Now this isn’t a “rap” website, but then again, Kanye West stopped being a “rapper” a long time ago. And of course given Kanye’s recent commentary in a radio interview last week that his next album will be the Born in the USA to Yeezus’ Nebraska, I feel compelled as an ardent follower of the rock-and-roll messiah (BOSS) to sound off on his newest decision to have the Yeezus follow-up produced by both Rick Rubin and Q-Tip.
Rick Rubin of course is the mastermind/insane person behind this year’s hotly contested Yeezus, and is largely credited for distilling whatever the hell noise Kanye had recorded for the record into, well, less noise. Which is not to say that Yeezus wasn’t a successful or accomplished album (I’ll save that argument for a later date), but rather that the addition of Rubin–the man who has worked with Run DMC, the Beastie Boys, Eminem, RHCP, Jay-Z, Metallica, the Avett Brothers, and… wait for it… NEIL DIAMOND!!!–is pretty much a guarantee for another social/musical listening experiment.
Q-Tip meanwhile, of A Tribe Called Quest fame, previously worked with Kanye on My Dark Twisted Fantasy, which was really the last time anyone heard anything resembling lyrical or typically-musical greatness from the self-proclaimed god. While I’ve no idea what the combination of Rubin and Q-Tip will mean when the record drops sometime (likely in the next 6 months) next year, I will confess that I’m actually excited to hear it.
While Kanye’s Springsteen comparison may have seemed outrageous–and conventionally it was; not that Kanye gives a damn about convention–it does illuminate parallels aren’t nearly as abstract. Following Born to Run (College Dropout), Darkness on the Edge of Town (Graduation), and The River (My Dark Twisted Fantasy), Springsteen had exploded to the point where he was the biggest rock star on the planet. And then of course the man had the gall to go into his bedroom and record an entire record on a 4-track with nothing but a guitar, a synthesizer, some odds and ends, and his voice. The record was a shock to fans and listeners, was hotly disputed as “rock and roll”, but was critically acclaimed and stands as one of the bolder (and in some circles more impressive) decisions in rock and roll. Sound familiar?
At any rate, (and enough of my own dissertation on the matter) I do like that Kanye is thinking along those lines. It’s no secret that the man is, for better or worse, addicted to all the trappings of what it means to be a rock star, but if he really is intent on following that kind of musical path his next record could be a triumphant return to the form that made him Kanye West in the first place. And if that means more soul, more gold, and more daughters named Alexis, then dammit I’m going to be sure to listen.
