Yeezus reviews

I found that reading both of these articles back to back was extremely interesting. In the first review by the NY times, the writer explained how Kanye West had the foundations and artistic ideas to build a wonderfully moving album. However in the end Mr. West, as they referred to him, completely missed the mark on what this album could have been. The writer explained that Mr. West could’ve been trying to create an album that spoke strongly about civil rights and the dark times that African American people from poor areas have to live in, but in the end the album was mostly about sex, drugs, and women. This review was in complete contrast to the review in the pitchfork article. Pitchfork, which mainly reviews music, discusses the brilliance of Mr. West’s album Yeezus. This writer explains that the true message of this album, masked beneath a hard layer of some typical rap/hip-hop language, is one of a man who has reached a dark, almost zen-like state. He explains how every part of the music has been thought about to portray this message. From the hard, electronic, and almost painful beats to the careful selection of collaborative artists from Mr. West’s own “chi-town”, this album has the making of a true poetic masterwork. I found it very interesting how these two websites had completely opposite opinions in the music. My opinion is that the NY Times, being an organization known across the world for their wide range of articles, tended to look more so at the music itself and the outer feelings of the music, whereas pitchfork, who only deals with music, took much more time and effort to look deeper into the true meaning of not only the music but the other artists in the album and even the allusions to past event and songs.