Ah good old Kanye West. No single artist of the last few years has put together so many infamous acts that taint and expand his image. But, enough on what I'm sure 92% of the American population is aware of about Kanye. He's back, with his fifth studio album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The first listen is very overwhelming. The first tracks into the album are a tremendous effort that hooks you immediately into the world of Kanye.
Starting off with the epic cries of "can we get much higher?", "Dark Fantasy" is a near perfect intro to My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Kanye West's superb 35-minute film "Runaway’s” use of "Dark Fantasy" fits the mood perfectly. Kanye is driving in a heavily forested area in perfect harmony with the beat. If you get the chance go to Kanyewest.com or YouTube and check out the whole video to get a visual few to the album.
Anyway, following the very powerful intro is a very hazy distorted stoner rap-like "Gorgeous" featuring the very popular Kid Cudi and legend Raekwon. The sample use and instrumentation is very interesting and doesn't seem repetitive like past Kanye songs. In fact, the whole album's use of sample and instruments is very well done. The most entertaining is the deep rumblings of "Monster" or the very surprising use of King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man" on "POWER".
Of course, you can't credit a hip-hop album's beats without taking note of the lyricism For the most part, I enjoy them. They aren't anything mind blowing, they flow but fall short on creating interesting imagery. My favorite of Kanye's chorus comes on "Devil in a New Dress" when he raps out "Put your hands to the constellation/the way you look should be a sin, you my sensation". "Devil in a New Dress" sounds like nothing else Kanye has ever put out. It is most definitely the most powerful and successful song to come out of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
Then hits the biggest and premiere song on the album, "Runaway". This nine-minute anthem is probably one of Kanye's most ambitious efforts to date. The very strange lyrics of "Let's have a toast for the scumbags" or other rhyming bad names. The constant note of the piano in the background is perfectly used and is probably the only part of the song that makes me actually enjoy the song.
My favorite moments of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy are just Kanye and the mic with very solid samples in the background. I've always hated all the collaborations hip-hop and pop artist do on their albums. By putting in big names into their album they think their album with sell better. Though that might work, it's annoying. If I'm buying a Kanye West album, I only want to hear Kanye West. But I know that will never happen. The moments of Kanye just rapping like on "Gorgeous" and "Devil in a New Dress" with maybe the occasional appearance of another artist really work so well on this album.
I especially like how Kanye doesn't give into all the traditional hip-hop electronic beats that the entire pop rap artist seems to giving into. You know what I mean; the super-fast beats that are just pure annoying. Kanye uses traditional, real instruments in his beats. Overall, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is a really entertaining album. It crosses a lot of different genres of music that will most likely appeal to a lot of people.
Overall: 8.5/10
- Dark Fantasy - 9.2
- Gorgeous - 8.7
- POWER - 9.0
- All of the Lights (Interlude) - 8.3
- All of the Lights - 9.0
- Monster - 9.2
- So Appalled - 8.0
- Devil In a New Dress - 9.4
- Runaway - 8.9
- Hell of a Life - 8.3
- Blame Game - 8.2
- Lost In the World - 6.5
- Who Will Survive In America - 7.5
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