The Boy With The Thorn In His Side

Love him. Hate him. No matter what your opinion may be about Kanye West. You have to give the guy credit for keeping things interesting. We’ve heard the new single Power taken from the forthcoming record Good Ass Job, right? Now this above is the sleeve. Interesting would be one way to desrcibe it… A sword through the head of a king… Could the King in the picture be none other than Kanye himself? This, my friends, may be one of those things that make you go hmm… Nevertheless, once again it’s all about Kanye and no matter what his name will be on the lips of many for the next few months leading to the release of the record. If the record is as good as Kanye will tell you it is (and I believe it will be), it would be talked about and lauded even more into the new year. We shall see…

It was bound to happen sooner or later. The pouting prince of hip-hop. The sworn enemy of George W. Bush. Taylor Swift’s BFF. Kanye West is about to make his return. You have been warned. It’s time for the first shot from his long-awaited forthcoming fifth record entitled Good Ass Job. The song is called Power and…wait…is that King Crimson I hear? Prog-rock sampling by Kanye? Taking a bit from the track 21st Century  Schizoid Man should rile up a few dinosaurs into crying about one of their treasured artists being used as a *gasp* sample in a rap song.

Mr. West has ditched the singing that dominated 808’s & Heartbreak and has gone back to rapping which should quell the cries of SELLOUT that could be heard from the closed-minded minority of hip-hop purists that refuse to acknowledge the year is 2010 and not 1978. This song is for them. Nothing new from Kanye to be heard here. The production is top-notch. A back-breaking beat that begs to be cranked out of every truck rolling through the hard streets of suburbia. The familiar detached and at times lazy delivery that’s made West the household name that he is. Truth be told, it’s not the home run I was expecting out of the box but it’s definitely not bad by any stretch. Hopefully this isn’t the official first single. Either way, it’s great to finally hear some new Kanye.

“Power” by Kanye West, taken from the forthcoming Island-Def Jam release, “Good Ass Job”

“Memories made in the coldest winter
Goodbye my friend
Will i ever love again?
Memories made in the coldest winter”

Say what you want about his uncanny talent for self-promotion or his affliction of foot-in-mouth disease, it’s hard to argue Kanye West’s imprint on rap music and pop music in general. You name it, he’s already done it. Producer? Check. Artist? Check. Blogger? Check. Pop Icon? Check. The man has had his finger on the pulse of pop music for almost ten years now. The man has helped bridge the gap between indie rock, dance music and rap in the last decade and slowly but surely his peers in the hip-hop are getting the message. His last record, 2008’s 808s & Heartbreak was yet another example of the man’s talent and potential as he once again stays two steps ahead of the competition by not releasing a rap record at all. 808s was a beautifully constructed exploration of love and loss by an artist who stripped himself bare in every respect and showed us what true artistry can still sound like in 2008.

Curiously enough, we find that Kanye has released a video for the track Coldest Winter. Curious in that the last we heard from Kanye, he was busy helping Taylor Swift become the new American darling after his Hennessey-fueled outburst at the MTV Video Music Awards last year.  The film itself is truly a piece of work as we find a beautiful girl running away from something…someone. We never really get to see who before the video ends with our heroine jumping off a cliff. The track itself was remixed for the video and sounds more majestic and menacing than the album version.  It definiately captures the spirit and the intensity of the song which is what you expect from any video worth its salt.

Looks like Kanye has done it again. Admit it.  At the very least it gives us something to look forward to until Good Ass Job drops later this year…

“Coldest Winter” by Kanye West, taken from the Roc-A-Fella/Island Def Jam release, “808s & Heartbreak”