Lou Reed — the legendary musician responsible for some of the greatest records of all time, and Lulu — has given Kanye West's new album, Yeezus, an in-depth listen, and he'd like to talk about it with you.
Writing for The Talkhouse, a site that specialises in these sorts of artist-on-artist shenanigans, Reed shared what he loved — and what he didn't really dig — about West's magnum opus.
"There are moments of supreme beauty and greatness on this record," he wrote, "and then some of it is the same old shit. But the guy really, really, really is talented. He's really trying to raise the bar. No one's near doing what he's doing, it's not even on the same planet."
Here are a few highlights from the review, which perhaps peaks when he compares West's music to farting.
"Very often, he'll have this very monotonous section going and then, suddenly —"BAP! BAP! BAP! BAP!" — he disrupts the whole thing and we're on to something new that's absolutely incredible. That's architecture, that's structure — this guy is seriously smart."
"Why he starts the album off with that typical synth buzzsaw sound is beyond me, but what a sound it is, all gussied up and processed. I can't figure out why he would do that. It's like farting. It's another dare — I dare you to like this. Very perverse."
"Many lyrics seem like the same old b.s. Maybe because he made up so much of it at the last minute. But it's the energy behind it, the aggression. Usually the Kanye lyrics I like are funny, and he's very funny here. Although he thinks that getting head from nuns and eating Asian pussy with sweet and sour sauce is funny, and it might be, to a 14-year-old — but it has nothing to do with me."
"But it's just ridiculous that people are getting upset about "Put my fist in her like a civil rights sign"? C'mon, he's just having fun."
"'New Slaves' has that line "Y'all throwin' contracts at me/ You know that niggas can't read." Wow, wow, wow. That is an amazing thing to put in a lyric. That's a serious accusation in the middle of this rant at other people: an accusation of himself. As if he's some piece of shit from the street who doesn't know nothing. Yeah, right — your mom was a college English professor."
"He knows they could turn on him in two seconds. By "they" I mean the public, the fickle audience. He could kill Taylor Swift and it would all be over."
As you've probably gathered, you absolutely must read the whole thing.
