Kanye’s Yeezus And UV Race’s Racism Are The Same Album

Midway through 2012, a Melbourne-based garage punk group retreated to country Victoria to record what would become their third full-length LP. In early 2013, one of the world’s biggest pop stars entrenched himself within the confines of a Parisian abode to create a follow-up to his Dark Beautiful Twisted Fantasy.

Two albums created on the other side of the world – one lauded by the old (avant) garde,one championed by a long-dead Austrian Archduke. Both contain ten tracks apiece. But the similarities between Racism and Yeezus don’t end there, to the extent where there is a solid case that our iteration of the multiverse is the one where UV Race and Kanye West have, virtually concurrently, constructed pretty much the same album while at opposite ends of the earth.

I AM A PIG/GOD

Track two of Racism: “I’m A Pig”. Track three of Yeezus: “I Am A God”. UV Race frontman Marcus Rechsteiner takes the slovenly recesses of his mind to the logical extreme, Kanye takes his underlying god complex and wears it like a damn Givenchy badge of honour. Both exaggerate and twist their respective images. Kanye deems himself Yeezus. Marcus has become Big Poppa. Plus I’m guessing pigs fucking LOVE croissants.

NEPOTISM THROUGH THE MEDIUM OF FILM

As part of Yeezus’s minimal promotional campaign, Kanye produced American Psycho, a short spoof film starring Kanye’s girlfriend’s sister’s boyfriend. Preceding the release of Racism UV Race released Autonomy & Deliberation, a full-length film containing a cast exclusively made up of Melbourne’s nascent garage family. Both films showcased the same level of acting chops, with Scott Disick hardly outlasting the likes of Al Montfort, Steph Hughes and Mikey Young. Speaking of who…

BEHIND THE DESK TALENT

Yeezusfeatures production contributions from Rick Rubin, Daft Punk, Hudson Mohawke, former Yeezy beef-instigator Young Chop, longtime collaborator Mike Dean, New York producer Arca, Salem’s Jack Donoghue, and plenty more sonic wizards applying their deft touches. Rough calculations put that at around 50 percent of esteemed, currently active, producers worldwide. If we’re going by the economy of scale, the Australian equivalent to all of the above is Racism producer Mikey Young (with Jack Farley making up the other 50 percent, obviously).

USING CUM TO EXPRESS DISDAIN FOR THE TRADITIONAL FAMILY UNIT

“I wanna blow my load on the nuclear family / I wanna wipe my chode on the nuclear family” – UV Race, “Nuclear Family.”

“Fuck your Hampton house / Fuck your Hampton spouse / I came on her Hampton blouse / And in her Hampton mouth.” Kanye West, “New Slaves.”

Marcus’s hypothetical act of ejaculation on “Nuclear Family” is a depraved one, admonishing the concept of the conventional family form that so defines his hometown of Warragul. He rejects it. He rises above. Kanye, now a father himself, has yet to conform to the marital bound. He says the word spouse as a pejorative a couple of times throughout Yeezus, most notably when he’s shooting his load on one during “New Slaves”—a pseudo-misogynistic display of power over the one percent.

THEMES OF SOCIAL INJUSTICE

With a brazen wont, Kanye attacks the prevalence of modern societal racism throughout Yeezus. “You see it's broke nigger racism / That's that "Don't touch anything in the store” / And this rich nigger racism / That's that "Come in, please buy more” he spits on “New Slaves”. “Black Skinhead” features the battle cry of “Stop all that coon shit / Early morning cartoon shit”. And get this, UV Race’s album is titled Racism. Crazy, right? Also there’s the track “Gypsy King”, about satirically perpetuating stereotypes to damn contemporary France’s crusade against Gypsy camping grounds.

Okay, so that one’s probably a bit of a stretch.

Follow Lachlan on Twitter: @LACHLANKANONIUK