Humorless? Oh come on. Admit it, you've never even listened. Can't have listened, not closely anyway, if you think he's "humorless."

It makes sense that Kanye and Kim K are together though, both seem to be humorless people with fragile, if extremely intense, ego structures. I used to think Kim was so gorgeous (I have deep love for dusky brunettes) and then my wife started watching keeping up with kardashians and I found out Kim K is the single dullest, least fun, least FUNNY, most self-obsessed person in her entire crazy family! It really knocked her down a peg or five in my estimation. Lack of a sense of humor, especially when it is onesself that is concerned, is way off-putting.

I said "seems to be."

New MADVILLAIN song:

http://pitchfork.com/news/70440-madl...figure-listen/

Apparently the song leaked in 2012 and they're now selling it for $85.
DOOM killed it though. Great song.

See this is where we're different. I have never watched that show and never would. We don't have tv. We only watch shows that we both get something out of (my "wifey" and I), and spend zero time on trash.

I have only seen a couple Kanye interviews, only a couple videos. My exposur to him is almost 100% through music. Seeing him live was the closest I've ever come to placing value on the non-musical elements of what he is. Like I said, I was a punk kid, and I still embrace music with the aesthetic I learned from Fugazi when I was a teeniebopper. Music is music, nothing else about it matters.

So... maybe if I wasted my time on trash tv that epitomizes the worst elements of our culture I'd feel the way you do. But I would never do that. Thank god. If the music is good, that's all there is. I don't care what his teeth or hair look like.

^co-sign.

i never watch it either. My wife loves it.

I will say, Waves is a boring ass song.

It's pretty redundant for a Kanye song I'll give you that. But I love it, even with Chris Brown's nasty ass all over it. The intro is positively heavenly, as is the production, and I love Kanye's verse chunks.

Live, it's like an out body experience. He does "I Love Kanye" all low key and a cappella, and then "I love you like Kanye loves Kanye" bursts into "TURN IT UP!" and "Waves" blasts off. Drove the crowd absolutely batshit.

New Cudi album is out and it's actually really good. Definitely his best since Man on the Moon II.

My only complaint is that it's so long.. could've cut off like 5 songs, just not sure which yet.

New Gucci is good as well. Even though it's essentially another Everybody Looking.

I've played a couple songs off the ne Cudi and I'm super happy to see that the grunge shit is over. That's all I can contribute at this point. Need to listen to more before trying to form an honest opinion.

so many things discussed recently: new Cudi, new Cole, new Gucci, etc... so many new albums I can't seem to even remotely make myself be interested in. Maybe it's oversaturation of new releases this year. Maybe I'm just bored. Or maybe I've just settled into a little niche where I'm content w/ what my ears already have. Don't know.

Same here, at least as far as hip-hop is concerned. We had Kane, Kendrick, Chance, Frank Ocean and fucking ATCQ all in one year, not to mention strong albums by Common, Danny Brown, ScHoolboy Q and Isaiah Rashad.

I'm still sorting through some of the electronic and noisey shit I missed due to listening to almost nothing but TLOP all year, but as far as hip-hop is concerned, there is zero chance that any of these new albums are going to have any kind of impact. Not that I don't enjoy a little Cudi and a little Gucci from time to time, but fuck man... none of it is even slightly interesting enough to get me truly excited.

Starting to think Kanye might've been influenced by Kraftwerk on MBDTF (and perhaps other albums too).. "Hell of a Life", as well as his red and black outfits during that era..

Y'all said 808s reminds you of Joy Division. Ian Curtis was a huge fan of Kraftwerk and cited them as an influence.

I think you're 100% right. I think the Kraftwerk influence started around '07, when he was famously embracing synths and electronic sounds for the first time. I think it continued in earnest through Yeezus at least.

You don't even need to make the connection to post punk or synth pop (via 808's) to see the Kraftwerk influence. Kanye sampled Can, who were in many ways peers of Kraftwerk even though they had entirely different approaches. He also sampled Daft Punk, of course, and Daft Punk has sucked from the Computer Love teat more than just about anyone. There's also the Aphex Twin connection.

But seriously, you're right. Anyone who's familiar with Kraftwerk and Kanye should be able to see an influence there. "Hell of a Life" is a good example, but also "Paranoid," "Guilt Trip," "On Sight," lots of WTT stuff... it all contains shades of Kraftwerk's twisted digital arpeggios and alien vocals.

Maybe more New Order than Joy Division, honestly. But yeah, I feel you.

Yep!! It all starts from Graduation. Besides the songs we already mentioned, I'd name "RoboCop" and "Flashing Lights" too.

And you're right, Kanye most definitely studied New Order and sees them as an inspiration. It doesn't surprise me that the Say You Will remake which he put on his SoundCloud account last year had a cover that looked like a "Power, Corruption & Lies" tribute.