My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Never listened to Kanye before, all I know of him is it sounds like he’s gone crazy in the last couple of years. For the most part I was surprised how much I enjoyed this. There were a couple of duds but the songs that I did enjoy were brilliant.

Top Track - Lost In The World

Yeah, it's my favorite genre.

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Going into this, I didn't know how to approach reviewing a Kanye album in the present day. His political and social "extracurriculars" as of late are inexcusable and unignorable, and to me his embrace of fascist ideology and imagery casts an *awfully* dark shadow over his discography. I like quite a bit of Kanye's music, but anymore I just don't really want to hear it. That being said, I don't think "art vs artist" conversations are especially helpful, art is shaped by the good and bad of a person, and I think people need to embrace analyzing great art by bad people by confronting how the bad in a person effects the art we love. That being said, I do like this album, and I do plan on reviewing it by its own merits with regards to Kanye as an individual. Besides, my capacity for harm here is pretty limited, anyone still enthusiastically on the Kanye train at this point is pretty much conclusively too far gone, and no one willing to hold him accountable will put that notion aside because I (an individual with no meaningful platform) said that My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is good. And as I said, it *is* good, granted I also think it is sorta overrated, but listening through this, there is a lot to love. The first thing to remember about My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is that it was created with the intent of being good enough and extravagant enough to win back a public that soured on Kanye after the fated Taylor Swift VMAs incident. And, considering this, I think it was really smart for Kanye to take, what I think of as a director's role here. He does appear on pretty much every song here, but to be honest, Kanye's writing and rapping leaves something to be desired at times. He has all the Kanye-isms, but that is a *very* "your mileage may vary" thing, and it hinges a lot on how invested you are in Kanye (personally I'm not *that* invested, and I can't see that really changing any time soon). This feels like the first album where he is really embracing the "asshole who is kind of relatable at the end of the day" thing, and while we have quotables here and unique flows, it isn't a schtick I really buy into. Frankly I'd rather have the Yeezus "I'm just an asshole and I think you should all hate me" thing at this point. In fact, in the presence of features, Kanye is very rarely the best verse on his own songs here. But where Kanye really succeeds on MBDTF is in curation, artistic vision, and production. He pretty much formed a camp of artists, rappers, singers and producers to orchestrate the creation of this thing. Consequently, every song has like 4 features and 15 producers and writers, but the album still very much feels like Kanye's. So in a lot of these songs, Kanye isn't necessarily a strong vocal presence, but he is still felt very strongly. It allows the listener to disconnect the album a little bit from Kanye, while still allowing him to retain all of his creative control. And the results are pretty great, this album really feels like a blockbuster, the sound is rich and maximalistic, and Kanye successfully bridges the pop and rap sound in a way that ended up extremely influential on the development of mainstream pop and rap thoughout the 2010s. We leap straight in, Dark Fantasy is rich and grand and catchy, it is an effective mission statement for the album as a whole. Shortly afterwards, we get a few really incredible "pop" Kanye tracks, POWER and All Of The Lights are pretty much unimpeachable. They are both incredibly detailed, incorporating all kinds of sounds and collaborators from Kanye's pool. POWER seems almost tailor-made to be played in Gatorade commercials, but in a way that isn't obnoxious. All of The Lights is similarly driving in a glitzier way, with big horns and *surprisingly* dense drumwork. We then get, perhaps the most iconic more pure "rap" tracks from the project in Monster and So Appalled. Both songs have incredible production, and strong verses, tons of quotables and great, distinct flows from their many *many* features. After Devil In A New Dress, we get Runaway, which I see frequently cited as the greatest achievement here. Honestly, I do think Runaway is a little overrated. It is a very interesting declaration of self awareness from Kanye, that I think he may not be capable of making at the current point in his career. However, he has some really *obnoxious* Kanye lyrics here, and the autotune solo is kind of self indulgent. On some level, I do at least sort of like every song here (or at least parts of every song), but I so have several complaints across this album. I'm not sure I'm into the vocal processing on Gorgeous, and I am not entirely sold on Devil In A New Dress. I think the verses are whatever, and it I think it's kind of overlong. Hell of A Life has a great Beat, but the lyrics are Kanye in "sex" mode and it is apparent that he just *might* have an unhealthy relationship with sex, anyways, I can see the lyrics being compelling to the right person, but again, it is awfully "your mileage may vary". The song I have the biggest problem with though is Blame Game. If only because it ends in a 2 minute, 31 second long skit that I just hate. It is too long, the implications about how Kanye views women are ugly, and I just don't think its funny. Regardless of all of this, and how I feel about Kanye and his -isms and everything, I do like this album, maybe even more than I want to. A lot of these songs are really great, and the resultant project is very strong as a coherent work, and I can appreciate that. I am officially giving this a *high* 3, it's like a 7/10. Like I said, there's a lot of good here, but realistically, there are a good few songs on here that I'm never tempted to return to, even if they're still pretty good. Besides, the real problems I do have with this album have compounded a little with the fact that I am not feeling especially generous towards Kanye for obvious reasons. But I will say, I can see the importance of this, even if I don't really get the argument that it is one of the best albums of all time.

I did not listen. I will not support a Nazi even with minimal add or streaming revenue

You can't deny Kanye is talented. Shitty human being - yes. But also makes great music. Both things can be true at once

I really really enjoyed this album. Lots of huge songs on here. All Of The Lights is one of my favourite Kanye songs. Loved the interlude with the strings!

I wish he'd get rid of Nicki Minaj's terrible British accent at the start though, that was dreadful

5 ⭐️

It's time again for everyone's favorite game: Separate the art from the piece of shit artist! This an outstanding album from a horrible person. It even helps get under the veneer of his horrible personality, but unfortunately it wasn't redemption - he only doubles down (and then some) over the ensuing years. Still, let's review only the music. Mostly excellent. I'd basically call Dark Fantasy through Monster a nearly perfect stretch (Gorgeous goes a little long, but the lyrics are powerful). First of all, Ye is a prog fan? Mike Oldfield and Jon Anderson on Dark Fantasy? Power based on 21st Century Schizoid Man? I enjoyed watching a video of Greg Lake starting a concert with Power and segueing to him singing and playing 21st CSM. Power was the first song to really hit me - very powerful (pun not quite intended?). All of the Lights was a super-catchy track and Rihanna sounds great. Monster was a fun, cool track and Nicki Minaj's section made me laugh. The rest of the album has a lot of good moments, but the lyrics got to be a little too much (Devil in a New Dress, settle down Kanye, plus the end of Hell of a Life. Ugh). Blame Game was crude as hell (although Chris Rock is never not funny). Lost in the World was catchy, but I HATE AUTOTUNE. Who Will Survive in America was a powerful closer with some disturbing imagery (all from Gil Scott-Heron's spoken word poem Comment #1 from 1970). I recognize that in the world of rap albums, this should be a clear 5. However, I was less of a fan of the second half (except perhaps Runaway, but it went a little too long), hate autotune, and feel I can't give Kanye a 5 since he's such a piece of shit. Guess I can't fully separate the art from the artist. Favorite tracks: Power, All of the Lights, Monster.

I wasn't expecting to like this. I also wasn't expecting all the songs to be so long.

A game-changer when it came out but I feel like so much of it is overlong and self-indulgent to a degree I don't have patience for anymore (end of Runaway, Blame Game). Trying to separate the art from the artist, there are still some parts of this album I just don't want to listen to on a second listen and that keeps it from a 5 - which is good because I didn't want to give that Nazi a 5 anyway.

This is, I feel, the moment that Kanye's true colors showed in his music - if they didn't even show sooner. The beats are produced well, of course, but you only need to listen to a few songs before you realize that the mastermind behind it is a sex pest obsessed with garnering attention. I wish I could give it lower than a 2, but that's the awful truth of it: the music -is- good.

While I am not a huge fan of hip hop, this album had some pretty nice moments.

Low 4/5.

The man is an idiot with a good taste in samples

Man, I hope we get Kanye back someday. This isn't my favorite of his, but definitely has some hits.

This is Kanye emerging as the complete public egomaniac celebrity asshole we know him as today. The first three songs are incredible though. Like who samples King Crimson on their lead single? The rhythm of his low on Monster is really good. Jay-Z is weak on Monster and So Appalled. Blame Game is good. Lost In the World/Who Will Survive In America also is cool, very rich in sonic texture. Wow an absolutely incredible & digestible album, that makes me feel very uncomfortable because this artist is a PRICK.

First of all, dude's an unhinged nazi and aside from re-listening to him for the purposes of this project, I make a point of not listening to his stuff because I don't even want to give him $0.0001 for listening to his stuff on Spotify. Don't feel good even spending fractions of cents to bankroll his platform.

But for the purposes of this project, since his awful views aren't present in the lyrics/materials of his albums included on this list, I will rate them based on the art present (whereas previously I got a Serge Gainsbourg album that has lyrics talking about grooming and raping an underage girl. Regardless of the quality of the music, that gets a 1 from me).

All that said, this is an all-time classic of an album. So many great hits. POWER, All of the Lights, Monster, Runaway. This was Kanye at his absolute peak. Sure there are still the cringe bars that Kanye always had, but damn if this album isn't catchy and amazingly produced. The vibe/instrumental of So Appaled is insane. Shoutout to Nicki Minaj's verse on Monster, easily the best verse in her career, absolutely blowing both Kanye and Jay Z's verses on that track out of the water. Bon Iver closing out the track is just icing on the cake.

There are a few songs that aren't as solid as I remember, Hell of A Life and Lost in the World/Who Will Survive in America, although still good. Blame Game did not need that outro. But still a fantastic album.

Fuck Kanye. Tried to give this an honest go and it's boring at best. I hate modern production and this is no different. Flow and rhymes are entirely amateurish outside of a few moments from guests. This has to be one of if not THE MOST overrated artist/producer in the history of music.

I think we are at the time where everyone has more or less forgotten about Kanye's X crash out (since nobody is talking about it) so i don't think it will be too controversial if i say that i think that My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is a great album. I have had a somewhat mixed opinion on a lot of Kanye's lyrics but i will say that they in this album are not nearly as bad as the ones on Yeezus, but not as good as the ones in The College Dropout. However, what i think is better than both albums is the production. It took a massive step up and delivered some major bangers in basically all of the songs. Kanye might not be the greatest person but this album sure is his greatest.
Best Song: All Of The Lights
Worst Song: Dark Fantasy
Side Note: And since this is the last of the Kanye West albums i will be looking at, here are my rankings
1. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
2. The College Dropout
3. Yeezus

Reiferes Rap Album. Weniger N-Worte und mehr Musik und mehr Melodie verbunden mit netten Experimenten. Diese Mischung macht es, trotz des schwierigen Genres teilweise hörbar. „All of The Lights“, „Runaway“ und „Blame Game” versprühen einen Hauch von Musik.

Didn't think it was good. Rhymes were so-so. Production was nice. First Kanye album I've ever listened to but I do trend towards JARV and Aesop Rock and Blackalicious more.

Not an interesting album by Kanye standards. It takes the spirit of Graduation and Dropout (both amazing albums) to push recycled tropes in a directionless manner. The album intro: an airy voice providing a bit of non-sense narration has been done sooo many times. But does he do something inventive? Does she become a character like on ATCQ:Midnight Marauders? No. Does she reappear later to provide insight or relatability? No. Does she provide any value at all besides clicking off the cliche check-box? No. She's included only to say: what follows is semi-clever fully-confused claptrap.

This is just the first three seconds, I know. But everything on here is a rehash, and it just gets boring. Unacceptable for anyone calling themselves the GOAT.

Slightly annoying that some of the tracks on this are really quite good (e.g. POWER) because the guy is clearly an absolute bell.