Kanye West - Jesus Is King
This week Kanye released “Jesus Is King”, to much disappointment. Kanye was supposed to be dropping “Yhandi” sometime in the past few months but informed his fans he was switching from his normal rap albums to only producing gospel music from now on. Of course when the album finally arrived midday October 25th many fans took to twitter to give their opinions on the album, most of which were negative. The style and theme of this album at first glance can be seen to be much different than what Kanye has produced in the past, but in reality it’s closer to his roots than many people know. Prior to Kanye’s 2004 release “College Dropout”, Kanye was known for incorporating gospel music into all of his productions. It seems the musical creativity has gone full circle as he’s arrived close to where he started except instead of just production he’s now releasing a full fledge gospel album. The production on the album is crisp but not as captivating as his previous works. On the song “Closed On Sunday” Kanye makes some incredibly childish love metaphors involving Chicfila which sparked memes in the community. Some of the lyrics are overbearingly corny and oppressively Christian but as the title of this project dictates it is indeed a gospel album. Some songs such as “Follow God” and “Hands On” could be perceived as the “bangers” of this album. The production is smooth with quick beats and nice 808 drops. The lyrical content on these tracks is still true to theme although they seem more aggressive and closer to Kanye’s known style. This album was an incredible listening experience for me and definitely has some repeatability. It is however safe to say if you’re not of the Christian faith, this album is most likely not for you.
I give this album a 7 out of 10.
Standout tracks: “Hands On”, “God Is”
Cringe tracks: “Closed On Sunday”
Written by: Schuba
Date: October 27th, 2019
Everyone You Know - Look After Your Pennies (EP)
"Look After Your Pennies" was released mid August, which has picked up tons of attraction recently with their main hits "She Don't Dance" peaking over 1.1 million views on YouTube and "The Drive" closing in on 1 million views. The guys behind the name are Rhys Kirkby-Cox and Harvey Kirkby both from fairly typical British backgrounds clearly portrayed in their music. They mix between a range of styles from house, to indie, hip hop and to grime with great music videos to accompany the tracks. Over the last few months they have been flooding the recommended sections giving them great traction in the scene.
"The Drive"
Harvey mentioned this track was completed within roughly eight hours, from working on the beat in the early hours of the day to Rhys sorting out the vocals shortly after. A lot of people brought up in the UK will be familiar with the back story, portraying smoking some fags or some joints in a small hatchback smashing back some alcohol whilst whizzing about small streets, but maybe not so much acting the tough guy fashioning a gun and trafficking drugs to seem cool for his boys.
"She Don't Dance"
The most popular of the lot, this track is based on the struggles of being a young mother in an abusive relationship alongside the issues teen parents go through. The lyrics have been stringed to show the hardship and stress young parents suffer through on a daily basis.
"Money"
The EP really does vary, "Money" was made during a time that the 2 guys were struggling on income whilst trying to provide for their family and to pay for bills. It starts out chilled until an alarm triggers and the drop hits with Rhys' aggressive vocals being thrown at you.
Overall it is definitely worth the time of giving the album a listen through. My personal favourite would be "The Drive" as it can be more associated with, however I do enjoy some of the tracks from their first EP "Cheer Up Charlie".
Written by: Joe
Date: October 28th, 2019