Pages

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Kanye West Only Skin Deep in "Black Skinhead"

I've never really had the nicest impression of Kanye West since he upstaged Taylor Swift during the one MTV Music Awards not too many years ago. However that isn't what leaves me holding the bag for such a vitriolic opinion of Mr. West's latest single, "Black Skinhead". You can find it on his new "Yeezus" CD. I wouldn't mind leaving this single to rot in the trash of some local Walmart. It has the trappings of a rap that goes hand in glove with what, if the words are any indication, is his colossal ego, at least the ego where his sexual prowess is concerned. I mean..."300 bitches. where the Trojans?" Didn't know the man was trying to pitch Wilt Chamberlain style bedding stats. There are Roman conqueror drums throughout. Throw in a splice of menacing synth riffs, a splash of tribal oddball and you've got a player whose trying to play us. "But I ain't finished, I'm devoted. And you know it, and you know it." Does Kanye really need to up the loudness ante every time he lets loose one of those "And you know it"s? I suppose to many that could be considered his trying to up the sexual excitement. To me it's like he's trying to corner me in some parking garage determined to rock my casbah without my even remotely asking for it. I do give him a sliver of credit for rhyming "coon", "early morning cartoon", "goon", and "fuck up your whole afternoon". It's nice to close my eyes and visualize Kanye and Scooby Doo in the same air space. Conveniently he files his rhymes under the useful "shit" catch-all category. So that's about it. In a tribal way there's something that resembles artistry here. Given "Yeezus" has already made its way to the top of the Billboard album chart I doubt West will lose any sleep over the barbs I'm sending his way here. Call me old fashioned. I sort of prefer my raps without being alerted to some player's ongoing conquest score sheet. You may find this spirit of candid disclosure refreshing. I say rap isn't going to evolve into some cultural Renaissance lightning rod again if the prime movers and shakers don't stop using "bitch" as the go-to label for a woman. Kanye must be throwing his condoms around indiscriminately if "bitch" is his preferred address. This slice of backwards evolution of the sexes from "Yeezus" leaves me wanting to exclaim "Yeezus Christ!!"

No comments:

Post a Comment