With most albums that get released, I try to not let the musician’s personal flaws or public mishaps get involved in my opinion of the album. But with Kanye, how the hell do you not do that? He is easily the most prominent celebrity since… Michael Jackson? John Lennon? Ok-- maybe that’s a stress, but still, his antics are absurd, he is a huge prick according to most who don’t understand him, but yet our society keeps running back to him for our entertainment. And that entertainment is not just comedy. When he said, “George Bush doesn’t care about black people,” people (including myself) were in joy because, to a great degree, he spoke the truth. Anyway, a few months ago I would ask myself, “Why do we even care about Kanye West?” Since 808s and Heartbreak came out (I wasn’t a huge fan), I almost forgot why people gave two shits about Kanye, but with My Beautfiul Dark Twisted Fantasy, I remember why: the man is a genius. This is his Sgt. Pepper (and yes, like Sgt. Pepper, it will be the only album of this man’s illustrious career that will win “record of the year,” but nobody cares about the Grammys anyway). This album will “runaway” with album of the year, even more so than Merriweather Post Pavillion did last year. Is it my album of the year? I think so.
The album is meant to represent his life. People fantasize about fame and stardom, but when we get to that plateau we realize how dark and twisted it can be. Kicking off the album with “Dark Fantasy” is just brilliant, especially noting that the first line is, “I fantasized about this back in Chicago,” kicking off his hour plus story of his fame and life. It’s easily one of the best opening tracks I have heard on any album this year. The prolific gospel singing is just chilling. I get goose bumps listening to it. I can run track to track and explain why this album is just amazing, but I will just stick to a few to keep you from shooting yourself. “POWER,” which was the public’s first preview of what the album would sound like, continues on the notion of Kanye West’s domination. It’s obnoxiously arrogant, but man is it catchy and the PRODUCTION is just out this world! I will get to that later, but “POWER,” with its sample of King Crimson’s "21st Century Schizoid Man,” is just startling. Only Kanye could think of using that as a sample (and yes I KNOW that Kanye wasn’t the only one to produce the whole album, but IT'S HIS ALBUM… that’s a completely different stupid argument anyway). Furthermore, from “Monster” to “So Appalled” to “Devil In a New Dress,” there is not a single unlikeable second (besides Nicki Minaj’s verse on “Monster,” sorry… not a huge fan of hers).
My only gripes with this album are that A.) “Runaway” goes on too too long. B.) “Lost in the World” just doesn’t really fit into the album well to me. Besides that… I will just continue to explain why I love this and you should too.
A lot of haters get on Kanye’s rapping, but A.) Kanye is not that bad… he doesn’t have the flow of Big L, he doesn’t have the wordplay of Weezy, he doesn’t rap about things as intense as Biggie or Pac, but who cares… he is still better than most people rapping today. B.) Many rappers that are better than him ARE ON THE ALBUM! Jay-Z, Raekwon (put out the best rap album of last year), RZA… plus many others like Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj, and Pusha T (this not to say that the three previously mentioned are actually better in my opinion) I don’t think you’re listening to the lyrics (probably because the production is just so much better than anything else that have come out in a long long time) if you don’t think that Kanye is an above adequate rapper.
- “Too many Urkels on your team, that's why your winslow”
- “They rewrite history, I don’t believe in yesterday and what’s a black beetle anyway? A fucking roach?”
- “Is hip hop, just a euphemism for a new religion, the soul music for the slaves that the youth is missing”
If you don’t think Kanye is a pretty damn good rapper, I think your just listening to My Beautiful Dark Twisty Fantasy to just not like it and be ironic (aka hipsters).
I think it goes without much saying that what makes this album special is the production. The album sounds better than anything I have heard all year… by a long shot. For one, the samples used on the album are just phenomenal. From King Crimson to Manfred Mann's Earth Band to Smokey Robinson to Aphex Twin to Bon Iver to Gil Scott-Heron the album’s sample choices are not just eclectic and unique, but also fit the flows and styles of many of the rappers featured excellently. Two, the production and beats used create an atmosphere where every artist flourishes. Every verse on the album is immaculately put together. I can’t think of a verse that sounds half-assed in any sense.
In closing, this album has everything you could have asked for from Kanye. It’s catchy and exciting at some points, prolific and gorgeous at others, but above all, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is his most ambitious album to date. More so, it’s the most ambitious album to be released in the past five years. Without a doubt, this is one of the best albums of the year, if not, the album of the year.
-- Greg
RATING: 95/100
Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by louis scolnick
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