S. Samuel
G-Unit's 50 Cent is the latest hip-hop artist to weigh-in on Kanye West's new Yeezus album and why some artists should be careful with how far they're willing to experiment.
While Fif applauded Ye’s new effort, he did admit some songs did not resonate well with him.
“Some of the joints on the new joint that Yeezy made, I wasn’t into all that,” 50 admitted in an interview with DJ Whoo Kid. “One time, the beat didn’t come on. [The screaming on there], it was creative. He came out of nowhere with that. If you see something that looks like it’s foreign — we’ll see if people can adjust to it and really enjoy it or if it’s too different. There’s a point where creative is well past your mark. You did something that’s so far out that your audience can’t hear it. Be careful what you say because it might work.” (Shade 45)
Recently, Bad Boy Records CEO Diddy highlighted the importance of Kanye’s new Yeezus.
“I think that this Kanye album, the only way I can describe it, it’s art, it’s an emotion and it’s him at his realest in its rawest form. It’s a confidence level that I feel like, blackness especially; it needs to be a theme song for them. They need to believe that all that crazy sh*t that he’s saying is the truth and I stand by it and I stand by the emotions if that’s how he felt, then that’s how records should feel. If Revolt was on air right now we probably would be dedicating the next three days to the back stories to making sure that we are promoting and being a useful tool to get their message out to get back to the mainstream media who doesn’t understand at times that’s who we are and how powerful we are.” (VIBE)
A few days ago, contributing music producer Rick Rubin said Ye seemed cool under the pressure, he admitted the cutthroat deadline had him feeling uneasy.
“To me it seemed impossible what he was asking. I remember I wasn’t feeling that well that day, and I was thinking, Is the music making me sick? I don’t feel good about this. We ended up working probably 15 days, 16 days, long hours, no days off, 15 hours a day. I was panicked the whole time,” Rubin explained. “There was so much material we could really pick which direction it was going to go. The idea of making it edgy and minimal and hard was Kanye’s. I’d say, “This song is not so good. Should I start messing with it? Can I make it better?” And he’d say, “Yes, but instead of adding stuff, try taking stuff away.” We talked a lot about minimalism. My house is basically an empty white box. When he walked in, he was like, “My house is an empty white box, too!”” (The Daily Beast)
West Coast rapper Kendrick Lamar recently admitted it took him a few Yeezus listenings before fully understanding Ye’s vision.
“It was hard for me to grasp it on the first take,” K-Dot told MTV News at the Firefly Music Festival in Dover, Delaware. “I got it, but as I kept listening throughout the week, I understood where he was going and that was him stepping out of the box again and doing what he felt. And as an artist, we all need to take heat into that and salute that because, at the end of the day, it’s so much we can do following radio, following the politics in the business so for somebody to come back again and do what they want, it helps out new cats like myself, Cole, Drake, whoever, so salute.” (MTV)
Check out 50 Cent’s interview:
