If there is one thing Kanye West loves more than his music it’s himself. In his newest album, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”, Kanye composes a powerful masterpiece that traces his trail to success and fame while also laying down plenty of egotistical flattery along the way —once again proving that he not only is the best, but that he knows he is the best. The album is more then just an “ode to Kanye” though. What makes it such an incredible album (besides the genius incorporation of sounds, variety of voices, and near perfect pace) is its ability to start primarily feeding off the power of Kanye’s ego and turn into an emotional ballad about religion, drugs, and love.
Kanye’s latest lyrics are easily the most epic and real, yet. He explores the things he knows best —the powers, pressures, and destruction brought by fame and money. After his controversialstunt at the VMA show, Kanye brought on a whole new flood of hatred from the public view. It is self-sabotage like this that Kanye raps most about on the album’s 13 tracks. The album’s first single, “Power”, perfectly sums up the feel of the album, rapping lines like, “Stop tripping, I’m tripping off the power.” Kanye does not glorify his fame, but rather makes it out to be a bad trip, slowly destroying the passions in his life. The perfectly melancholy, “Runaway”, balances a tender piano line with the pounding of heavy drums as Kanye meets his most depressing realization, “I’m so gifted at finding what I don’t like the most.” “Runaway” truly is the album’s most dark and beautiful point, showcasing Kanye’s true talent— matching bold and beautiful lyrics with intense, complex melodies.
In previous albums, Kanye was able to produce extremely unique textures by mixing a variety of sounds, voice samples and instruments. MBDTF however, showcases West’s best sound production to date; he mixes instruments and noises that would typically sound disjointed together, but manages to make the sound majestic and united. Each song captures an incredibly fresh and particular sound, keeping redundancy within the album to a minimum. One minute you find yourself in the smooth guitar riffs and tame melodies of “Gorgeous”, and in the next you are shot into the strong vocal chanting and drum pounding of “Power”—every contrasting sound flowing smoothly into the next.
The album is intense and epic, but what really gives it its replay-ability is how ridiculously catchy it is. Every song features a memorable chorus and rap that is sure to be implanted in your brain for days. Kanye’s hook in the crazed sounding “Monster” is amongst his best yet, and by the time Nicki Minaj steps in to unleash her anger filled rant, the ablum is elevated to a whole new level of awesomeness.
Minaj is just one of the many famous vocalists who are featured on MBDTF. The unique line up ranges from modern rappers like Kid Cudi and Jay-Z to alternative style voices like Bon Iver. Even comedian Chris Rock makes an appearance on one of MBDTF’s most emotional tracks. His humorous tone contrasts with an overly depressing piano melody on the album’s saddest and most personal song, “Blame Game.”
While the singles “Monster” and “Power” are amongst the catchiest on the album, it is songs like “Blame Game” that really make this album so memorable. Catchy rap singles come a dime a dozen these days, but truly emotional rap tracks are far more seldom—this is what puts Kanye West at the top. He can deliver emotional and powerful ballads far better than any other rapper today. After hearing this album, I have no problem with Kanye’s egotism and self-given title as “genius” because in the end, this album’s quality only proves that he is right. Sorry T-Swift.
