Music News

The Hip Hop Roundup: The Kanye West Saga is Aggravating

I don’t know why I still give this guy attention. Maybe it’s because I root for people to succeed. Maybe it’s because I want more great albums to come out of the G.O.O.D. Music camp (a very talented bunch). Or, maybe it’s just simply the fact that I’m optimistic about some people-no matter the level of instigation.

Kanye West landed on my bad side in 2018; something he’s surprisingly never done before. His constant Twitter escapades and objectively terrible comments resulted in a slew of warranted pushback. The release of his eighth solo album Ye and the Kid Cudi-collaborative project Kids See Ghosts garnered less merit due to the controversy. He’s done stuff before, but never to this degree of ignorance.

Ye’s ineptitude is bleeding into his musical endeavors. After a predominantly unsuccessful label promotion stunt in June of 2018 (aside from the phenomenal Pusha T album), West went back into album mode…supposedly. Shortly after the onslaught of G.O.O.D. Music releases in the summer, the provocateur announced his ninth studio album, Yandhi-a project set to hit streaming services at the end of September in 2018. Despite rumors of a controversial track-list featuring Tekashi 69 and the late XXXTentacion (yikes), nothing happened. In fact, Kanye put the record in the back burner for the time being.

While West went back into his usual hiding, a mysterious Yandhi leak surfaced on Youtube full of snippets and unfinished verses that appeared to represent inklings of what was supposed to be on the album. I have to admit, there was some beautiful production riddled throughout the 29 minutes. Ty Dolla $ign had a couple sleek choruses as well.

A couple months following the leak, Kanye announced his ninth project will actually be titled Jesus is King-set to be released at, once again, the end of September. And boy, if Yandhi was a dick tease, then the events leading up to Jesus is King were the ultimate climax of fuckery.

Even Kim Kardashian seems to have no clue what her husband is doing. After publishing a track-list on her Twitter page at the beginning of September, things started to change once again. After holding a free performance of the album in various locations on the night it was supposed to be released (all of these shows were last-minute reportedly, with the main one being in Detroit), nothing happened. West once again changed the course of Jesus is King, and announced that a movie/documentary revolving around the project will be released sometime during October. The album itself has no release date. Sigh.

It seems like we’ve been bamboozled a second time. And to be quite frank, I don’t know why I’m surprised. The Life of Pablo and Ye experienced the same tumultuous existence; just on a smaller scale. At least both of those albums were eventually released on all platforms. This newest saga is just nonsense, and downright aggravating. Honestly, I’m not looking forward to the movie. It’s probably going to be some pretentious exposition masked as “art.” Just look at the whole Easter Sunday performance. I had to literally squint because of the hackneyed camera aesthetic. I feel like the documentary will be some kind of elongated version of that-especially since he’s decided to not make secular music anymore. But again, who knows what that means either.

I guess I just want to know why this is so difficult. Could it be as simple as the timing? I know Tha Carter V came out the same weekend Yandhi was supposed to drop. And I know Dababy carried a possible number one album the same weekend Jesus is King was supposed to come out as well. If that’s the case, I guess I can’t blame him. Dababy is one of rap’s biggest superstars right now, and Lil Wayne is, well, Lil Wayne. My guess is he’s just a perfectionist who can never be satisfied. The Life of Pablo kind of confirmed that with his constant editing following its release. And maybe the pushback of Ye dissatisfied him even further. It’s a possibility for sure.

If there’s two things I’ve learned about the Kanye West music debacle of the past couple of years it’s this-never trust what anyone says (even Kanye himself), and don’t bother debating with people about what Ye actually plans on doing. My brother and I participated in a large dispute while playing Fortnite about who’s going to be on the album, and when the hell it’s coming out (this is was on September 26). At one point during the argument, I realized how dumb this was.

Even the biggest news sources have no clue what to expect in the future. Sure, people who attended the Detroit event may have some insight on who’s featured on the album, and what the style sounds like. I’m curious to see if what they’ve heard stays constant though. West has morphed into a day-by-day artist. By the time this article gets posted, something else will probably change. I don’t know what to expect. I don’t know if he does either.

In Other News…

DaBaby is still riding the beat as if he’s running a marathon. His music makes me want to un-retire myself from cross country running. How the hell did it take this long for this guy to be famous? I’m glad he is now.

Oh yeah, and my boy Lil Tjay is continuing to prove why he’s a better version of A Boogie with a Hoodie. Very few are balancing ear worm melodies and tough street narratives like the Bronx native.