The good, the bad, the beautiful

There are few things better than discovering a song you’ve never heard before, yet feeling like you’ve known the song for decades. You simply forgot how much you loved it.

I recently had this experience when I listened to Consequence’s “The Good, The Bad, The Ugly,” produced by and featuring none other than Kanye West.

First and foremost, THE BEAT. This is classic Kanye in every sense of the word. The song opens with an introduction to the underlying sample, and soon accelerates towards the actual beat.

One of Kanye’s greatest characteristics is his ability to create completely new sounds without abandoning the vibe of his underlying samples. This song is a premiere example of just that. Listen to the way the sample is used first as a triplet hemiola against the drums, and then the syncopation of the second half of the repeating vocal pattern. The strings are also classic Kanye, reminiscent of so many heaters off Late Registration.

With a beat like this, Consequence and Kanye don’t have to do much. Consequence does a pretty good Talib Kweli impersonation. Kanye says a bunch of Kanye things.

But that beat man… DAMN. This is the epitome of the soul sound, and everything that Kanye used to propel himself to the top of the music world. In short, this song shows one of the greatest producers ever at the peak of his powers. Revel in the good, the bad, and the otherworldly.