People always
ask me, “Do you like Kanye West?” I simply respond, “He’s my favorite. He’s always
releasing awesome new music, yet I liked him even more when he first started
rapping.”
I remember
having a conversation with my older brother about Kanye’s newest collaboration
album, Cruel Summer. My critique on Kanye’s particular style is that it just
wasn’t the same as it used to be since his last solo album, My Beautiful Dark
Twisted Fantasy. Kanye’s style on Cruel Summer sounds forced. On his hit
single, “Mercy,” when the background music drops and the synthesizers pick up,
Kanye attempts to rap to this beat. His style is choppy, rapping only on the
quarter notes. He has no flow here, and, personally, I don’t find it appealing
or even motivating. I don’t feel the same passion as his earlier single,
“Through the Wire,” where Kanye rapped the song while still having his jaw
wired after a car crash.
My
disappointments with Kanye’s latest music ventures disappeared when my brother
sent me the link to Kanye’s newest song, “White Dress.” Right when Kanye
started moving his lips, I knew this was going to be reminiscent of his earlier
music. There is a hint of sincerity in his voice, and when the drums pick up a
minute or two into the song, Kanye’s true passion emerged. Kanye’s lyrics do
not sounds as if they forcing their way out of his mouth, but they sounds as if
they are falling off a waterfall, flowing smoothly into the listener’s ears.
Then on, Kanye does not stop rapping until the end of the song, paralleling his
style from “Through the Wire.”
In my opinion,
the choppy, very articulated style of rapping does not work for Kanye. It may
work for some artists, but I feel Kanye should stray away from this style.
Personally, I think the choppy style is a lesser grade form of rapping because
it shows the rapper either cannot rap to a certain beat or the rapper simply
has no flow. I can say that listening to Kanye’s passion in “White Dress” put a
smile on my face.
-Harry Simon
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