These past few months we have seen the recent rapper turned businessman Kanye West remain relatively quiet. This past Monday, Mr West made his much anticipated return to social media to congratulate his wife, Kim Kardashian on reaching billionaire status. He also introduced a ten year collaboration with Gap, Inc, a company he was fired from. Kanye also mysteriously teased that he and legendary producer Dr. Dre were working together in some form or fashion.
This past Tuesday, dubbed as West Day Ever, saw Kanye’s first major music release of 2020 with ‘Wash Us In the Blood’.
‘Wash Us In The Blood’ is said to be one of the lead singles on West's upcoming album God's Country. Production is handled by West himself with the help of Ronny J and Boogz Da Beast, taking West back to his Yeezus roots from 2013, creating a rigid and primal piece that's used to convey a certain raw or unfinished aesthetic. Kanye also is a mastermind at using his voice as an instrument itself, as he opts for a sharp delay on his vocals to fully capture the aggressive nature that Yeezus brought. What’s most intriguing about this track is that it's pretty clear that this record could fit smoothly into a pocket that Ye has already experimented with. With alternative Hip Hop groups like Death Grips slowly fading into obscurity, it’s rare that West uses a sound he is already familiar with, usually opting for the most creative approach which is to create from scratch.
While keeping form from his Hip Hop days, West has found new ways to innovate the Gospel genre. Here Ye is showing that he is more socially aware than ever right now, asking God to “let it rain, Rain down on a pain ,Rain down on the slain Rain down for my mom. Rain down on the farm, Shower us with your love” in the midst of saving us from the current monstrosities we all face. Although,West does not keep everything uniform giving us a classic Kanye rhyme scheme playing off his own name stating that “ they don't want Kanye to be Kanye” and “ they wanna sign a fake Kanye.”
With videography being led by Arthur Jafa it was clear that Kanye wanted to be as current as possible. Ye included the uses of split-screen presentation and features footage of police brutality, the George Floyd protests from around the globe, historic church services, Breonna Taylor dancing, Ahmaud Arbery soon before his eventual death, scenes from Grand Theft Auto V and computer-generated images of West that could be a leftover from his Donda project.
In light of recent events that ignited a musical revolution, Kanye does his absolute best to stand amongst his contemporaries and deliver a piece of art that is dark, gritty, and passionate. We rate this video 8/10.
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