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Music

Watch an Orchestra Perform a Mash Up of Kanye and Beethoven, Named 'Yeethoven'

"Blood On The Leaves" mixed with Beethoven's "Fifth Symphony" will cleanse your spirit.
Daisy Jones
London, GB

Ever since 2 Many DJ’s combined Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” and Röyksopp’s “Eple” way back in 2003, music mash ups have been dying a slow and painful death. It’s like, yes two tracks can be combined and not sound awful, but that doesn’t mean we have to do it. I can eat a sandwich and walk simultaneously, but I’d rather sit down, eat and then walk. Do you know what I mean?

For some reason, people love to do this with Kanye West tracks. There was that Kanye and Sam Smith mash up (Samye), that Kanye and Linkin Park mash up (Kinkin Wark), that Kanye and Weezer mash up (Yeezer), and there was that time that French kid made an entire album of Kanye and Queens of the Stone Age mash ups that actually kind of banged (Kanye of the Stone Age).

Anyway, despite assuming there were no more Kanye mash ups to mash up, another one has arrived—but even I have to admit it’s decent. Performed by LA’s Debut Orchestra of the Young Musicians Foundation, the track is the first instalment of Yeethoven—a mash up of classic Beethoven works and tracks from Kanye’s iconic 2013 album Yeezus. This first glimpse sees “Fifth Symphony” blended with “Blood on the Leaves”, which is itself a rework of Nina Simone’s “Strange Fruit.”

Conductor and co-curator Yuga Cohler said: “Both musicians’ willingness to ruthlessly abandon tradition, and their influence on that larger culture can’t be overstated.”

You can hear the track below: