Written by Isaiah Salgado / Staff Writer
Album of the Year: Yeezus by Kanye West
Runner up: Modern Vampires of the City by Vampire Weekend
By the end of 2010 after working endlessly on the critically acclaimed My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and successfully keeping his mouth shut, Kanye West had finally gotten in America’s good graces after the 2009 VMA incident with Taylor Swift. So what did West do next? He made everyone in America turn on him again. With no radio single, album cover or promotion West released Yeezus, an album filled with harsh electro sounds and loud powerful drums. West embodies a disgusting and vile persona and raps obscured and provocative lyrics that divided fans to either hate or love him. The album starts with the Daft Punk produced song “On Sight” which has brings a rawness that rivals that of Death Grips. Halfway through the track is abruptly interrupted by a soul sample with the lyrics “He’ll give us what we need. It may not be what we want.” This is West’s way of telling his fans he knows they want his signature “chipmunk soul” sound but he doesn’t care. He is going to continue to scream and yell and rebel because that is what we need. The rest of the album follows the opening tracks lead and delivers chest beating sounds that make the album sound as if it were made by a mad scientist. Hip-Hop artists have been much more experimental since West ended the Gangster Rap era with his debut album but Yeezus puts an end to the transitional period and ushers in what West feels will be the new sound of the genre. This album isn’t a breathe of fresh air, it’s a slap in the face.
Video Game of the Year: The Last of Us by Naughty Dog
Runner-Up: Bioshock Infinite by Irrational Games
Naughty Dog has once again proven to the world that they are incapable of making a game that is less than genre defining. Crash Bandicoot defined traditional platformer games, Jak and Daxter defined open world action platformer games, Uncharted Defined Action Adventure games and now The Last of Us has defined survival horror games. Much like Uncharted, The Last of Us is narrative driven. The game takes place in a postapocalyptic world that is filled with infected zombie-like humans called Clickers. The protagonist, Joel(Troy Baker), must escort a young teenage girl named Ellie(Ashley Johnson)through dangerous environments to a rebel group called The Fireflies in hopes that Ellie can be used to make a cure for the virus. The game has some of the most heartbreaking and thought provoking scenes that have ever taken place within a video game. It’s really surprising that The Last of Us can come of as so unique considering the video game world is overpopulated with zombie games. The Last of Us is played like a casual stealth game that allows players to either quietly take out enemies or go up against them heads on. The game also includes a multiplayer mode that is ridiculously entertaining and addictive.Part of what makes this game so incredible is that nothing in it feels lacking. The story, gameplay, multiplayer, graphics, soundtrack, and voice acting are all top notch. It’s rare for a developer to to create a game that could be considered the greatest video game of all time, which is what Naughty Dog did back in 2009 with Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Naughty Dog has now done it twice with the release of The Last of Us.
Movie of the Year: 12 Years a Slave
Runner-Up: This is the End
When Django Unchained came out in 2012 many people criticized it for making light of slavery despite some gruesomely violent scenes. The criticism stemmed from the dark humor that director Quentin Tarantino brings to his movies. Although that movie was fantastic some believe that it didn’t do enough to highlight the horrors of slavery. 12 Years a Slave does not have this same problem. There is a lot to the story but the basic plot is that a free black person named Solomon Northup(Chiwitel Ejiofor) who lived with his wife and kids in New York gets drugged, kidnapped and sold into slavery. The movie follows his struggle as a man who was once freed experiencing the atrocities of slavery. The director of the film, Steve McQueen does an incredible job at capturing the heartbreaking and shocking scenes throughout the movie. 12 Years a Slave is no doubt a must see movie.
TV Show of the Year: Breaking Bad
Runner- Up: Game of Thrones
Breaking Bad succeeded in what most great TV shows couldn’t, it ended while it was still great. The second part of season five offered some of the greatest moments in TV history and continued to have fans at the end of their seat. Walter White(Bryan Cranston) does not seek redemption but instead makes one last attempt at being the winner. Each of the characters have some kind of resolution and although the series finale seemed a bit too safe, it was extremely satisfying. Show creator Vince Gilligan made sure that Breaking Bad didn’t leave fans with a bad taste in their mouth so many legendary shows have done in the past. There isn’t a lot that can be said about the series without spoiling the ending but if you are a fan of the series and haven’t watched the last half of season five then do so.
