Comparison of Reviews on Yeezus

               Both Pitchfork and the New York Times published reviews of Kanye West’s Album Yeezus. Both of the reviews focused on different aspects of songs in the album such as lyrical meaning and what it says about Kanye, but the reviews had different tones about the content of his music. The Pitchfork review had much more sarcasm and humorous metaphors than the New York Times review, which had a more serious way of describing the album. A quote that both reviews mentioned “soon as they like you make ‘em unlike you” is taken in two different manners. The New York Times uses this quote to show that Kanye boasts his luxurious lifestyle and his lack of desire for followers because he has enough already. Pitchfork spins this quote off to talk about Kanye’s philosophy of not kissing up to the media for more time on the air or more articles in the weekly tabloids. One article depicts Kanye West as a selfish thug at times whilst the other article depicts him as a prophet on topics such as the civil rights movement and the racist stigma that still exists in the young community that is his audience. The clear division in these reviews is due partially to the authors of these articles. Pitchfork solely focuses on music and thus has more experience comparing the music of Kanye West to other artists’ styles. The authors are music enthusiasts who focus on the entire collection of the work from lyrical content to the bass that drives them whereas the authors of the New York Times are probably more interested in dragging imagery from the text to connect it to the outside world. The different personalities of those writing these reviews definitely adds to the bias that surrounds the same exact quote.