“Amazing” and “Tell Everybody That You Know” — the latest tracks from Kanye West’s much-anticipated, much-leaked, and boldly rap-free 808’s and Heartbreak, dropping November 24 — do feature rhymes, but from Jeezy and Weezy, not Kan-yeezy, who sticks with the imminent album’s T-Pain-inspired Auto-Tuned crooning style. Kanye’s oddly flat vocals, while they may evoke heartbreak, hardly match those of Mr. Pain — especially stacked against T’s irresistibly cool current hit “Can’t Believe It” — and the addition of two rap talents doesn’t really add much to either song. Young Jeezy maintains the feel of the solid “Amazing,” but even if Lil Wayne had turned in a great verse (which he definitely did not), it still wouldn’t have been enough to save the lackluster “Tell Everybody.” We never thought we’d say this, but Kanye needs to get back to rapping about himself.
“Amazing”:
“Tell Everybody You Know”:
