Lots of familiar faces in this week’s #SetTheVCR. So park your face in front of the TV and we can begin.

No one has peace this week’s #SetTheVCR: that’s the State of the Union it doesn’t matter where you’re From or even if you’re a jeen-yuhs. It does make for excellent TV, though.

So according to Pitchfork Kanye West held another Donda livestream event last night; so smart. He’s making an album release an experience. It’s been too long since we had sonic fun like that.

Yet one of the songs Jail used to have a Jay-Z verse and now it was replaced with a verse from DaBaby (seems like a downgrade but whatever…).

Kanye has done this for 2 or 3 albums now he never releases finished songs. He’s often tinkering. (Granted Part 1: if it was anyone but Kanye this would be annoying. He’s got the skills and talents to justify tinkering.)

I wrestle with Kanye’s creative penchant for alternative versions. We talk about him like we do every other artist and that’s a lie we’re not all on the same page. A theatrical release is mainstream…we can have a conversation about that because we all consumed the exact same product. We like it, hate it, are indifferent to it etc.

(Granted Part 2: When bands perform a song live they can do whatever…acoustic, duets etc. and that’s dope too. I don’t mind those live versions because…they’re live versions.)

Like I heard 2 or maybe 3 versions of Wolves. I like the song…some version at least but I dunno which version you’ve heard. Or me…I dunno which version I’ve heard either.

Like this is Wolves…

The original album version featured a rap from West and a moody outro from Frank Ocean, which replaced Vic Mensa and Sia’s verses. Ok great.

Then…an alternate version including Frank Ocean, Vic Mensa, and Sia. Unlike the album version, Frank Ocean’s outro is featured at the start of the song, and West’s rap is omitted. Ok sure.

Then…in March 2016, over a month after the album’s release (The Life of Pablo), West updated the album’s Tidal tracklist with a reworked version of Wolves, which includes the previously removed vocals from Vic Mensa and Sia. Ok I’m tired.

I like Wolves but I no longer know which version I’ve heard or like. Or how to recommend and share Wolves with you.

(Granted Part 3: I can accept songs are never finished; they’re “abandoned.” Maybe the revisiting makes the songs better? It’s certainly easier to do since it’s all digital. Band used to put out a physical record…it’s a literal record…it’s sealed. Like court documents. It’s…on the record.)

It certainly speaks to Kanye’s boundless creativity…dude is restless yet he successfully assembled a malleable passionate fan base that will follow him down these dark roads. It’s impressive. And slightly exhausting.

–28-

Sammy Younan is the affable host of My Summer Lair: think NPR’s Fresh Air meets Kevin Smith: interviews & impressions on Pop Culture.

Kanye is making everybody with a website who monitors metrics over quality rich; his nickname should be money (all due respect to Jordan). What with his insightful twitter diatribes and “journalists” playing Web MD constantly diagnosing his “mental health issues” websites are churning out content and “analysis.” Overlooked in the superfluous parroting “Kanye is a douche-bag” rhetoric is his musical gifts:

Sammy Younan

Girth Radio Presents…

Yes! The sparse hypnotic production means you can focus on the words; often with rap the beat is the distracting and seductive belly dancer capturing your entire attention. Which is cool since Pusha T has some relevant things to share:

“The three leading killers of you niggas
Is the shit that’s most appealing to you niggas”

M.P.A. = Money Pussy Alcohol:

Abracadabra: just let this Hip Hop Proverb work its Magic…

The Hip Hop Proverb version of What to Expect When You’re Expecting, Gold Digger edition:

David Samuels’ recent Kanye West article: American Mozart.

Last night Kanye West went OFF on twitter…for 3 hours. I was online when it started…kept up with him for the first hour then I had to stop and go back to my work. (You could tell something special was about to go down–I instantly scrambled my brown butt upstairs to hastily make some tea, I didn’t even let it brew properly I wanted to get back to the scene. It’s like being a Gotham citizen and looking up one dark night…cloudy sky…and seeing the Bat Signal blazing the darkness: awww yeah! you just want to fist pump).

compromise

Rock music has the 27 Club a fateful sad collection of typically talented musicians who only got to 27 felled by drugs or alcohol, meh just name any vice really. Hollywood doesn’t have a club but it does offer its share of cautionary tales.