Culture

Hey Pitchfork, I’mma let you finish but…
Probably the most (over) hyped album of 2010, Kanye West’s opus My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (MBDTF) certainly deserves a post-uproar review. Drawing on the narcissism and bragging of his previous album, MBDTF takes Kanye’s musical direction into territory only his ego could handle. Beginning with the indisputably huge ‘Dark Fantasy’, West’s primary talent as an arranger and producer quickly becomes apparent. Choral voices blend with hip-hop beats and clever samples. Finding bravery in his own bravado, West seems fearless, throwing his music and his voice – and arguably hip-hop itself - into territory previously unknown to him. Easily West’s most self-aware and focused record, MBDTF cover topics so far removed from normality that he appears legitimately larger than life. On ‘Power’, Yeezy frames himself as the consummate twentieth-first century schizoid man; a calculated, emotionally distant and cold individual, power and fame now defining his life rather than contributing to it.
 
Displaying invincibility and vulnerability in equal measure, West’s self-awareness reaches its peak on album centerpiece ‘Runaway’. Toasting to ‘the douchebags’ as a metaphor for his own self-image, Kanye manages to turn his personal nature into an epic-rallying cry. Telling listeners ‘you’ve been putting up with my shit for way too long’, a mixture of agreement and pity surrounds the track, West’s façade both building and disintegrating before us. Finally justifying his ego with talent, Kanye has expertly produced an album of introspection and uncomfortable honestly. On a scale that may never be reached again, West’s fantasy is dark, twisted but truly beautiful.
 
4/5