Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (Album Review)
Thursday, 25 November 2010
Written by Steve Wellman
November 2010 sees Kanye West release his latest album ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ which has been highly anticipated due to the tracks that he has been releasing via Twitter in what he calls ‘GOOD Friday’, unleashing a brand new song on the world every week. It also followed the release of a short film created by Kanye entitled 'Runaway' which featured many of the songs on the forthcoming album. This had built up a buzz and anticipation for what turned out as close to his masterpiece as he may get in his career.
The album opens with track ‘Dark Fantasy’ which starts with a monologue which is a genius addition to the track. It gives it a fresh feel and then followed by the eerie vocals crying out ‘Can we get much higher’ and the track proves that it possibly couldn’t for Kanye. The rap verses are what have become synonymous with Mr West with genius lyrics and effortless flow. The song also highlights West’s supreme producing talents with the monologue at the start merging into the chorus and then the verses without sounding too forced.
‘Gorgeous’ sees Kanye West team up with his good pal Kid Cudi and also Rakwoen. The GOOD Friday tracks saw many collaborations with Kanye which suggested that he would feature heavily on the album and this was proved right with the first collaboration being in the second track. It sees a complete change of direction with West using twanging 80’s sounding guitars instead of the piano based ‘Dark Fantasy’ showing versatility already within the LP. The rap verses are exactly what you expect and you become very familiar with as you hear the unique rapping ability of Mr West and all his friends on the album.
The next track could be seen as a signature track of the album with it being one of the most familiar to the public before the release. It sees Kanye go back to what we saw of him before this album with hits such as “Stronger” and “Touch The Sky” with it being solely him rapping throughout the track and no autotuning, a more classic Kanye West.
One of my highlights from the album comes with track 5 in ‘All Of The Lights’. The sweeping violin and strings introduction have number one written all over it, oh and the small matter of girl of the moment Rihanna lending her vocals to a great chorus which will be engraved into your brain for many a day after the first lesson. The track sees many people collaborate with West including Alicia Keys, best bud Kid Cudi, Elly Jackson (La Roux) and many more. This track does have number one stamped across its forehead with its all star cast and infectious beat and chorus displaying once again the production talents of Kanye West.
‘Monster’ sees the first of the tracks that have other hip-hop heavyweight Jay-Z offering his talents to with a simple rap track that has been stripped back of all the production that is seen on ‘All Of The Lights’ with another flavour of the month Nicki Minaj also featuring on it. It sees a simplistic approach to the rap song with there being a simple drum beat and the featured rappers and West displaying their lyrical talents with them all doing a very accomplished job. Not a showstopper and one of the weaker songs on the album but nevertheless still a good song.
‘So Appalled’ follows the same vibe that ‘Monster’ does but seems to extend it slightly with a slightly more produced sound creating a more exciting overall sound. The introduction signals the basic idea around the song, being annoyed. ‘One hand in the air if you don’t really care/Put your middle finger in the air if you don’t really care’ sums it up in two lines which are chanted while Jay-Z features on the track again leading another supporting cast featuring Rick Ross and Pusha T who you get very used to after finishing the album.
The first single ‘Runaway’ is an example of this with Pusha T featuring on it. It is a surprise song to be chosen as a first single but is still a very well produced and written song. The very simple piano notes at the start have you in a trance as you are anticipating the song to finally kick in and when it does, the trance just enhances as you follow Kanye West not shining himself in the greatest of lights. Calling himself a douche bag among many other insults telling his female interest to ‘runaway’. The track is one that will be synonymous with the album due to the success of his short film of the same name and the nature of it being the first single.
One of the highlights of the album follows the collaboration West does with soul man John Legend with a collaboration with Bon Iver, an unlikely one that many would not expect. It sees highly auto tuned vocals creating one of the most beautiful purest sounds ever to come out of a computer. As the song takes you on this emotional journey through the opening minute, it erupts into a massive chorus of vocals leading you to chant them from the top of ones lungs wherever you may be at the time. The song also sees one of the best rapping performances from Kanye and is just one of the many highlights from what could be Kanye West’s masterpiece.
This album proves many things but among them being that Kanye West is not just a talented rapper, but he has ability when within the studio in terms of producing, something that is not yet something associated with the US rapper. With promises of another album with giant Jay-Z (who appears on the album) the man never seems to settle down. The album shows a vast array of songs which made the cut for the album but his GOOD Friday tracks show that he has plenty more in storage which could happily make the album if it wasn’t restricted to the 13 tracks. This could be one of the albums of the year with December coming ever closer, I don’t see much competition for Mr West in that category with it getting much critical acclaim since its release, and this is just going to add to that.
Stereoboard Album Rating: 10/10
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The album opens with track ‘Dark Fantasy’ which starts with a monologue which is a genius addition to the track. It gives it a fresh feel and then followed by the eerie vocals crying out ‘Can we get much higher’ and the track proves that it possibly couldn’t for Kanye. The rap verses are what have become synonymous with Mr West with genius lyrics and effortless flow. The song also highlights West’s supreme producing talents with the monologue at the start merging into the chorus and then the verses without sounding too forced.
