Yeezus is coming
Whether Hudson Valley students consider Kanye West’s future performance at the Times Union Center to be “the good news” is debatable.
Kanye West, who recently has begun calling himself Yeezus, is taking a break from changing the diapers of his newborn daughter with Kim Kardashian to go on tour for his new album. He will be at the Times Union center on Feb. 19 at 8:00 p.m.
Students at Hudson Valley don’t seem overwhelmingly excited about the rapper’s performance.
“I don’t prefer his music. I think he copies other artists and it isn’t up to par,” said Timothy Silver. “The green screen in his last music video [for “Bound 2”] was terrible.”
After interviewing students hanging out in the campus center, it became clear that even more so than his music, West’s personality doesn’t go over well.
“I like his music, I just don’t like him. It’s like Tom Cruise. You can’t help but like the movies, but you hate the guy,” said student Ahmet Vargonen.
Some students complained about the price of tickets to attend the concert.
“He’s a good singer! I would go see him if I had the money,” Audrie Adams said.
“Yeezus, get outta here! He should retire from rap and stay a producer. He makes good beats but he’s better off behind the scenes,” said John Britain After overhearing another student talking about the upcoming performance
Regardless of student opinions about West, it is undeniable that this rapper, songwriter and producer has been wildly successful.
Born in 1977, West grew up in Chicago splitting time between his divorced parents. He dropped out of art college in order to pursue his goals with music, beginning with producing and writing music for Jay-Z and working on his own demos.
After being signed by Roc-A-Fella records in 2002, he began working on his first album, “The College Dropout.”
While working on his album, West fell asleep on the drive home one night resulting in a serious car crash that required his jaw to be wired shut in reconstructive surgery. This inspired the song, “Through the Wire.”
Since then he has released five albums, including, “Late Registration,” “Graduation,” “808’s & Heartbreak,” and “My Dark Twisted Fantasy.”
“Yeezus” is West’s newest album. In an interview with Late Night Creep, West explained the title.
“For me, I want to be like Christ,” said West.
“It’s not a God complex. But people pick a favorite Halloween character, and that’s who I would pick. Don’t people pick a character that they look up to? That’s who I look up to the most. I only look up to Jesus and to God and everything I do anchors around that, it nicknames itself to that. Like that’s my hero,” he said.
Although West’s lyrics don’t always match up with that standard, it is true that his relationship with God is a recurring theme in his music, especially in his earlier music like the song “Jesus Walks.”
Tickets are on sale at http://www.ticketmaster.com