.. Kanye is killing it this year. All Day and U Mad are the two biggest bangers of the year next to A$AP Rocky’s Lord Pretty Flacko Jodye II
What year? You can’t be talking about 2015.
name bigger songs this year? you can’t ya bish
I think it’s safe to say we will never get the old kanye back but even at his worst he is still good. Ok maybe not yeesus bad but you get it..lol..but yeah he has lost a lot of his spark. A lot of people aren’t feeling his stuff lately cause it doesn’t have heart like his old stuff. I think being with Kim has A lot to do with it. That family is owned by the devil…
“It was underwhelming. Not because the song wasn’t good.”
All Day is terrible.
Agreed. It’s the same old recycled swag rap with a little more glitz.
Kanye is uninspired his first album was proving he could rap and proving that he’s a artist second album was to overcome sophmore jinx and prove he could make an incredible album despite the break up of rocafella. Graduation was the end of an incredible trilogy and stayed in that vain. 808s and heartbreak was while his mom passed. Then mbdtf had rza,Pete rock, a few different producers etc giving different looks and then the throne was Jay z and him..yeezus was no promotion really and dating Kim..In order to be great he needs to dump Kim go back to Chicago and start vibing from where it all started from…
I see no reason to think he’s on a decline. His last album was Yeezus. I would just say wait until his next official album is one year old to decide if he’s on a decline. Yeezus took awhile for me to like.
I’ll admit I haven’t listened to any of his new releases this year, but that’s because I want to wait to hear them in the context of the entire album. Love Lockdown and Heartless sounded bad to me when they were released as singles, but once he mastered them and put them with the rest of 808’s, they became two of my favorite songs of all time. Also, I think it’s important to accept his music for what it is: not quite rap. Graduation taught me this. In terms of rapping, he’s below average on that album. But the sound he created was incredible and changed a lot of the music scene.
With his track record, I think he deserves nothing but our complete trust.
if swish is bad it could be a blessing in disguise similar to the way nastradomus helped propell nas to stillmatic and godson
failure can be a huge motivation
that wasnt natradamus sucking that propelled nas. he probably would have went on dissapointing fans with mediocre poppy records if it wasnt jay-z’s takeover where he implied illmatic was his only great album. jay-z forced him to lift up the quality of his bars
Yeezus although may have pushed boundaries i thought was his nastradus shit was garbage in my opinion compared to his other albums. I don’t want another shitty ye album.
The song was hype! The crowd was lame!! Taylor Swift supported…she knows good music anyway!! She’s always on top! I’d buy that song “All Day” lol!
Kayne is a great artist father and husband get it right!!! Amber rose really!!!
There ain’t no inspiration in the Kardashian household that’s for sure..
Man I wish I was stuck in 2011 hating on the Kardashians. Must be nice looking forward to Avengers.
Instead being jealous maybe you should enjoy some fresh coleslaw from KFC.
k
He’s a has been. What’s worrisome is that he may be that guy that turns up at the Grammys with an automatic.
A has been who’s one of the greatest producers to ever live, and has a discography going back over a decade where every single album (even his worst, Yeezus) is considered by most people to be classic. Just please stop and let grown folks speak.
SWISH IS COMING STFU !
kim is to blame
!
Andre grant is honestly annoying
Outside of drake, who is even putting out albums that can be played years later? like good music? Even DR DRE just gave us a 7 out of 10 album, and that was after 16 years! Kanye can take his time and give me a classic. I am not worried. Even if you disliked Yeezus, you have to admit that songs like New Slaves, Bound 2, Black Skinhead, etc., still get play years later. If he gives us 12 songs, its like a guarantee that there will be 5 or 6 really good ones that we will play for the next 5 years plus. He is one of, if not the only artist outside of Drake or maybe Game that we can say that about these days. I’ll throw Nas in there too actually.
Artists that people drop what the fk they are doing to listen to: Kanye, Drake, Cole, Kendrick, Em, Dre, Wayne, (unfortunately) Future, (unfortunately and only because of Drake/Nicki) Weak Mill.
So Yeezy is one of 9 rappers that everybody checks for. This dude drops an album tomorrow and it will have 500K views in a week minimum. Don’t think we have to worry about Mr. West. Not to mention he gave us SIX classics. Don’t sleep. SWISH is headed right to the #1 spot when it comes out and it has about a 98% chance of being another classic.
I UNDERSTAND YOUR POINT. remember that creators are CREATORS – and what they release to the public for commercial consumption – is just that. this may be his worst album i’ll even agree on that. but remember its capitalism and commercialization. He’s stretched about as far as he can be across markets. (fashion – music – dad – husband lol) To doubt Kanye though is silly. IF what you say is 100% true – now he has a actual hole to dig himself out of with some actual inspiration 😉
yezzy is the best at this shit by far,the beat is hard as phuck,the content is nice if you live this life like we do ,so put the hate down,and pick up some gain fresh sent yahh digg
yall listen to “wolves” if you think YEEZY is done
been there…done that…he’s done
One article praises Fetty Wap… this one questions a legendary artist artistry….. Today’s consumer is completely degenerate. You guys aren’t true hip hop fans. “Yeezus” was a classic. Just because it isn’t your typical crappy disposable rap doesn’t mean he’s losing it. The consumer is so intrigued by the same thing that when something different is served they reject it. They don’t know true art. That’s what kanye west produces.
Yeezus sucked….foh
How can you call something a classic when it hasn’t even withstood the test of time? Look up the definition of classic and see why you’re very incorrect. I like Yeezus just as much but it’s too young to call it classic. You new fans are ruining the genre with this super fast consumption and constant need to move on from current music to the new sound every day. It’s questionable that you’re considering yourself a true hip-hop fan when you won’t even let albums marinate and earn their classic status and you’d rather deem an album classic immediately upon release and argue with anyone that has a more realistic view on the definition of classic.
I remember when people said Kanye was done when he released 808’s and now that album is highly regarded by critics and fans. He caught so much shit for that album though. Then the media criticized Kanye for releasing the whole MBDTF album for free before it actually dropped. They said the album wouldn’t be successful because he released all the music beforehand. Obviously the blog sites care about album sales more than the actual music but after an album has been out for a few years album sales aren’t really relevant and the music is. And MBDTF is considered by some one of the greatest albums in this decade of hip-hop. Yeezus was poorly received at first by a slew of fans and critics but now many people find themselves still listening to it a couple years later and have revised their opinions. Post Graduation Kanye, when he started experimenting more, has had critics and fans constantly saying he’s done and they’ve booed moves he’s made yet a few years later they suddenly start enjoying these projects. When will these sites and fans learn that he’s usually just a bit ahead of the times with what he’s doing and they always end up eating their words and critical praise grows as the years go on. He’s constantly impressed the listeners yet he’s held on this pedestal with unattainable expectations by sites like this. I know this a long comment but this is a long article that needed a retort
so we have to worry About Kanye’s music? I didn’t even read this bs. All im worried about is his music that he puts out.
dx has to be begging for clickbait articles like this. This, along with the shady and jay electronica are reaching…farrr.. jesus, enough with these blogs DX
To be honest I’ve never sat and listened to a Kanye’s album full length since MBDTF. So, I don’t give a f’ what’s going on around him right now. He’s too mainstream for my kind of audience. So f’ being worried about him.
Dr. Dre was all washed up and done too….then he dropped an album out of nowhere and everyone loved it….