My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Incredibly nostalgic album for me, and upon listening again, it holds up remarkably well. It's an eerie and uncomfortable foreshadowing of the special brand of opulence and egotism that defines the 2020s, the artist that engineered this album, and several of its featured musicians. Instrumentally and texturally brilliant, but it's the atmospheric and cultural implications the album imparts that give it its uncanny quality. To those who heard it when it first appeared, listen now - it’s even stranger, and far sadder. It has too little innocence.

Bubblegum pop with f bombs

Kanye might be a terrible human but the music’s good. 4.16

I have major problems with this artist as a human being. His treatment of woman seems to be incredibly misogynistic. There is overwhelming evidence to me that he is mentally ill, but I still don’t give him a pass for how he treats people poorly.
In spite of all that, I cannot deny that this is a gorgeous piece of work. Some credit goes to Bon Iver, whose influence is evident.

I've already said my piece back on Common's "Be" about how Kanye once cared about creating and producing music, unlike these days putting the music second to repping fascism. I wanted to give this album the benefit of the doubt from when and where Kanye was. The problem is this was when Kanye started to spiral.

Back at the 2009 VMA Awards, Kanye stole the microphone from a then up-and-coming Taylor Swift to instead say Beyoncé had the greatest music video. I can understand to an extent that he was still deeply affected by his mother’s passing, and had overworked himself to the point of making such a public stunt without common sense. It’s not a perfect excuse and doesn’t detract from how he was perceived as an asshole, but it is a reason. After that botch, Kanye proceeded to isolate himself to Hawaii to work on this album alongside those he felt close with, exploring what he perceived as the dark underside of fame alongside the id of his ego. In essence, Kanye wanted to show the monster he became, for better and worse.

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was a frustrating listen for me. There are elements to each of the songs that I like, but there are also enough glaring missteps and a general lack of focus to keep this album from coalescing into a meaningful theme or driving mechanism in the dissection of Kanye’s insanity. We start and end with two excerpts in Road Dahl’s rework of the Cinderella folk tale as read by Nicki Minaj with a fake British accent and the sampled Gil Scott-Heron’s “Comment #1”, without much in the way of connecting the two pieces. In between, Kanye does his best to come off as hedonistic, such as the sexual advances in “Devil in a Dress” and “Hell of a Life” along with more general musings on “Power” and “Monster”, but at best these explorations come off as hollow and token. There isn’t much in the way for someone to connect with Kanye’s purported dark side as he can’t fully embrace it.

Not helping matters is that Kanye’s flow and lyrics can get choppy and distracting from what’s being conveyed. Nowhere is this more evident than “Runaway”, the song that many a Kanye fan has claimed to be his best song and the centerpiece of this album. In a way, it almost works - the spare piano motif coinciding with the industrial drum pattern and Rick James sample, the light and elegant strings that add contrast, Pusha T’s verse, and even the chorus and lead-up to Pusha T are well done. The problem with that track and by extension this album is what Kanye chooses to say and sing that can’t match the tone of his production and the general themes he tries to communicate. I understand from the chorus that the idea of “Runaway” is that he is a broken man who can’t change and that it would be better for the loved one in the relationship to keep their distance from him. Unfortunately, that message is not received well by Kanye’s verses, particularly in his enunciation of “She find pictures in my email/I sent this bitch a picture of my dick” that’s flat-out embarrassing and takes me out of my focus. Not even a three-minute piss-poor vocoder solo at the end can save that shit.

That is the crux of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, where Kanye’s flow and awkward lines get in the way of his messaging. Whether it’s taking cheap shots at the writers of South Park and Saturday Night Live, or the thin connection between getting “blackballed” to his “black balls”, his words distract from and hamper what could have been otherwise decent tracks with top-notch production, potent choruses from guests, and eclectic sample choices. Kanye’s lyrical pitfalls also led to some of the rapper guests like the aforementioned Pusha T, Jay-Z, and Rick Ross outshining the man in their respective verses. Granted, not every guest was good as I once again bring up Nicki Minaj for the intro to “Dark Fantasy” and her over-the-top verse on “Monster”, as well as Cyhi the Pyrnce’s lazily written verse on “So Appalled”, but they are noticeable cracks in the frame.

I’ll freely admit I haven’t felt this infuriated by an album on this journey since the Sex Pistols’ “Never Mind the Bollocks”. In no way do I see myself revisiting this anytime soon, as I await the other two albums on the list from this man. In a way, Kanye somewhat accomplished what he set out to do by showing off his inner demons. Unfortunately, I don’t think that’s paid off well if history is a good indicator.

I’ve listened to this album more times than I can count. It’s what first got me into Kanye. Not a bad song on here, most are amazing.

Unfortunately this is a modern classic.

I legit think Kanye is a creative genius. I disagree with just about everything about him as a person, though.

This album is very good, but I don’t think it’s his peak. I think some of the features in the middle and near the end drug it down for me.

These songs are maximalism taken to the extreme. The entire music industry is on this thing. It’s like a room full of gold trim and crystal chandeliers with velvet furniture. Just fantastic front to back.

I am not a Kanye fan, that said there are some great songs on this album. Dark Fantasy, all of the lights and Power are paticularly good. I liked this and will listen to it again.

Favourite song: Power
Least favourite: all of the lights interlude
Album artwork: Basic cover

I always thought 808s was the best Kanye album, but this one has stood the test of time better. Sad, dark, angry, and desolate.

Kayne’s masterpiece, the one album I can forgive how much of a dickhead he is and just enjoy.

I honestly believe this is Hip Hop’s equivalent of Dark Side of the Moon, just a shame Kayne is a bigger twat than Roger Waters.

At this point of the 1001 list, I'm tired of Kanye West!

Subjectively, it's a fine pop/hip hop/rap album, good beats, well produced and all that, a little too much autotune, but by the time I got to the Chris Rock skit, I couldn't take any more.

I've never understood the Kanye love. He's extremely mediocre. All of the bangers of his career are due to guest versus: Exhibit A is the song Monster. Absolute BANGER with a killer verse from Jay-Z and an absolute song stealing verse from Nicki Minaj.

If I’m being fair, I think Monster was the turning point of the album. The first 5 songs were very meh, Monster is a classic, and the rest of the songs were pretty decent. 3.5 stars

He goes on a bit doesn't he?

I knew this divisive one was coming. I listened to it thinking of how Kanye was at the time, not perfect but with more substantive and impactful things to say.
Honestly, the sequencing of this album is phenomenal. Dark fantasy is one of the best opening tracks that comes to mind, and Lost in the World into Who Will Survive in America are a near-perfect pair of closing tracks. Every other song on the album is distinct and unique, with almost all being standouts.
My biggest complaint with this album is that almost all of the tracks are 1-3 mins longer than they need to be. If the extra bloat was removed this album would be near perfect. That is except for the song "So Appalled", which is an incredibly boring and unnecessary track.
All things considered, this is a strong album and deserving of a very positive score. 4.5/5 -> 5/5.

Olin joskus sitä mieltä, että tämä on kaikkien aikojen paras pop-levy. Ehkä en enää oo niin varma parhaudesta, mutta on tää parhaiden joukossa vähintään. Kanye on mennyt aika syvään päätyyn, mut taaksepäin katsottuna tässä oli uran huippuhetki. Skandaalien jälkeen erinomaisesti tuotettu levy, jolla ei oo yhtään huonoa raitaa. Hieno tasapainottelu rap-uhon ja nöyryyden välillä -- en tiedä oonko koskaan kuullut näin inhimillistä levyä supertähteydestä. 5/5

Let me get this out of the way: Kanye is a self-centered asshole. Always has been. I feel like I need to make this disclaimer every time a Kanye album comes up. But I really like this one. It's objectively full of bangers. It's also sort of nostalgic to me, based on when it was introduced to me (being 0% into hip hop prior to this). Easy 5* on the music alone.
The outro of blame game is so weird (is that chris rock?). Also bon iver is in this album?!
Highlights: dark fantasy, power, all of the lights, monster, runaway

Once again, I have an annoyingly deep connection to this album. Once again, I do find it to be a timeless classic. I still think that THIS version of Kanye West, before every single disgraceful and disgusting thing he's done and said in the 13.5 years since this album has dropped, is still pretty damn good; not as good as his College Trilogy work, and honestly for me, probably still not as good as 808s, but regardless... ugh, this album is another fucking 5.

Yes, this Kanye certainly resembles a little more of the asshole he's become, but he was driven by that stupidity and that ego to create this piece of art instead of spreading hate. In that sense, I miss this asshole who tried to "redeem" himself by just making incredible music and not being a Nazi sympathizer for the fun of it.

Still though; just classics on classics on classics on this one; Dark Fantasy is a stellar opener, and the 3-track stretch of POWER, All of the Lights, and Monster is such a ridiculous flex. Devil In A New Dress is stellar, Runaway will stick with me forever, and the 1-2 punch of Lost in The World / Who Will Survive in America is a great way to close out the album.

Once again, I didn't listen to this album before giving it this 5, if only because I know it well enough to never have to give Kanye another dime ever again. It is once again, obnoxiously a 5, even if the man has dipped further into the negatives.

So, uhh... this time, I chose to listen to Sean Kingston's self-titled debut album. I mean, honestly? Not bad. Pretty fun album; a lot of 2000s-era production quirks in there, some slang I wish we would bring back in the lyrics, and ultimately, some pretty solid vocal performances by Sean Kingston. It’s got some weird sampling choices, sure, but I feel like I’ve heard worse. A solid 7/10 album.

Af en toe wat lui klinkende rap. In plaats van opnieuw op te nemen, wordt het met allerlei foefjes opgeleukt. De stem wordt vervormd, er komt volle muziek onder en, zijn favoriete oplossing, hij laat een ander het oplossen. Het zorgt voor een album dat prima wegluistert op de achtergrond. Maar als je echt gaat luisteren, is het niet bijzonder sterk. Dat levert 2,5 ster en 1 ster voor het selectiecomité van deze lijst.