Dear Kanye,
Hey “˜Ye. How’s it going?
First, I just want to congratulate you on closing the VMAs three weeks ago with your new song “Love Lockdown.” There was no tantrum, no pouting, just one authoritative performance at the end, like a flashy yet compact signature at the end of a letter. For that I commend you and your legion of taiko drummers.
I also have to congratulate you for the chart performance of “Love Lockdown.” Since being released to online retailers, it debuted at No. 1 on the iTunes charts and is holding strong at No. 4 as we speak. This is obviously quite the coup for you.
However, I was thinking only one thing while I watched “Love Lockdown” for the first time, and I say this as a huge fan: “When is he going to rap?”
Sadly, you didn’t. Not even a paltry eight bars. You just sang.
Now, there is something to be said for rappers singing. Whether they’re singing their own hooks (Ms. Jackson”), singing while rapping (“Tha Crossroads”), or just singing the whole thing (“Hey Ya,” ODB’s cover of “Good Morning Heartache”), there is a precedent for rappas-ternt-sangas.
But you’re not just singing. You’re singing with autotune. Live autotune. That powerful beast that corrects your pitch in real time.
Again, there is a huge precedent for this in music. You can hear it in T-Pain, the original rappa-ternt-sanga, and his robotic croon. You can hear it in Rihanna’s giant leaps between notes, and even on the most church-trained of modern R&Bsters, Mr. Robert Kelly himself.
But if you want to be a singer, even in this day and age of studio wizardry, the American public demands some demonstration of actual natural talent behind the roboscreen of autotune. Except for T-Pain. Dude just yelled at the VMAs.
The thing about those other rappas-ternt-sangas was that they all embraced their own voices. Whether it was Andre 3000’s nasal twang, Mos Def’s jazzy croon or ODB’s breathless warble, they all accepted their own quirky, less-than-American-Idol-worthy voices by knowing their limits. Even your Big Brother himself whined “Wonderwall” in his Brooklyn accent to get back at Oasis, but I digress.
In other words, they were honest. And for a long time, Yeezy, we’ve loved you for your honesty. “We’re all self-conscious, I’m just the first to admit it,” you once said in “All Falls Down.” So be straight with us. If you want to sing, sing. We all heard you at the Grammy performance of “Hey Mama.”
But imagine my distress when I heard you were releasing a whole album full of icy beats and autotuned vocals, “808’s and Heartbreak.” Many people have posited the theory that this is your attempt to work out the feelings associated with your mother’s death and the dissolution of your engagement. I understand that, and I support your right to express that feeling of loss any way you want.
In truth, I should have seen this coming. It’s been a natural progression from the warm opening strains of “We Don’t Care,” with its (hopefully) non-autotuned hook and soul samples, to the recent gloomy, gothic synths of the deserved megahit “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” and the SNES boss battle victory music of “Big Brother.” Not to mention your non-singing application of the autotune on your pretty impeccable guest verses on “Lollipop Remix” and “Put On.” All of these songs are classic in their own right, but as life gets more hectic for you, your music seems to get a little bit cooler and colder.
Don’t pull a Pink Floyd on us and put up a wall. There really is a legion of kids who “wanna rap and make soul beats just like you” ““ myself included.
Maybe I’m wrong. “Love Lockdown” is already kind of growing on me, but I still expect a decent verse every time I listen to it. I already have been proven wrong on my opinion by the chart response to the song, but I think I speak for a legion of fans when I say it would be comforting to hear just one more sped-up vocal sample and one more rhyme gem from you.
I guess what I’m trying to say is: Rap misses you like it misses Andre 3000, another always-memorable wordsmith who was seduced by the muse of singing. And like him, maybe you’re just building anticipation for your return to the art of rhyming, but until then I guess I’ll just keep “Put On” on repeat.
Best,
Jake Ayres
P.S. Are there any internships at GOOD music?
If you think you can’t tell Kanye nothin’ too, then e-mail Ayres at jayres@media.ucla.edu.