Kanye West - Yeezus

There’s a chance that hip hop’s most audacious innovator leaked his latest opus himself so he could focus on fatherhood. Appearing online the day before his girlfriend Kim Kardashian gave birth to their daughter, Kanye’s sixth studio album is a dark, experimental affair that finds the Grammy-winning rapper exorcizing demons while mixing dancehall, house and industrial music. Already controversial due to misogynistic lyrics and the ego-crazy “I Am a God,” the album is disturbing, inspiring and confounding all at once. Guests include Frank Ocean and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and the catchiest songs are those produced by French electronic hitmakers Daft Punk, who turn “Black Skinhead” into a surrealistic march resembling the wicked witch’s guard chant from The Wizard of Oz. Kanye closes with a little soulful romance, hinting in “Bound 2” that he and Kim may be getting married. For all of its nightmarish qualities, Yeezus ends on a surprisingly blissful note.