It’s safe to say that I’ve been waiting for this album for a while now, though it hasn’t been all that long since “808s and Heartbreak” was released. But before I go anywhere on expressing my thoughts on the album itself, let me give you the set up for Kanye as of late. September 2009: the VMAs, no explaining really needs to be done here. Since then, Kanye’s been keeping a relatively low profile, at least until Summer of 2010. There was a bunch of talk about how Kanye had been recording an album and whatever earlier this year, but he never took advantage of an outlet to tell people that. Then came “Power” out of nowhere: his redemption. This song made me realized that Kanye’s next release was going to mean hell of business. Lately, he’s been releasing one song every week for his “G.O.O.D. Fridays” series (which is amazing). The hype just kept building for Kanye West’s new album to be the greatest thing ever. Sure, that’s not reasonable, like, at all, but the end product of “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” is nothing short of awesome music from one of the most powerful artists of the last decade.
Opener “Dark Fantasy” starts things up with a few words from Nicki Minaj, which for all I know, make no sense at all. But whatever, she’s quirky. This RZA produced track eventually turns into Kanye making threats about using his “power” and the fact that he’s rollin’ in his Murcielago, while you ain’t, thus begins a consistent yet changing theme throughout the album: being bad. “Dark Fantasy” is Kanye at his most cryptic on the LP, also making it seem like he has an issue with himself being so cocky. Everyone that knows anything about Kanye West is aware of his ungodly ego, but it’s strange that he has this problem with himself and it’s as if he’s nearly letting go. “Gorgeous” is similar in the same way. Kid Cudi’s chorus section is pretty vengeful despite sounding “Cudi-calm” (can I coin that phrase?) while Raekwon sticks with being Raekwon, making him a no-brainer fit for the album.
“Power”, what can I say? “Power” is pretty much the perfect anthem for any politician, celebrity, leadership role, and of course, Kanye West. You know Yeezy decided to go whole-hog with his art hip-hop direction when he samples “21st Century Schizoid Man” by King Crimson, giving me a different respect for the guy as an artist. The colossal, star-filled track “All of the Lights” has some of the cleverest pop hooks on the album by having Rhianna deliver a catchy chorus: “Turn up the lights in here baby. Extra bright, I want y’all to see this”. Kid Cudi and Fergie also get some presence in a couple of rap verses and it might take a while to realize, but John Legend, Ryan Leslie, Alicia Keys, Tony Williams, The-Dream, Charlie Wilson, and Elly Jackson of La Roux lend their vocal talents to the song. Even Elton John is there playing piano. I mean, Kanye could have just settled with Legend lending a hand to the piano too, but no, Kanye settles for nothing but the most extravagant.
“Monster”, a raw, manic track that completely dominates with each verse, is a showcase of the featured artists’ as well as Kanye’s incredible lyrical prowess. Rick Ross introduces Kanye talking about how everyone knows he’s awesome and that he puts “the pussy in a sarcophagus”. Kanye then throws it over to Jay-Z, who sounds better than he has in a long time, then Jay-Z brings it over to Nikki Minaj busting out with her already famous, career-making verse. Indie lovechild Bon Iver finishes up the song, which might be a surprise to most people who tune their ears into “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”, but with Kanye’s constant reaching out to new styles, you will eventually realize that this makes perfect sense.
The other half of this album is significantly more somber. “So Appalled” becomes a point of reflection amongst a slew of hip-hop veterans including Swizz Beatz, Jay-Z, Pusha T, and The RZA. They’re pretty much all coming together and talking about their issues, the problems they have with the world around them, expressing signs of weakness, and that they would also like to get up and fight. “Devil In A New Dress” is a track about Kanye’s relationship difficulties as well as devilish people in general. The chorus rings: “Put your hands to the constellations. The way you look should be a sin, you my sensation. I know I’m preaching to the congregation. We love Jesus but you done learned a lot from Satan.” His previous single “Runaway” has been elongated to over nine minutes for the album version. The main change here is the heavily autotuned vocals at the last 3 minutes of the song. They are so autotuned that it gets to a point that it’s impossible to understand what he was saying without the context of the song’s earlier lyrics. Whether this is a message he’s trying to get across with overdoing things, I don’t know, but I’m sure if he decides to dedicate a full three minutes to this venture, there must be some significance. Regardless, it’s definitely moody which is something I’ve never really gotten out of Mr. West.
“Hell of a Life” describes his dirtiest thoughts: “Make her knees shake, make a priest faint. Make a nun cum, make her cremate.” Complete with a chorus driven by Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” and a late 70s sci-fi movie-influenced synth breakdown, this track is nuts. “Blame Game” featuring John Legend, is one of the most interesting and by far the eeriest and saddest track on the album, mostly for the epilogue of the song presented by Chris Rock. Every question asked by Chris Rock is replied by the same spoken sample: “Yeezy taught me.”
The album ends with the oh-so climactic “Lost in the World” and “Who Will Survive In America”. Kanye goes full-on “808s” for the intro, but unleashes a far more compelling beat soon after. This is the best way he could have ended the album, honestly. Get the folks back up in their mood, but repeat your overall message at the same time. I’ve eaten my words in the past when it came to a review (Not afraid to say that I was a little wrong about Arcade Fire’s “The Suburbs”), but I can stand here confidently and say that this is Kanye in his absolute prime. “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” may very well be my favorite album from Kanye West, but it is also a giant leap forward in the way popular music can be looked at. I’m not saying that you should take the Black Eyed Peas seriously on a philosophical level, because that would be straight up ridiculous. But what I am saying is that no other popular artist can do what Kanye can.
WINNER: “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” by Kanye West
WHY: It’s not often I get to hear such heart and relentlessness in music. Kanye West delivers this year with a piece of work that will shut people up and dazzle fans. “Dark Twisted” is an insane achievement.
Fermata over Whole Rest 
Job well done.