Pitchfork乐评搬运（原文及中文翻译）
Yeezus Kanye West 2013
Pitchfork评分：9.5
乐评人：Ryan Dombal
中文翻译（机翻，语法、用词已调整）
Kanye 的第六张个人专辑与他在《My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy 》中所采用的极简主义彻底决裂，将流畅的灵魂和赞歌合唱换成了刺耳的电子、酸性房子和工业化音效，同时提供了一些他迄今为止最淫秽和令人心碎的故事. 看看歌名《I Am a God》你就会知道，这似乎是一种轻而易举的亵渎——坎耶·韦斯特延续了约翰·列侬 1966 年的“比耶稣更受欢迎”的震撼。但披头士的宣言更加全面和明智——“我相信人们所说的上帝是我们所有人的一部分，”，列侬后来解释说的“我是上帝”不仅仅是流行文化中一位杰出的利己主义者最新的自我吹捧。对于初学者来说，这首歌听起来不那么得意洋洋，而是令人叹为观止，与粗糙的舞厅人声样本和旨在破坏的偏执锯齿合成器碰撞在一起。在这里，Kanye 用 30 吨重的压路机追赶某人的紧迫性来谈论忠诚、尊重、“三人行”。这首歌被一系列原始的尖叫声刺穿，像素化的爆发只能短暂地停止节拍的邪恶。在 Kanye 的手中，作为一个神听起来压力很大，我们都可以与之相关，这首歌的明显灵感来自《诗篇》中的一段话：“我说过，你们是神；你们都是主的孩子。” 这些是 Kanye 在他的第六张个人专辑 Yeezus 上投入的赌注。当他向虚空嚎叫时，他在这里变得更加绝望，但这位芝加哥人一直被外界所迷惑。以《Jesus Walks》为例，他在高处喘着粗气的同时引用了另一首诗篇：“我走过死亡所在的气谷/顶层，光看风景就会让你喘不过气来。”然后，在《POWER》这首歌中，他考虑跳出奢华公寓，“顺其自然”。从某种意义上说，Yeezus 是自由落体的惊慌之声，一种焦虑和绝望的冲动，绝对没有什么可以失去的。 这张专辑是对 2008 年令人苦恼的 808s Heartbreak 的锐化演绎，标志着 Kanye 彻底打破了 My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy 的极端主义。事后看来，后者的记录——以其讨人喜欢的 GOOD Fridays无休止的嘉宾名单和一反常态的道歉采访——是他在一系列有趣但有问题的公关事件之后，试图重新吸引超大规模的美国观众的尝试。除了它并没有完全奏效。虽然 Twisted Fantasy 受到普遍赞誉并获得白金唱片，但它仍然是 Kanye 迄今为止最畅销的专辑，未能制作出前 10 名的单曲。但即使不是排行榜的粉碎，《My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy 》的复杂性和持久性也将 Kanye 的 Cult of Kanye 孵化到了一个极端的水平。 “我宁愿激怒一群人让自己开心，也不愿让其他人开心并在内心被激怒，”他在 808 发布时告诉 VIBE。 Yeezus 对这种排他性哲学，加倍强调：“一旦他们喜欢你，就让他们不像你，因为亲吻别人的屁股和你很不一样。”
对于 Kanye 来说，排斥是有目的的。在 Yeezus 中，他将流畅的灵魂和国歌合唱换成了刺耳的电子、酸房子和工业磨砺，同时提供了一些他迄今为止最下流和最令人心碎的故事。这是Ice Cube、Madonna和Trent Renzor都可以引以为豪的挑衅。一些歌曲让他解决了自 The College Dropout 以来他一直在谈论的相同问题。在他的处女作《Family Business》中，他以“如此甜蜜，就像你奶奶的照片一样”的方式，悲痛地哀叹一位被监禁的表弟不在感恩节餐桌上。在 Yeezus 上，他仍在解决被监禁的黑人的困境，但现在他被激怒了。在“新奴隶”中，他以粗俗的刻板印象面对我们，同时揭露监狱工业综合体的深刻系统性种族主义骗局。 与此同时，“I'm In It”听起来像是陷入流沙的舞厅高潮，让之前的“Slow Jamz”像迪斯尼主题曲一样流行。 “孩子和妻子的生活，但无法从夜生活中醒来，”该曲目中的新父亲故意按下按钮的最后一节说道。 “我很害怕我的恶魔/我睡觉时开着夜灯。” Kanye 告诉纽约时报，他最近达到了一个新的禅宗水平。也许专辑中最明确的台词是一个承认色情成瘾者的模糊幻想，她将女儿的母亲描述为“来自家庭电影的超级明星”。没有太多轻浮的余地，Kanye 对女性的复杂和不信任的看法对 Yeezus 毫不留情。虽然没有真正的借口来解释像“吃亚洲猫，我只需要酸甜酱”这样的扁平化的愚蠢，但专辑中许多最强大的有一刻他崩溃了，没有安全感，而且很血腥，抱怨对异性的无能。 专辑巅峰之作“Blood on the Leaves”讲述了离婚和背叛的噩梦般的故事，同时 Nina Simone 高调的“Strange Fruit”和 TNGHT 恶魔般的“RU Ready”号角的样本在主角交替悲伤和愤怒的顶空演奏阴阳.与此同时，《Hold My Liquor》和《Guilt Trip》发现 Kanye 在情绪崩溃的同时试图重申他的男子气概；如果他没有喝醉酒和急转弯，试图与前任和解徒劳无功，他希望能吹嘘自己不被甩。刻薄的幽默不时出现，为“Send It Up”和“Bound 2”之类的某些台词或曲目提供支持，但它通常是转瞬即逝的。就像在“Runaway”中一样，这些歌曲中的男人有一些明显的悲伤，这使他们从厌恶女性的权力主张转向最终更具自我毁灭性的感觉。随着 Jay-Z、Beyoncé 和 Justin Timberlake 等同时代人越来越多地将他们的音乐投入到主要赢得满足的故事中，Kanye 不愿意或无法安定下来。 这种不适对于他经久不衰的吸引力至关重要。例如，与大电话公司合作以保证商业成功，就像他的大哥一样，Kanye 现在强调拒绝企业赞助。无论是有意义的立场还是盲目的逆势举动都值得讨论。但在最近嘻哈音乐和美国企业之间的紧张关系之后，诸如“把我的拳头放在她身上，就像一个民权标志”这样的发自内心和令人不安的台词让 Kanye 超出了主流品牌的范围，希望借此汲取他的信誉。正如他告诉《纽约时报》的那样，他对大公司或大笔资金的想法并非不感兴趣——毕竟他把自己比作史蒂夫·乔布斯——但他想要控制权。 躁动蔓延到他的审美和协作选择。 Kanye 没有依赖知名的热门制作人来增强他的音乐，而是从包括 Hudson Mohawke、Young Chop 和 Arca 在内的令人兴奋的后起之秀那里征集想法。甚至参与该项目的资深制作人，如 Rick Rubin 和 Daft Punk，似乎也不是因为他们的知名度，而是因为他们打破规则的历史。在 1980 年代中期，Rubin 摆脱了早期说唱音乐中色彩缤纷的派对开始音调，并为 LL Cool J、Run-DMC 和 Beastie Boys 创作了赤裸裸的硬节拍——非常适合 Yeezus ——更多的咆哮。尽管 Kanye 刺耳的数字化攻击与 Daft Punk 的自然主义、基于律动的 Random Access Memories 相去甚远，但艺术家们拥有了一个相同的理念。正如 Daft Punk 的 Thomas Bangalter 最近谈到他们的新唱片时所说：“我们有幸做很多人做不到的事情，但这并不意味着奢华带来舒适。” 这个想法延伸到 Yeezus 如何对待人类的声音。伴随着去年的“Mercy”的混杂旋律，舞厅的土语散布在各处，带来了音乐中威胁对抗的感觉。 Bon Iver 的 Justin Vernon 出现在一些曲目中，用他的声音给黑暗赋予了天使般的色彩。在 Twisted Fantasy 的“Blame Game”中扩展声音实验，Kanye 自己的声音经常被低沉的食尸鬼所掩盖。尽管他本可以选择地球上的任何说唱歌手来客串喧闹的“Send It Up”——这可能是 Yeezus 最有可能（如果不是唯一的话）在说唱电台上大热的机会——但他选择了芝加哥相对不为人知的 King L. 他的出现，以及 Chi-town 司钻Chief Keef 的出现，清楚地传达了信息：美国可能想忽略这些来自黑帮遍布的南区的年轻黑人，但在这里，他们有发言权。 所有这些不太可能的选择都证明了 Yeezus 的凝聚力和大胆意图是多么重要，也许比任何其他 Kanye 专辑都重要。每一次荧光般的噪音、不协调的节奏翻转和扭曲的人声都在唱片的快速 40 分钟内被固定在正确的位置。精确的方法也贯穿于 Yeezus 的游击式推广，它发现了一支黑暗的面包车将灯光投射到世界各地的建筑物上，这本身就是对当今 InstaTweet 品牌音乐传播的直接反应。上周六晚上，我在曼哈顿市中心参加了其中一场即兴表演。凌晨1点20分，“NOT FOR SALE”字样在路易威登大楼南侧亮起。几个人带着圣诞节早晨的欢乐跑过街，拍着照片。然后，当出租车被下面的奢侈品商店划过时，坎耶明亮的面孔似乎在背诵“新奴隶”的反消费主义台词。在荒凉诡异的第五大道的大型广告中，他是唯一一张黑脸。面包车很快关上车门开走了。文化炸弹的闪光瞬间结束，但回响才刚刚开始蔓延。
原文：Marking a blunt break with the filigreed maximalism he nailed on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye's sixth solo album trades smooth soul and anthemic choruses for jarring electro, acid house, and industrial grind while delivering some of his most lewd and heart-crushing tales yet. Look at the song title "I Am a God" and it seems like easy blasphemy-- Kanye West's update of John Lennon's "more popular than Jesus" shocker from 1966. But just as the Beatle's proclamation was fuller and wiser in context-- "I believe that what people call God is something in all of us," Lennon would later explain-- "I Am a God" is not simply the latest self-important blast from one of pop culture's pre-eminent egoists. For starters, the track sounds less triumphant than breathtakingly vexed, crashing in with a gnarled dancehall vocal sample and paranoid sawtooth synths that aim to destroy. Here, Kanye raps about loyalty, respect, threesomes, and, yes, croissants with the urgency of someone being chased by a 30-ton steamroller. The song is pierced by a series of primal screams, pixelated outbursts that are only briefly able to halt the beat's heaving evil. In Kanye's hands, being a god sounds stressful as hell, something we can all relate to, and the song's apparent inspiration is a passage from the book of Psalms: "I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High." These are the immeasurably lofty stakes Kanye deals in on Yeezus, his sixth solo album. His intensity here has a heightened desperation as he howls into the void, but the Chicago native has always been beguiled by the view from above. Take "Jesus Walks", where he references another Psalm while gasping from on high: "I walk through the valley of the Chi where death is/ Top floor, the view alone will leave you breathless." Then, on "POWER", he contemplates leaping out of the penthouse, "letting everything go." In a way, Yeezus is the panicked sound of that ensuing free-fall, a rush of angst and despair with absolutely nothing left to lose. The album is something of a razor-sharpened take on 2008's distressed 808s & Heartbreak and marks a blunt break with the filigreed maximalism Kanye so thoroughly nailed on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. In hindsight, the latter record-- with its ingratiating GOOD Fridays buildup, endless guest list, and uncharacteristically apologetic interview sessions-- was his attempt at recapturing a superstar-sized American audience after a slew of entertaining-yet-questionable PR incidents. Except it didn't exactly work: While Twisted Fantasy was universally lauded and went platinum, it still stands as Kanye's worst-selling album to date, failing to produce a top 10 single. But even if it wasn't a chart smash, the intricacy and durability of Twisted Fantasy incubated the Cult of Kanye to an extreme level. "I’d rather piss a bunch of people off and make myself happy than make everyone else happy and be pissed off inside," he told VIBE around the release of 808s. Yeezus doubles-down on this exclusionary philosophy: "Soon as they like you, make 'em unlike you/ 'Cause kissing people ass is so unlike you."
For Kanye, there's purpose in repulsion. And on Yeezus, he trades out smooth soul and anthemic choruses for jarring electro, acid house, and industrial grind while delivering some of his most lewd and heart-crushing tales yet. This is willful provocation that Ice Cube, Madonna, and Trent Reznor could all be proud of. Some of the record has him tackling the same issues he's been rapping about since The College Dropout, albeit with a fire-eyed stare. On his debut's "Family Business", he poignantly lamented a jailed cousin's absence at the Thanksgiving dinner table in a manner "so sweet, like a photo of your granny's picture." On Yeezus, he's still addressing the plight of incarcerated black men, but now he's incensed. With "New Slaves", he confronts us with vulgar stereotypes while exposing the prison-industrial complex for the deeply systemic racist sham that it is. Meanwhile, XXX creeper "I'm In It" sounds like a dancehall orgasm mired in quicksand and makes previous come-ons like "Slow Jamz" come off like Disney theme songs. "The kids and the wife life, but can't wake up from the nightlife," says the new father on that track's knowingly button-pushing final verse. "I'm so scared of my demons/ I go to sleep with a nightlight." Kanye told The New York Times he's recently reached a new level of Zen, but this is the opposite of beach-chair music. Perhaps the album's most explicit lines are the blurry fantasies of a confessed porn addict who's described his daughter's mother as a "superstar all from a home movie." Without much room for levity, Kanye's complicated and distrustful view of women is unrelenting on Yeezus. And while there's no real excuse for flat oafishness like "eatin' Asian pussy, all I need was sweet and sour sauce," many of the album's most powerful moments have him broken down, insecure, and bloody, railing against an ineptitude with the opposite sex. Album pinnacle "Blood on the Leaves" tells a nightmarish story of divorce and betrayal, all while samples of Nina Simone's pitched-up "Strange Fruit" and TNGHT's demonic "R U Ready" horns play yin and yang to the protagonist's alternately sorrowful and furious headspace. "Hold My Liquor" and "Guilt Trip", meanwhile, find Kanye trying to restate his manhood while his emotions crumble around him; if he's not drunk and swerve-y, trying vainly to reconcile with an ex, he's hoping to brag himself out of being dumped. Caustic humor shows up now and then, buoying certain lines or tracks like "Send It Up" and "Bound 2", but it's often fleeting. As on "Runaway", there's something palpably sad about the men in these songs, which twists them away from misogynistic assertions of power toward feelings that are ultimately more self-destructive. As contemporaries like Jay-Z, Beyoncé, and Justin Timberlake increasingly devote their music to largely winning tales of contentment, Kanye is unwilling or unable to settle for settling down.
