On September 17th in the two thousand and eighteenth year of our Lord, Kanye West tweeted a picture of a text bubble reading, "YANDHI 9 29 18" and the music world had a freaking conniption.
His minimalistic announcement added yet another big-name project to the weekend of September 28th, with Lil Wayne, Logic and Cypress Hill all having previously confirmed projects for the date. Now ever since Kanye revealed Yandhi to the world, people have been asking me, "Peter, are you excited for the new Kanye album?"
And I respond to them, "People, I am not." "Oh you must not like him because he's a Trump supporter, you lib cuck," these same people may retort, but that just isn't the case at all. Kanye West could endorse Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, Margaret Thatcher, Bob the Builder or Ted Shackelford, and none of it would affect his ability to be a good rapper.
I would like to take this moment to clarify that I'm not saying that Kanye West is bad at making music. In fact, I would argue that he is one of the top producers behind the boards today. What I am saying is that maybe, just maybe, he should stay behind those boards a little more often and leave the rapping to guys who are more better with words.
Early this summer, Kanye dropped a string of albums which he produced for a number of artists including Pusha T's Daytona, Nas's, Nasir, and a collab album with Kid Cudi titled KIDS SEE GHOSTS, in addition to his own self-produced album, ye.
If I dare make a sports reference, these albums have the feel of the 1990's Buffalo Bills: they just kind of circle the wagons. While the samples used, and production is pretty spectacular, it often times overshadows the lyrics written for each track. Some of the albums, Nasir, in particular, felt rushed as if the deadlines he set for himself crept up too quickly.
At risk of sounding like a 13-year-old girl on twitter, I really do miss the old Kanye, or at least I prefer his old style more. I'm hoping that this new project Yandhi, is more My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, than it is, I Love it (His latest single with Lil Pump). I'm hoping for more "I'm living in the future so the present is my past/ My presence is a present, kiss my ass", and less, "Poopy-di scoop/ Scoop-diddy-whoop/ Whoop-di-scoop-di-poop."