At some point three years ago - Kanye West was probably the most hated man in not only music, but show-business as a whole. His Taylor Swift stage-bomb exploits; left him humiliated, embarrassed and hated by all. Myself included, I had lost a lot of faith in the egotistic rapper, prior to the VMA's even. More so, as a result of his then latest album 808's and Heartbreaks, which I felt at the time was very substandard to its predecessors. And now with his drunken exploits at the VMA's, I truly thought this was the end for Kanye - (giggles) BOY WAS I WRONG! After exiling himself for a year in Hawaii, many critics, journalists and fans all discussed what exactly the ostracised rapper was doing - when in actuality, he was making a modern classic album.
After leaked versions of the first single Power marauded the internet, the official version was finally released in July with the visuals for the track, causing mad hysteria . It seemed as though Yeezy was back, but a Yeezy who had now mastered his own sound (I'll come back to that later). Following this, he further blessed us with weekly free giveaways building up to the album, noted as "G.O.O.D FRIDAYS" and mind you despite 3 of the songs being on the album, most if not all were album-worthy. This, plus the short-film Runaway whetted everyone's appetite for the album itself. November 22nd, 2010 *Wipes Tear*.
Ok, now this is where I explain why I think My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (MBDTF) is a masterpiece and why all hip-hop albums thereafter have to try and beat it - to be mentioned as a modern classic...
I won't go into great detail about the songs within the actual album, (you can listen to them for yourself really). But, what I will do is discuss the album as a composition. As a whole Kanye made an all-encompassing album - by that I mean the album is a construct of each of his previous four albums. Particularly, the production, you can hear the soulful samples in songs like Devil in a New Dress reminiscent of The College Dropout, opera-like and stadium'esc sounds in All of the Lights similar to Late Registration and Graduation, while his recent spurge of using auto-tune which is prominent in 808's is present throughout the album, especially Runaway. While encompassing all his previous sounds - he had now mastered it and rendered something newer and more daring, with his Rock-like samples and heavier bass production which is most appreciated in the overwhelming song Power. Here, in terms of production we found a Kanye West who had grown to new heights beyond conventional hip-hop, which of course he was always doing with his previous albums - nonetheless he did it this time embracing his previous sound and evolving to a new level. Having said that, it is clear to see why Kanye considers himself to be more than just a rapper- but rather a great artist that raps.
It is often debated that Kanye is a producer who can rap rather the other way round, or that he's good at both. Nonetheless, with this album, he demonstrated that he is very much so, a strong rapper, who can compete with best lyrically. Without a doubt in my mind his best display of lyricism was in MBDTF - and no song on the album best displays this than Gorgeous. In actual fact, Kanye denounces the negative stigma of him being a producer who can rap, in Gorgeous where he goes on to say - 'Act like I ain't had a belt in two classes, I ain't got it I'm going after for whoever who has it, I'm coming after whoever! Who has it?'. Firstly, this is a really dope line to be honest - more importantly he negates the stigma of him being a producer who can rap, but rather a champion at both crafts and to be fair, off this effort, who can really argue with him.
I mean, what I most appreciate about the album is it's duality - by that I mean; it's an album for all lovers of music, whether you're lover of hip-hop or not, but at the very same time it still resonates with the core foundations of hip-hop, so not straying away from the genre itself. It has probably the best posse-cut track in the last decade with So Appalled, as well as an honest and very candid song that all listeners can relate to in Devil in a New Dress. Plus, it really demonstrated and allowed other artists/producers to flourish- both his own artists in G.O.O.D Music, but as well as emerging/new-gen' rappers like Nicki Minaj and Rick Ross to drop arguably their best verses.
Having said all of this, I genuinely feel this album deserved all the plaudits it received- considering Kanye was all against it at that specific time, he really did deliver a stellar album that will go down as a classic, if it isn't already. I mean it got 5 mics from The Source even (who even knew they still existed lol). This is certainly, in my opinion the best hip-hop album in the new decade (2010- ) and probably since the Carter 3 or well before even. In which, for me this is the plateau that all forthcoming attempts should aim to top - a reference of what a modern classic is, if you will.
Cheers...
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