I heard a large percentage of Kanye's album yesterday. My impression of what I heard was that he's moving away from the sound he's developed and fostered over the years. His new sound is heavily influenced by a classic rock sound. It's a Phil Collins type of vibe that isn't hip hop in spite of the autotune/delay/distortion that has (although not native to hip hop) saturated the hip hop world. Again, I say that sound is not hip hop. Yes, Kanye West is a rapper and hip hop producer, but much of the new sound is not in a hip hop style. Of course, he's still Kanye, so he hasn't completely flipped the script.
I'm also not saying that I dislike most of what I heard. Overall it wasn't bad. I just think it's ridiculous that hip hop fans who hated on the smooth rock sound of years past will be all over this album and talk about how revolutionary it is and how dope the new sound is. If I did half the beats Ye did on this new album and sent them to a hip hop label, they'd laugh me out the door. But we can be sure he'll receive acclaim from many in the biz. That's the way it goes. Love to Kanye. I still think he made a humongous impact in the world of hip hop. His albums are new classics. He had every would-be producer trying to duplicate his soul sampled sound. His Glow In the Dark tour was phenomenal. So props to him.
Click here to hear Kanye's conference call to Def Jam. It's an interesting behind the scenes look. Props to the Exactly for the link.
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