Bound 1 (Remake)
When the tracklist for Yeezus first surfaced, many fans were puzzled by the numbering of the album’s final song, “Bound 2,” since none of us had ever heard any version prior to that. After finally giving it a listen, I thought maybe it was just a lame play on the phrase “Bound 2 Fall In Love” repeated throughout the chorus, but as it turns out, there really was a “Bound 1” after all. By now I’m sure many of you have already seen the live footage of Hudson Mohawke debuting the original version during a set in the UK on Valentine’s weekend.
Now it appears as if someone’s decided to reconstruct the entire song, allowing the world to finally hear what “Bound 1” would’ve really sounded like. As it stands, “Bound 2” was already quite a departure from the deeply dark, grungy minimalism heard throughout the rest of Yeezus. “Bound 1” carries an even lighter tone, resulting in a sweet melody that heavily contrasts with the album’s material, which may be why Rick Rubin decided to step in and alter the sonic direction with one fell stroke of his epic beard. With “Bound 1” you get a sense of what Kanye was initially trying to achieve with this tune, and it almost adds some context to the sentimental nature of its oft-criticized music video.
