Unreviewable 1

[Intro: Anthony Fantano]
This is completely unreviewable trash, and here’s why.

[“Review”: Anthony Fantano]
Question: What is even the purpose of a music review in the first place?

I can say at least in terms of my own intent, uh- that when I do a music review, I hope to achieve a couple of things.

One: Give the viewer pause and cause them to think about why it is they do or don’t like the piece of music or art that I’m doing an overview of.

Or two: Excite pеople to give the music that I’m talking about a try.

Thosе are the two things I wanna do. Problem…

Neither of those goals are possible in any scenario that involves reviewing this album.

News flash; since 2022, Kanye has made it his mission to go full-on antisemite - spouting insane conspiracy theories, talking about how he loves Hitler - and at some point I think he realized how much he fucked up with all of that, so now he has to own this total dumpster fire he’s created, and boast about how people think he’s antisemitic now (because yeah, they do).

Even if he does genuinely apologize and change his behavior past this point, his public image is forever altered by all of this.

I mean, you platformed a booger-eating white supremacist and have guys, uh, like this repping for you on a highway overpass.

This is not a can of worms a guy like Kanye is capable of closing, not without help from someone who is willing to tell him NO. But he spent this same period of time pushing away anybody who could possibly do that at this point, especially his wife, who he has now replaced with somebody who he just, like, kinda parades around like she’s a naked body with no personality, opinion or voice - something that on some level I think he’s weirdly proud of, as on the very lyrics to this record, uh- he calls her “just a reference,” which is maybe one of the grossest and most dehumanizing things Kanye has said about a woman on any of his songs, and it’s being directed at his wife.

So this trajectory Kanye has been on as of late has left him with an interesting mix of fans:

One: Hateful psychos that actually agree with some of the stuff that he’s been saying, and are actually in my Twitter mentions theorizing that I’m a jew, and that’s the reason I don’t really like, uh- his recent music.

Two: Anonymous nihilistic teenagers that don’t really think anything he says or does has any greater consequence in the world, and are most likely bored, and lonely, and will just defend Kanye, because watching him unravel is more entertaining than most things (and I guess bring some kind of meaning to their otherwise meaningless lives).

And three: Cultish weirdos who parasocially obsess over him and everything he does, and would basically follow him to the ends of the Earth; keep in mind, these individuals have always been in his fanbase to some degree, but prior they were at least mixed in with genuine hip hop heads.

Now, these three types of people - and there is overlap between them in Kanye’s fanbase - don’t wanna hear anything critical about him, at all, ever. They’ve openly rejected any good faith effort I’ve made to, uh, make them aware of Kanye’s downward spiral into Nazi-adjacent rhetoric, and now imagery in the promotion of this record.

The point is, there’s no hope of having any level-headed conversation with somebody who is, like, deep into the Kanye fandom at this point; people who literally think anything and everything he does is great, and will write off any bit of dissent as just being, uh, biased and unfair to him, as if he’s Jesus Christ and can do no wrong.

So, yeah, there’s no convincing them, which I will say is also the case for people who have left the Kanye reservation over the past several years, because there are a fair share of people who are validly pissed off about everything Kanye’s been saying and doing recently, and feel like it’s totally beyond the pale and even if this record was somehow “good...”

What am I supposed to do? Tell the jews in my audience, “Aw, c’mon man! He didn’t mean it, it’s not so bad, he’s just a little crazy, that’s all!”

Especially since he’s not doing anything to gain forgiveness. He is very apparently not sorry for anything he’s been saying or doing, and the apologies he has given aren’t worth a lick of shit, because he’ll think nothing of saying, “Jesus Christ, Hitler, Ye, sponsor that” not too long after.

Now there are some people who’ll say, “Anthony, you’re being unfair here, separate the art from the artist, come on now!” You can’t separate this crap from the music because it’s IN the music, look at the lyrics. Read these words, they have meaning and they are saying things that are not good or normal. You would have to expect me to separate my brain from my skull if you think I’m just gonna ignore it.

I think this comment here pretty much sums things up, uh: “We don’t care as long as the album is good, his personality and what he says doesn’t matter to me, I only care about the music.”

How do you penetrate this level of self-imposed ignorance? This person is not listening to Kanye, he’s not listening to anything I or anyone has to say about Kanye, and this comment was posted after the album was released, so, he’s apparently not even listening to the content of the music that he supposedly cares so much about.

So, this argument about, “I only care about the music,” can’t possibly be true, especially since the music, too, is shit!

[Actual Review: Anthony Fantano]
The song “Paid” is one of the most unintentionally hilarious tracks I think Kanye has ever put out; it’s just a crappier version of “Fade,” why wouldn’t you just listen to “Fade”? You’d have to be delusional to think anything else, especially with this trash ass verse from Ye. And Ty Dolla Sign on it is just amazing, uh, saying that, he’s just here to get paid.

*chuckle* At least he’s honest.

Then “Back to Me” with that Jay and Silent Bob chorus has to be one of the dumbest things I’ve heard on any Kanye album ever, I feel like I’m being punked.

*mimicking the chorus* “Butt naked, beautiful, big-titty bitches d-don’t just fly out of the s-sky, y’know?”

At least Freddie Gibbs somehow made it flow, but yeah, th-that dude, as good as he is at rapping, he cannot save this track.

Then “Hoodrat” has maybe one of the most excruciatingly bad instrumentals on any Kanye album ever. The mix is a mess, and God, those repetitions of “Hood rat! Hood rat! Hood rat! Hood rat!”

I mean, I guess it kinda drowns out all the other stuff about the track, so… *chuckle* that’s kind of a silver lining…

[Closing Thoughts: Anthony Fantano]
But almost none of that matters, because there is so little to praise with this record, and if Kanye’s delusional fans are not hearing that this record is awful on its face as they just kind of listen to it by themselves, uh- nothing I’m gonna say is gonna convince them.

But if you really want a general assessment of this thing, it sounds like a slightly more finished Donda 2. Somehow Jesus Is King had more songs on it that sounded more, uh, cohesive, well put-together.

Which is saying something, because that was previously Kanye’s shortest, messiest, most unhinged and crappy record yet, and somehow this surpassed it, and, at least in my mind, has achieved the status of being Kanye’s worst album.

And given that the sequel tends to be a step down from the original, in Kanye’s case most of the time, the rest of the Vultures series from this point is not looking good.

But yeah, that’s all I have to say. Thank you. Bye.