I've been listening to Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy for well over a month it seems, and I've been wanting to review this album in a way that's a little different compared to all of the other people and publications that have done so. I believe that Christmas happens to be the day in which the thoughts and the words have finally come together.
My initial issue with Kanye throughout the past year and some months is that his personal life has overshadowed his own music. To put it bluntly, he got the big head, then praised the Hennessey. When I say big head, I don't mean simply cocky and arrogant, because he was that on his first album. Mr. West reached a level of arrogance that's never been reached by 99 percent of us. As a rapper/producer, we really expect you to make music, that's it. Anything else is too much and though we may appreciate/like a little of it, eventually it becomes tiring and Taylor Swift ends up hosting SNL shortly after with decent material. At this point, the music doesn't even matter because you've turned into a clown in many ways. The best thing that happened to Kanye was him "disappearing" for a while. It was good for him and it was good for the music.
As far as music goes, I have high expectations from Kanye. I expect a great product. I've expected it from him since College Dropout. He's always been a great hip hop producer, and his lyrical ability has gotten better with ever album. I was disappointed by his 808s & Heartbreak album, but that was for different reasons. I thought autotune was overused and cowardly in many ways. But that's my opinion. Dare I say, it was still a good album, I just expected more.
There are specific things that help Kanye when it's time to make an album. He has a great attention to detail and he's blunt. Those two things are characteristics that I hope he never loses.
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is Kanye's best effort to date. Rolling Stone calls it the album of the year. Kanye is a perfectionist that tries to out-do himself. In his mind, he's his own competition. Musically, the album is beautiful. It breaks the rules on what a hip hop album can be. Once you think "Runaway" is over, it just keeps going. I believe that the last 3 minutes is just Yeezy attempting to exorcise his demons. There are many examples of this in which he chooses to do this only musically ("All Of The Lights Interlude", "Blame Game"). Kanye is a constant rule breaker, and in that sense he is an artist. He has the gall to push the envelope to a point that we think we won't like it, but we wind up loving it.
Kanye's lyrical ability has definitely progressed. It's still not the best, but every now and then he'll use his wit and humor to come up with a line that will leave the stank look on your face. (Dare I say) his childlike creativity, mixed with his honesty is a combination that will keep him relevant as an emcee. Lyrically, he's been able to express a sense of humility and explain why he is the way he is. What we have here in this album is a man who has broken himself down and has built himself back up. This album is almost the polar opposite of the last. 808s dealt with loss and musically was minimal compared to confidence and boom of Fantasy.
There are a couple of things that I do not like about the album. "Monster" is an explosive ensemble track but Kanye doesn't really stand out on the song. The cardinal rule on collaborations is that if it's going to be solely on your album, you have to stand out (remember I said he is a rule breaker). Don't let any one out-do you. Kanye got out-did by Nicki Minaj...and not barely, she pretty much made that song (I think she really is a monster). In "So Appalled" we hear RZA for like 30 seconds and it's not worthwhile or beneficial to the song...it's just a little bit of extra frosting to a cake that has enough without it.
All in all, this is a great album that should be considered a front runner for Rap Album of the Year for the 2012 Grammys. Possibly an Album of the Year nomination as well.
This album has forced me to ask myself a question: Can he get much higher? Any higher would be scary, because then we'll be talking about transcending music and his ego may think he already has, but in seriousness, his ego might not be prepared for that.
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