Monday, November 25th, 2013

Kanye West – Bound 2

We made it to Thanksgiving, maybe we can make it to Amnesty Week…


[Video][Website]
[7.36]

Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: SPOILER ALERT: Yeezus, the turbulent struggle between one man’s social activeness and his dick, ends with the dick winning. Happy relationships win, too. ‘Bound 2’ is a sonic grace note on an album engulfed in digital malaise, an appealingly clipping of ramshackle nostalgia. It’s also a puerile little moment, a collection of raunchy routines interjected with the occasional pawing at a happy ending. The promise of a happy life is embodied by Uncle Charlie Wilson, his old-fashioned and earnest lust transformed into a disassembled synth blip. He almost functions as a sight gag, popping up whenever you least expect him, the [straight man] Abbott to West’s Costello. West is cutting loose, romantic glee floundered by self-destructive tendencies: before he celebrates, he has to mock the very thing he’s celebrating, has to overcompensate a bachelor attitude. He’s prowling the stage, damn near fucking the stool on some Def Jam Comedy shit, howling “have you asked your bitch for other bitches?!” When you think Wilson has the last word and the heartfelt tears are building up, West struts back through for an encore in an MCM jumpsuit and a goofy strut: “JEROME’S IN THE HOUUUSEE!” Many happy returns, and a toast to the asshole.
[7]

Alfred Soto: On its insufferable host album, the soul sample reminded listeners of the Kanye They Liked (its deployment was closer to Fishscale-era Ghostface but whatever), anchored to ugly admissions of yawnsome predictability and rank sentimentality (“One good girl is worth a thousand bitches” — oh, please.) I graded on a curve thanks to “I know I got a bad re-pah-tation.”
[4]

Will Adams: The Ponderosa Twins Plus One sample harkens back to College Dropout (though the snippet is pitched down instead of up; perhaps a knowing switch on Kanye’s part), but “Bound 2” is as jarring as the rest of Yeezus‘ preceding tracks. Kanye’s verses carry on and on to exhausting effect. Charlie Wilson’s chorus severs the song, throwing “Bound 2” into a different key with nothing more than falsetto howling and an overdriven synth bass — it’s as bracing as it is euphoric. Kanye, meanwhile, evokes flows of yore but sounds noticeably tired — it’s only appropriate, after baring his soul so viscerally on the rest of the album. What appears to be an olive branch is actually the album’s rawest and smartest moment.
[9]

Patrick St. Michel: This isn’t a triumph because it’s Kanye West celebrating his love for Kim Kardashian in song form, but because it’s Kanye West celebrating his love for Kim Kardashian without Kanye filtering out his Kanye-ness. He’s not afraid to still indulge in his worst behavior (ranging from his sink-side fuck session desires, to corny jokes like “start a fight club/Brad reputation”), and he’s not sugarcoating his newfound romance. He threatens to turn his private plane around if she keeps complaining! But as he puts it, “ain’t nobody perfect,” and all those imperfect details make lines like “this that prom shit” and “maybe we can make it to Christmas” sounds all the more dizzy in love. The whole thing is sweetened by that throwback Kanye production and Charlie Wilson’s private-fireworks-display vocals.
[9]

Scott Mildenhall: I KNOW! YOU’RE TIRED. OF LOVING. OF LOVING. WITH NOBODY TO LOVE. NOBODY. NOBODY! If only there were a “Bound 2 (Part II) Unbound”, because when the collage drops out and Charlie Wilson drops in, a man in his own world, and with the weight of it on his shoulders, this becomes one of the best singles of the year. It’s as if he’s been beamed from the future to deliver his message to the universe, a kind of benevolent Ray Winstone from the bet365 adverts, and it is powerful. You will love, be assured, and you’ll find it easier once you’ve switched from this to a two-minute loop of its bridge.
[6]

Anthony Easton: Elizabeth Price’s The Woolworths Choir of 1979 is a twenty-minute digital collage that uses a live performance of the Shangri-Las to fasten two other visual essays, one on choir stalls and one on a catastrophic fire in a Manchester department store, to talk about how we process information and the failures of our best intentions in containing the material in spaces. Kanye’s use of Brenda Lee and the Ponderosa Twins is a larger example of how he works in similar problems. What interests me about his music is how he hinges disparate work together, how he yokes together uneven horses. It is closer to Price’s brilliant video than the stunty and weirdly old-fashioned performance that Jay Z did this year for “Picasso Baby”. This does not mean that the sexual politics aren’t boring, and “Bound 2” doesn’t have the audacity of other tracks on Yeezus
[6]

Katherine St Asaph: “Bound 2” is a good Kanye West litmus test, encompassing everything offputting and maybe brilliant about Yeezus. It’s simultaneously more publicity-minded than Kanye hopes you’d admit — released on Ellen(!) for Thanksgiving, solely so “we made it to Thanksgiving” gets out-of-universe juice; will probably be followed up somehow on Christmas; contains a video of Kanye riding a moped with the SEO phrase “topless Kim Kardashian” through a thousand jigsaw puzzle pictures — but too much a Kanye idiosyncracy to win casual fans. It knows its audience, and resents it; the old-school sample is half galvanizing, half a begrudging sap to the part of his fanbase that still writes anti-808s screeds, and Charlie Wilson’s chorus is almost a joke, weighty so Kanye can grumble some bass throughout and get Brenda Lee to shut it off mid-plaint. (It’s funny, on purpose.) Its rapping basically does not exist, but hey, there’s plenty of dopey lovey-dovey shit, which sometimes takes the form of dopey lovey-dovey sexuality (anyone who thinks “I want to fuck you hard on the sink” is misogynistic or insulting needs to get laid) or dopey sitcom-dad standup. It luxuriates in something, whether love or its own audacity, but it’s very, very pointed for a love song. Kanye delivers “bound” like you’d deliver “bam”: defensively. It may all be more interesting than good.
[5]

Cédric Le Merrer: Pretty good beat, pretty lame rap. Crazy ridiculous stupid awesome promo. Everything you loved about Yeezus in one song.
[6]

Brad Shoup: Everyone — from gods to boyfriends — is what we demand he be. And so this is the split I worked up for “Bound 2”: the Ponderosa Twins bit is the cultural weight of monogamy, Charlie Wilson is the nearly-committed romantic gesture (his part starts like a direct address but ends up a general suggestion), and Kanye’s parts are a buzzed resistance monologue. (Brenda Lee’s there to let you know he hasn’t disappeared into himself. You know, in case you were worried.) The Twins sample sandblasts with glorious treble, the sentiment pushed to even more parodic levels. Like, for real: what do kids know about marriage? West keeps deploying the sample midphrase: a romantic “ah” becomes a baby bawling. Then he totters around the resort, memories and their absence and his libido and an earlier argument and the future elbowing each other for a view of the stage set. Perhaps she stormed off; perhaps she’s just elsewhere but it’s better to pretend she’s stormed off while you refill your cup and watch Martin on the satellite service. This is the king with the court cleared, making threats he mayn’t keep, using language he’ll likely temper, drafting apologies she’ll probably hear. From the day Yeezus leaked, I listened to “Bound 2” twice a day, minimum, for two months straight. It’s fully annexed. I have no interest in being a disciple or an apostate; I just wanna totter.
[10]

David Turner: I think I’ll just throw a die. A three: you just wish someone would be there by your side. One: your eyes are fixed on all of the hands being held and eyes interlocking. Six: you hold back texting their friend to see if what they said was true. Five: your mom asks if you’ve met any nice black girls, the answer is always an eye-roll and a negative. Finally a two: the song says it was bound to happen. “Bound” is such a frightening word. 
[9]

Jonathan Bradley: Kanye spends Yeezus waiting to exhale, and “Bound 2” is the relief after all the not-breathing and gasping. For a song featuring Ye on his worst behavior — intermingling sex and violence and romance, quoting Martin — “Bound 2” never fails to be anything but blissful, with Brenda Lee always ready to scold West’s silliness with an indulgent “uh-huh, honey.” Ain’t nobody perfect, and Kanye sounds emancipated by being bound, be it in the sense of tied or destined. Charlie Wilson is the plain romantic West can’t be, but the way the song shudders into the chorus makes even Kanye’s threats to turn-the-plane-around-with-no-Jamaica-for-anyone sound moon-eyed. He’s been here before — try Graduation-era bonus “Bittersweet” — but he’s never sounded so comfortable, so content in this territory. He’s tired. We’re tired. Yeezus wept.
[10]

Reader average: [8.78] (14 votes)

Vote: 0   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10

5 Responses to “Kanye West – Bound 2”

  1. ‘anyone who thinks “I want to fuck you hard on the sink” is misogynistic or insulting needs to get laid’

    That’s pretty much how I feel about the entirety of ‘I’m In It’, bar the “sweet’n’sour” sauce which is just ick. but yeah, sex!

    LOOK HERE, SEX

  2. so many fucking amazing blurbs (though i wish there was more than one woman talking about this track). anyways, good work guys.

  3. I haven’t wanted a shirt from a video this much since Taylor’s NOT A WHOLE LOT GOING ON AT THE MOMENT in “22.”

  4. I believe it’s from the DONDA Green Screen line.

  5. I feel like there’s 2 or 3 good Kanye West songs stuck in this mess trying to get out.