The man who was branded a "Jackass" by the most powerful man in the world is back with his 5th studio album and after the whole Taylor Swift fiasco a weaker person probably would have took a longer break or come back with an apology album but not Kanye. The message that My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy sends out is "I am me, take it or leave it" and what a great message that is. Kanye is one of the best out there at what he does, he drops amazing beats, uses brilliant samples and delivers some brilliant wordplay and that is exactly what he does in MBDTF.
One thing that is instantly noticable is how many more collaborations he has compared to he previous couple of albums and he drafts in some of the finest artists around at the moment, Jay-Z, Kid Cudi, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, John Legend and Elton John all feature, just to name a few, in fact 14 other artists provide additional vocals on just one song. This is a testiment to the power and respect in commands in the Music industry.
Dark Fantasy is a fitting introduction to the album, featuring a charming narration that slowly changes in to a twisted voice before moving on to a choir like sample, the beat will have you nodding along and you'll no doubt want to sing along to the lyrics. The next song Gorgeous features a nifty guitar riff in the back and a chorus from Kid Cudi whose voice goes so well with it. There is some great lyrics in this song from Kanye as well, he even so effortlessly makes a reference to that infamous South Park episode.
We then have Power, a song that just seems perfect for Kanye, "oh, ai ai" is sung all the way through the song making for high tempo beat that brilliant in it's simplicity much like Love Lockdown was, Kanye accompanys this perfectly with an excellent flow. The album then moves of the All of the Lights, an intelude comes just before the song itself, a violin and piano plays and moves so perfectly on to the full song that as mentioned earlier features 14 other artists provided vocals throughout. The most noticable being Rihanna who offers a memorable chorus among others singing along, Kid Cudi and Fergie also follow up Kanye's final verse before the song moves on to the epic finish featuring the likes of Alicia Keys, Elton John and The Dream. The song is extrememly well put together but you can't take away a very good vocal performance from Kanye in that song although it wouldn't be wrong to say Rihanna very much steals the show in All of the Lights.
The next 3 songs that follow are very rap focused and so it's no surprise to see Jay-Z drafted in for a couple of them. Monster features a brilliant chorus where Kanye wants to see you with your hands up, a true club banger, helped with some brilliant raps from Kanye West, Jay-Z and Nicki Minaj. So Appalled slows the tempo back down, a Swizz Beatz hook introduces the song well, that also helps break up the various rap verses. The next song Devil in a New Dress with Rick Ross features probably my favourite sample of the album, very much old school Kanye with a soulful voice singing behind the rapping that starts with Kanye before the beat dissapears for a synthetic guitar riff and the song moves on to Rick's segment.
The next song is the epic Runaway featuring Pusha T, the song in which Kanye most openly claims to be a bit of a "Jackass". The chorus is incredibly catchy, the lyrics are brilliant and meanigful and the beat is simplistic but memorable. The song could easily end 3 minutes before it does but the beat is so brillinat you'll be glad it doesn't, much like Say You Will on his last album you can find yourself getting lost in the beat. Hell of a Life moves closer to the style of song that started the album, a rap and beat that gets your head nodding along with an autotuned chorus that you'll find yourself singing along to.
Blame Game with John Legend is next up, about a troublesome relationship that has been and gone, as you may expect Legend offers a soulful vocal performance with the calm piano beat, Kanye almost speaks the words with such meaning before finishing off singing the chorus with some vocals to rival that of John Legend's. The song is then played out with an odd phone message featuring Chris Rock that I at first found tedious but after a second listen I began to love it for it's hilarity and it's an important part of the song. Lost in the World is last real song of the album, starting with a calm and beatiful autotuned performance from Bon Iver before the beat picks up and the chorus becomes more choir like. Kanye only has one verse for rapping but he also backs up Bon Iver with the singing of the chorus, the song then seemlessly moves on to Who Will Survive in America, a short spoken piece that sees the album out well as a conclusion, something any epic like MBDTF needs.
Kanye West has certainly never done things by halves and My Dark Beautiful Twisted Fantasy is no exception, it's an epic musical journey that never lets up and is the perfect example to show that despite how much of a Jackass he may be, Kanye can still make great music.
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