Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, a review

If you mention the words Kanye West to anyone nowadays the responses are endlessly varied. But everyone knows his name. Whether that's for his rapping credentials, his appeal to the pop masses, or his infamy with a certain Swift, is irrelevant - his star power in music is unrivalled, and both commercial and critical acclaim has not rained but poured.

And so with West's 5th studio album comes a great deal of expectation. Previous releases The College Dropout, Graduation, Late Registration and 808s and Heartbreak have impressed critics worldwide, and spawned a series of hits for West, including 'Stronger', 'Love Lockdown' and 'Touch the Sky'.

What's immediately noticeable with My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is a retraction from the world of electronics. Gone is his controversial venture into autotune, and the sound is fresher as a result. The opening track, 'Dark Fantasy' features a gospel-like presentation of Kanye's collaborators, before an archetypal hip hop beat prevails. West himself talks of 'refresh the page, restart the memory; respark the soul and rebuild the energy', indicating a sense of retribution following a turbulent year.

'Gorgeous', featuring Kid Cudi and Raekwon, is more gritty than glitsy, but outweighed by its mere lack of presence comes off as one of the album's weakest tracks. West again is in search of "a happy ending, a new beginning", and the track's guests provide a slick hook. 'Power' by contrast, in sampling King Crimson's '21st Century Schizoid Man', offers a hedonistic, soaring weight. West's boasts don't go unnoticed, acknowledging "I'm an asshole" with a nonchalant shrug.

The focal point of guest stars and sheer orchestration is in 'All of the Lights', which earns its own interlude, complete with melancholy strings and enchanted piano tunes - before launching forward guests, such as Rihanna, Elton John, Fergie, Alicia Keys and La Roux amongst others, with a manic synth-loop accompanied by catchy brass. Even despite this overwhelming presence, West takes centre stage with tales of injustice and hardships helping to pull in the reins.



Quite how to follow this extravaganza would be problematic for most, but 'Monster' is as strong, if not better. With probably the biggest guest in rap you can get in Jay-Z, followed by hot new artist Nicki Minaj, the track is menacingly powerful. Catchy beats, vocals from Bon Iver, clever lyricism and pure swagger make this for me the album's highlight. 'So Appalled' continues the album's sense of uncaring confidence with its proclamation "one hand in the air if you don't really care, middle finger in the air if you don't really care". The production remains at possibly his strongest in his career. Whether or not this is noticeable because of a lack of lazy electronics that we saw on 808s and Heartbreak is hard to say, but it's a welcome change regardless.

Ending 'So Appalled' with "life sometimes can be so ridiculous", 'Devil in a New Dress' opens with West reassuring "I love it though." Perhaps poking fun at his media image, Kanye sings of temptation, sin and materialism, all over sweet tuning and pure honesty.



'Runaway' was performed by Kanye at this year's MTV Video Music Awards and I must admit it initially disappointed. The performance was minimalist, and there was a sense that people were expecting something big to follow 2009's controversy. But on reflection, the tune is cute, the lyrics are self-flagellating ("Let's have a toast for the douchebags, let's have a toast for the assholes") and the effort gone into producing and advertising it has been immense - with a 35-minute short film music video. 'Hell of a Life' by contrast is darker and dirtier, even by purest sound. It's a strange observation to make given my inexperience with urban USA, but it's reminiscent of Grand Theft Auto games and that whole crime underworld aesthetic - and lyrics such as "no more drugs for me, pussy and religion is enough for me" help build an image of turning away from the ghetto.

'Blame Game' showcases John Legend's vocals to add another notch to the personnel bedpost, before Kanye spits "fuck all you harvesting the villains, I'd rather be by my fucking self", hitting out at the hypocrisy and melodrama that today's media thrives in. It's immediately obvious on a popular figure level, with years of tabloid attention and gossip-mongering, but personal undertones help cement an earnesty about the track. Sampling Bon Iver's 'Woods' for penultimate track 'Lost in the World', is rapid, energetic and almost mournful for the zeitgeist of the moment: of lazy production, shallow media, hypocritical critics and poor expectations. This message continues in "Who Will Survive in America?", lamenting about ignorant youth and an urgency to open your eyes. "A rapist known as freedom freed doom" is one stand-out lyric.

Rolling Stone have given the album 5/5 stars, also pointing out West's insistence that we do more, search further and try harder. You can't really argue with that.

Rating; 9/10
Highlights: Monster, All of the Lights, Runaway, Who Will Survive in America?, Power
Avoid: Gorgeous