Somewhere in between starting his own “Yo, Ima let you finish BUT…” meme, endless twitter rants and outlandish extended music videos Kanye West found time to record his best album to date. Following the auto-tune obsessed meanderings of ‘808s & Heartbreak’ you would have been right to wonder if Mr West had relinquished his rapper ambitions. That claim is soon laid to rest.
The superstar had already begun hinting at what he was about to cook up with his ‘G.O.O.D Fridays’ project but when ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ dropped in late november so did a few jaws. Has Kanye finally released an album to match the size of his ego?
The album states its intentions early by kicking off proceedings with the track ‘Dark Fantasy’ with its outlandish faux British Alice In Wonderland-esque introduction. This is followed by a bombastic gospel choir and some head bang demanding verses which make this the perfect prologue to this album acting as a vindication of his state of mind.
Having kicked off in such impressive fashion he keeps delivering upon this stellar standard throughout. As can be expected there is a multitude of gueststars on display but it is interesting to note that only 5 tracks actually feature rappers. West has always been more of a producer than a rapper in my mind so it notable that two of my standout tracks, the bass lead and ego fueled ‘Power’ and ‘Hell Of A Life’, see him largely going it solo whilst delivering some of his most memorable lines.
Still, when you consider that tracks such as ‘Monster’ and ‘So Appalled’ feature an array superheroes including Jay-Z, Pusha T, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj, CyHi Da Prynce, Swizz Beatz & The RZA and that ‘All Of The Lights’ samples the voices of the likes of John Legend, La Roux, Alicia Keys, Rihanna and Elton John (!) and it starts to become clear that Kanye’s Blackberry is the ultimate musical wet dream.
Fortunately these inspired guest performances, with notable mention for Jay-Z and Nicki Minaj, don’t bloat the album but rather play another small part in the larger picture in Kanye’s vision. ‘Fantasy’ suggests total control over music and image and this album is intentionally, and somewhat surprisingly, light on skits and interludes. However it is not lightweight as a result of it. In fact its “meager” 13 tracks come in at 70 minutes without ever outliving its welcome guaranteeing value for money.
Few artists polarize opinion as much as Mr Kanye West. A few weeks ago I was at a house party where the conversation naturally turned to music and the best albums of 2010. My admission that I thought very highly of ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ was met with slight bewilderment. When I asked if my interrogator had actually heard the album he responded that he had no real interest because he disliked the artist. .
Think what you will of Kanye West the man but in ‘Fantasy’ he has not only released a timeless hip-hop album but possibly one of the best albums of the past ten years.
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