A Short Catalogue of Recent Kanye Rumblings


Kanye West's performance at the VMA's the other day made me remember that there are several things I have been meaning to post. Since his return to performance, short video release, and recitation at twitter and facebook Kanye has under-convincingly performed one of the most promising tracks, lyrically speaking, called "Mama's Boyfriend."

On a better note, he has released a remix for the excellent track "Power" featuring Jay-Z and Swizz Beats (who work well on their own too). The remix starts off normally enough with a (Taylor Swift name dropping) verse from Jay but then we get a new (lesser but still good) verse from Kanye wherein he gets political ("bring out troops back from Iraq/ keep the troops out of Iran) and drops a couple bars "in Islam". From there the track completely shifts and brings you back to the 90s ("I've got the power"). Kanye offers a few more verses demonstrating his ability to shift modes at the drop of a beat.

"Monster" is a song that I didn't really 'get' at first. Its a kind of seedy Raekwon-feeling back-beat that lets the actual rapping take precedent. Once you focus on the rapping however, the fact that Kanye works "sarcophagus" into his verse becomes entirely apparent. And then, of course, Nicki Minaj completely owns the track managing to sound like an angry schizophrenic thesaurus ("all up in the bank with a funny face/ and if Im fake I ain't noticed cause my money ain't!"). The track definitely took on an unprecedented intensity at Jay-Z's Yankee stadium performance this week. These people already know the words!


(For more of this incredible show including a performance of the "Power" remix, see here).

"See Me Now" is a definitely radio grabber. A summer feel good, cruising with the top down sort of track. Kanye gives us a few ringers ("Im Socrates/ but my skin more chocolaty" or "if you fall on the concrete/ that's your ass fault"). Beyonce attacks the song with her ferocious vocal prowess. The track clocks in at a little over six minutes and maybe drags on a little too long. "See Me Now" and the lustful rumination, "Devil in a New Dress," mark the weaker releases from the recent Kanye-internet complex. Both have their moment but would probably work better in the flow of an album.

And of course there is "Runaway" which West debuted at the VMA's (and which it looks like is the title of Kanye's new album?). It seems that the CD quality versions have been taken down but I have a demo version linked here. The lovable refain of the song; "Let's have a toast for the douchebags". Now we get the self-deprecating Kanye...Kan-yay! The recorded track is pensive and brooding but the VMA version (also the VMA closer) just feel really sad. Kanye invites us to hate him as much as he does. I don't think I really want to. Nice move Ye. Pusha T gives his verse and Kanye closes it out with a an auto-tuned interlude. Worth seeing.









Kanye West - Power
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brandonpaulweaver at 5:15 PM
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