On September 7th, fresh off of his Glow In The Dark tour, Kanye West debuted his new single “Love Lockdown” live at the VMAs.
Backed by a group of drummers and equipped with the auto-tune that seems to be so popular these days, Kanye sung his way through a four minute ballad, presumably about his breakup with fiancé Alexis. It wasn’t too good, certainly a departure from his previous material. To be one of the top rappers in the world and come out with a single that is devoid of rap is quite a bold move. But Kanye’s never one to shy away from the challenge. I gave him the benefit of the studio, and decided that I would wait for him to cook up a perfected version in the “lab”, as he fondly refers to it.
Fast-forward three days later. Kanye posts an .mp3 of Love Lockdown’s studio version on his blog.
When it comes to Kanye, I’m usually a generous fan; I take his imperfections as marks of genius (see: Lil’ Wayne). This… this was just too much. The so-called “Hardest Working Man In Showbusiness” couldn’t even properly deliver a chorus. A CHORUS! The hook was mumbled, the drums were off. It had to be an unfinished version. But, as fate would have it, this version was leaked by the man himself. Unacceptable.
Thankfully, I wasn’t alone in my disappointment. Kanye posted a response to all of the negative feedback, stating that he was working on re-”mastering” the song, fixing the drums, etc. I took this as a sign of good things to come.
Sure enough, on September 16th, six long days after the cringe-worthy original was released, a “remastered” version of Love Lockdown was posted onto Kanye’s blog.
Due to its recent release, I haven’t had much time to listen, but it seems like a drastic improvement from the original. Good thing too.
Kanye’s new album, allegedly titled 808’s & Heartbreak, allegedly drops December 16th. Allegedly.
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