An analysis of an album advert for 'Yeezus' by Kanye west.

2. Kanye west ‘YEEZUS’ music magazine advert
analysis
Background
“Yeezus is the sixth studio album by American rapper Kanye West.It was released on June 18, 2013, by Def
Jam Recordings. West gathered a number of artists and close collaborators for production on the album,
including Mike Dean, Daft Punk, Noah Goldstein, Hudson Mohawke, Arca, and Travis Scott. Yeezus also
features guest vocals from Justin Vernon, Chief Keef, Kid Cudi, Assassin,King L, Charlie Wilson and Frank
Ocean. Fifteen days before its release date, West enlisted the help of producer Rick Rubin to strip down the
record's sound in favor of a more minimalist approach.
Yeezus has been characterized as West's most experimental and sonically abrasive work. It draws from an array
of genres, including industrial, acid house,electro, dancehall, punk, and Chicago drill. It also continues West's
unconventionaluse of samples, as on "Blood on the Leaves.," which prominently interpolates Nina Simone's
1965 rendition of "Strange Fruit". The release features no album artwork, and the physical CD edition of the
album was released in a clear jewel box with only a strip of red tape and sample credits. Initial promotion of
Yeezus included worldwide video projections of the album's music and live television performances. West
released two singles from the album, the song "Black Skinhead" in July 2013 and "Bound 2" the following
month.
Yeezus received widespread acclaim from critics, many of whom named it among West's best work and
commended its brash direction, though public response proved considerably more divided. The album debuted
at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 327,000 copies in its first week of release. It topped the charts of 30
other countries,including the United Kingdom and Australia. Yeezus was nominated in two categories at the
2014 Grammy Awards, including Best Rap Album. As of 2016, the album has sold 750,000 copies in the United
States.”
The main image
Overall, at first glance, Kanye’s album advert is presented as minimalistic and boring. There is no Image of
Kanye in his “chains” (Urban talk for heavy gold or silver necklaces commonly associated with rap artists) or
funky imagery. However, through further analysis there is a much more deep, abstract and strong message
behind the advert.
Kanye west is infamous for being outspoken and passionate about his beliefs from Black’s people’s historical
oppression to who should’ve won Best female video at the VMAs after he stormed on stage to protest that
Beyoncé should’ve won instead of actual winner Taylor Swift. In this analysis, I would interpret the image of
the plain CD case as Kanye’s attempt to show just how established as an artist he feels he is. By having no
decoration over the clear CD case, a plain, studio shot white background (one of the only professional
conventions)and CD itself, Kanye is trying to show that he knows people are going to buy the album. He’s
basically sticking a great big middle finger up to how his management and how society would like to see his
album advertised and makes a point on the power of consumerism, about how just because we’ve developed a
‘buy now’, everything must be the latest otherwise what’re you doing? Attitude as fans we’ll buy into Kanye
even if he’s put minimal effort into the promotion of his new album- we’ll buy into because its “current” Kanye.
If the image alone was seen,nobody would know that it was a Kanye album otherthan the fact that it has
‘Yeezus’ written on a pathetic,red, sticker seal.
The red sticker does have some significance to the imagery, Red as a colour holds connotations of danger
and hatred, Therefore, the seal could represent a ‘warning’ sign possibly, it could suggest that the album
itself is reckless, the opinions expressed through song- controversial as well as it’s not conventionally
what is expected of a rap album promotion.

3. Rap as a genre is renowned for being opulent, flashy, and unapologetically rebellious. The ‘Yeezus’ album
advert subverts from the codes and conventions as to the imagery of an album advert. We’d expect this
presentation from a genre such as indie rock as that genre is about being unconventional. Rap is
extremely mainstream and so for Kanye to present his album in this way it suggests that he feels
comfortable to break expectations and experiment as he feels he has the power and presence to do so in a
way that he would keep his huge, and ever-growing fan base.
The titles, text, and font/font size
Immediately, the audience are drawn to the bold, marker pen title of ‘YEEZUS’ illustrated, emphasising in
block capitals. The nickname of Yeezus is a combination of Kanye and Jesus Christ. This tells the audience
that he sees himself as a powerful, omnipotent, forceful leader of moral greatness. Regardless of
individual belief, to make this comparison on your own behalf (Kanye came up with the name himself)
states a certain over-confidence of an individual. However, To Kanye’s fans he is a godlike figure, and so to
them it isn’t arrogant as they liveand breathe his music like the messages of a religion. This could suggest
the impact rap music has in today’s culture and how it has almost replaced the significance of religion.
The title itself is as we would expect following the codes and conventions of a magazine album advert, are
bold and at the top of the advert. Along with this is another conventional aspect of a music magazine
album advert being the subheading just underneath the title. Even more so the release date is also
mentioned as well at the bottom of the text adding to the following of the codes and conventions.
Furthermore, to mention that there is ‘no pre-order’ again states how he thinks once the album is
released, there’ll be more than enough sales as pre-ordering is used to guarantee artists album sales as
well as gain more hype for the album itself. Although, through this album promotion Kanye aims to break
codes and conventions- regardless, some codes do have to be followed so that the audience recognise that
this is an advert for ‘YEEZUS’.
In some ways the advert breaks and follows convention at the same time. For example, the use of ‘Please
purchase’ used in the text is used instead of buzzwords such as ‘buy now’, this subverts from the expected
as it would appear to be begging this could signify how Kanye is exposing other advertising techniques
and taking those techniques back to their original message of what an advert’s whole purpose is- for you
to purchase whatever is trying to be sold, rather than glamourizing it making it not seem so direct and
needy.
The choice of font pushes the point of how Kanye sees himself as powerful enough to sell plenty of copies
of his new album, although a handwriting style font was used to promote Olly Murs ‘Right place, right
time’ with the imagery to back up the point- Kanye wants to present the advert as a traditionally
unprofessional, lazy, ‘last minute’ advert because he believes that his name alone will push album sales.