Happy G.O.O.D. Saturday

Yeah, I’m a day late on this post.

Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Fridays series has officially returned this week with a new group single called ‘Mercy’ featuring Big Sean, Pusha T and 2 Chainz. In addition, Kanye also treated us to ‘Theraflu,’ a new track featuring (ahem) DJ Khaled. Both songs are streaming now over at Kanye’s site.

Based on a few listens through each, I’m giving the edge to ‘Mercy.’ Bass-y production from ‘Kanye protege’ Lifted (with assistance from the man himself, according to MTV) is killer. I have no idea what’s being sampled here, but it sounds exceedingly cool. That down-pitched hook is also pretty great, and shifting the beat into something completely different from the rest of the song for Kanye’s verse is a nice touch. Lyrically, this is pretty straightforward money/drugs/cars/women fare, but done in a stylish enough way that it doesn’t feel dull or frustrating. Leave it to Kanye and company to pull that off on a regular basis.

‘Theraflu’ is something of a different beast. The track is credited as ‘featuring DJ Khaled,’ but it might as well be a Yeezy solo venture. In keeping with his character, Khaled doesn’t actually do anything on the song apart from yelling his and Kanye’s names. His nonsense is a typically head-scratching inclusion. Kanye’s verses here are at least slightly weightier than anything from ‘Mercy.’ He’s got a thing or two to say about his current and former dating situations, in between the boasts about $6,000 pairs of shoes and the various ways in which he can and will embarrass you. The beat feels sparser than ‘Mercy,’ and less attention-grabbing. It suffices, but it’s nothing special. I suppose this track also earns some special sort of credibility for drawing the ire of both PETA and Theraflu.

Neither of these tracks really measure up to most of the material on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (indisputably Kanye’s best record), but having more Yeezy in our lives is never a bad thing. Let’s hope this G.O.O.D. Friday wasn’t a one-off.