At #5 on this week’s Billboard chart is the unexpected collaboration between Rihanna, Kanye West and Paul McCartney. How cool that Macca is charting for a whole new generation more than 50 years after The Beatles reigned.
‘FourFiveSeconds’ is an acoustic country folk pop song that features a great vocal by Rihanna, who isn’t exactly known for her great vocals. The song has a rawness that works for her and works in general.
Has anyone ever been as simultaneously laughed at, despised and revered as Kanye West?
He is often portrayed as a joke for his tremendous ego and outrageous statements, not to mention his marriage, and yet his last four albums have all topped critics’ lists and received praise so lavish it borderlines on absurd.
Rounding out the Village Voice Pazz & Jop top ten is the third Kanye West song, and by far the worst of the bunch.
‘Bound 2’ is so bad it makes you wonder if it’s bad on purpose. Kanye’s rapping, never his strongest suit, is just awful here and the production, always his strongest suit, is disjointed and unpleasant.
In the seventh spot on the Village Voice Pazz & Jop list is another Kanye West track — he really dominated the poll this year.
I like ‘Black Skinhead’ better than ‘New Slaves’ but I still don’t see how this is one of the best songs of the year. I think the brazenness of Kanye’s music, and the man himself, scores him points with critics. He doesn’t just make music, he makes performance art.
My 2013 recaps are lasting weeks into 2014. Next I’m going to take my annual tour through the Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics poll, as comprehensive a consensus as you’ll find of how the “professionals” saw the last year in music.
I like that the Pazz & Jop poll comes out toward the end of January. So many “year-end” lists show up in mid-December, either missing out on late year releases (Beyoncé, anyone?) or not allowing ample time for everything to sink it. Whether or not you agree with the results, you can’t argue that the critics polled didn’t have time to consider their votes.
Meet Me In Montauk 