Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (Discussion Thread)

[Bch]

wow this has to be the best album i've heard in years all the way through. For my taste it doesn't have real stand out singles but just when i thought hip hop was dead it just got an electric jolt right in the center of the heart and got a pulse once again.

[Hoodlum204]

I Haven't Even Considerd Bothering To Check This Out But Maybe I'll Give It A Look See.

[Invincible]

Listenable tracks are:

Dark Fantasy
Gorgeous
Power
So Appalled

This album is definitely as not good as you are all making out.

This album is considerably better than Graduation

It really isn't. Thats a personal classic for me.

Barry Bonds and Drunk and Hot Girls <<<< any song off this album

Missed that out.

Maybe, but the rest of Graduation is better than the rest of this album, ecxept Power maybe.

Except not. Power isn't even one of the best songs on the album

What is then, because like NauticaICE said, there are no real stand out tracks and nothing stands out as much as Power to me.

[Javier]

808s and Heartbreak is evidence that people don't just praise Kanye automatically.  I'm certain that almost every music site/publication will have it as their AOTY or top 5.  

Well then it's maybe just me, I think I've grown out of Hip Hop.

I'm not the biggest hip hop fan nowadays, I probably listen to 4-6 hip hop albums a year.  Most are pretty decent, but this one has me excited.  And maybe it's due to the fact that I was a much bigger fan of hip hop back when The College Dropout was released.  So, I've been able to see him grow as an artist.  Reason I'm loving this album is for its unconventional hip hop methods.  I'll mention some for examples

Devil in a New Dress
-2:51-Guitar solo that fits the song perfectly, and continues on Rick Ross' verse. (I would say most mainstream ears would be used to just have the end after Kanye's verse.)

Runaway
-This one is pretty obvious.  Apart from the song already being an anthem, the studio version has a "vocal" solo from Kanye at the end which I find pretty great.  It has an old school hip hop feel with the sample used. 

[Triple OG Rapsodie]

Listenable tracks are:

Dark Fantasy
Gorgeous
Power
So Appalled

This album is definitely as not good as you are all making out.

This album is considerably better than Graduation

It really isn't. Thats a personal classic for me.

Barry Bonds and Drunk and Hot Girls <<<< any song off this album

Missed that out.

Maybe, but the rest of Graduation is better than the rest of this album, ecxept Power maybe.

Except not. Power isn't even one of the best songs on the album

What is then, because like NauticaICE said, there are no real stand out tracks and nothing stands out as much as Power to me.

Blame Game, Devil in a New Dress, Dark Fantasy, Gorgeous and then Power. Those are the standout tracks, in order.

All of the Lights, So Appalled, Runaway are above average

The rest are okay, not really any wack tracks.

Some people on this site massively overrate Graduation compared to the rest of us. Was it like the first Kanye album you got into?

[Invincible]

Listenable tracks are:

Dark Fantasy
Gorgeous
Power
So Appalled

This album is definitely as not good as you are all making out.

This album is considerably better than Graduation

It really isn't. Thats a personal classic for me.

Barry Bonds and Drunk and Hot Girls <<<< any song off this album

Missed that out.

Maybe, but the rest of Graduation is better than the rest of this album, ecxept Power maybe.

Except not. Power isn't even one of the best songs on the album

What is then, because like NauticaICE said, there are no real stand out tracks and nothing stands out as much as Power to me.

Blame Game, Devil in a New Dress, Dark Fantasy, Gorgeous and then Power. Those are the standout tracks, in order.

All of the Lights, So Appalled, Runaway are above average

The rest are okay, not really any wack tracks.

Some people on this site massively overrate Graduation compared to the rest of us. Was it like the first Kanye album you got into?

No, College Dropout was. Now that is way better than this average album.

[Triple OG Rapsodie]

Listenable tracks are:

Dark Fantasy
Gorgeous
Power
So Appalled

This album is definitely as not good as you are all making out.

This album is considerably better than Graduation

It really isn't. Thats a personal classic for me.

Barry Bonds and Drunk and Hot Girls <<<< any song off this album

Missed that out.

Maybe, but the rest of Graduation is better than the rest of this album, ecxept Power maybe.

Except not. Power isn't even one of the best songs on the album

What is then, because like NauticaICE said, there are no real stand out tracks and nothing stands out as much as Power to me.

Blame Game, Devil in a New Dress, Dark Fantasy, Gorgeous and then Power. Those are the standout tracks, in order.

All of the Lights, So Appalled, Runaway are above average

The rest are okay, not really any wack tracks.

Some people on this site massively overrate Graduation compared to the rest of us. Was it like the first Kanye album you got into?

No, College Dropout was. Now that is way better than this average album.

average? Well you're entitled to your opinion. But from the looks of things so far, a lot of people and major publications are going to disagree with you.

[Invincible]

All opinions at the end of the day. I don't see whats so great about it which means the chances of me going back and checkig the rest of the album apart from the tracks I named again are very low.

[Action!]

I like how he gives the middle finger to the entire industry concept of what a hip-hop song should be.  You know that typical 3 minute banger that can get people moving? Kanye shits on it and lets the music play out.  His rhyming has improved both vocally and lyrically.  And, his production?  Continues to sample from his roots to his new tastes and meshes it all together.  It's fantastic to see what he's done. 

Honestly, I think Ye's debut College Dropout is his most overrated work.

[Action!]

Here's a review that succinictly explains what makes this album phenomenal. It's written by Jake Pain,
 

A proven master at thematic album-making, West’s fifth offering is an electric journey equipped with painkillers, a break-up letter, an overstuffed iPod and the latest issue of Penthouse in his Prada duffle.

In the opening bars of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye West asserts, “We found bravery in my bravado.” As far as Hip Hop music goes, this is too true. Because of West’s renaissance of carefully-crafted artistry and decadent decision-making, Rap has been restored from an over-saturated commodity to the grandiose stage Jay-Z left empty after The Black Album.

The earliest glimpse at My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is one of its best moments. “Power” is the Kanye West that will be most remembered in lyrical circles:

    In this white man’s world, we the ones chosen / So goodnight cruel world, I’ll see you in the mornin’ / Huh? I’ll see you in the mornin’ / This is way too much, I need a moment.

Just as Eminem paused amidst his uber-fame in 2002 to relive his battle-to-mainstream ascent in “Till I Collapse” and “Lose Yourself,” Kanye West reminds us that while he’s reading price-tags and royalty statements, he still reads the news. He declares on "Gorgeous":

    “Face it, Jerome get more time than Brandon / And at the airport, they check all through my bag and tell me it’s random / But we stay winnin’ / This week has been a bad massage, I need a happy endin’ / And a new beginning / And a new fitted / And some job opportunities that’s lucrative / This the real world, homie, school finished / They done stole your dreams, you don’t know who did it / I treat the cash like the government treats AIDS, I won’t be satisfied till all my niggas get it, get it?”

At a time when West is revising a blueprint he’s help create for Drake and Kid Cudi, his sharp, outspoken lines put him in the lineage of Ice Cube and Chuck D, something that ‘Ye’s predecessors cannot seem to do - without him as a link. Lines like that complement Rap laureate Gil Scott-Heron on West’s closer, “Who Will Survive In America?” And for every mention of Oscar De La Renta, Lamborghini and private jets, one of Hip Hop’s wealthy elite still finds a way to make recession-applicable music without kneeling.

A proven master at thematic album-making, West’s fifth offering is an electric journey equipped with painkillers, a break-up letter, an overstuffed iPod and the latest issue of Penthouse in his Prada duffle. As the most quoted emcee of the last five years returns to his precise Rap roots on “Monster” or the aforementioned “Dark Fantasy,” he also acknowledges 2008’s 808’s & Heartbreaks not as a wrong turn, but as a fuel stop. With some of his simplest and melodic bars West’s “Runaway” epitomizes his mastery of the anthem. The emotion on this album is a kaleidoscope of self-righteousness, loneliness - and something that’s been missing from the last two albums: joy. The nine-minute “Runaway” reveals all of this in one place, as West’s message drunkenly sways between a proud cold shoulder and a bended-knee plea. Although most songwriters would be accused of disjointed messages, Kanye’s deep sincerity gives him dynamic dimensions that he’s rightfully earned through a decade of public antics and extensive catalog.

For an album that resulted from sessions with Pete Rock, Q-Tip and No I.D., My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy avoids any throwback qualities. Instead, the work carries the sample-driven sound forward with a more refined arsenal of keyboards and filters that West started motioning towards in 2008’s “Swagger Like Us” and “Welcome To Heartbreak.” Dark, fuzzed-out electric accents give this album a cohesive sound that anchor the multiple themes. A Blues riff on “Gorgeous,” hard synths on “Hell of A Life” and Bon Iver’s scratchy, extended vocals on “Monster” have more in common in audio than on paper. If 808’s were pastels to Graduation’s orange, then the sharp bold production on Fantasy bleeds scarlet red. On the songs that stray from traditional Rap sounds, such as “Runaway” or “All Of The Lights,” West’s Akai MPC hand ferociously reminds any skeptic that he’s not straying, but expanding. Pounding drums on “Lost In The World” make every song on this album club-ready, and an intense tapestry of ever-changing sound that includes several genres and decades of inspiration.

Kanye West’s bravado has inspired cartoons, it’s made award show producers sleepless, and it’s caught the attention of both Presidents Bush and Obama. But within that bravado is a bravery that allows Hip Hop artists to step outside of their carefully-guarded boxes. From nine-minute douchebag manifestos, to enlisting an A-list Grammy ensemble to piece-mealing his album out to the masses every Friday, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy defies logic and it ignores convention. Whether it’s acknowledging his mistakes, measuring his might, or fantasizing of wifing Kristina Rose, Kanye West finds a way to relate to all. He’s not forcing his hand, just reminding us that the biggest star we appointed in the last five years can still recognize our own fantasies, insecurities and desire for colorful music from his spaceship.

Source: http://www.hiphopdx.com/feature/30in30/page8.php

[Lunatic]

Excellent read. Hit the nail on the head. Jake Paine is my favorite hip hop writer.

[Portugoal]

...still waiting till tomorrow when I buy the deluxe edition. I haven't listened to anything yet (besides the Good Friday drops), so almost everything will be new for me. The mini movie's on the 2nd disc, right? Otherwise I'll feel screwed.

[Portugoal]

P.S.

http://www.fakeshoredrive.com/2010/11/kanye-west-mbdtf-the-samples.html#more-14243

[Javier]

Just came by to say that Kanye West's SNL performances a few weeks ago were the greatest ever done on SNL.  GREATEST OF ALL TIME!

[MrJas]

This album is amazing.