Album review: MY BEAUTIFUL DARK TWISTED FANTASY (Kanye West)

The introduction to the album, Dark Fantasy, unsettles you right from the off, with an opening monologue delivered in what sounds like a bizarre, exaggerated imitation of a British accent. Then there’s some soaring, gospel-like singing, building the tension until the 1-minute-19-second mark: there he is! He immediately shows off his expansive range of high school Spanish: “How you say broke in Spanish? Me no hablo”, and the chorus of “Oh, oh, oh” is masterfully orchestrated. 

Yet, the focal point of the song is the man himself and his rapping, and oh, what masterful rapping. Kanye West is in the building, ladies and gentlemen.

The second track, Gorgeous, with Kid Cudi and Raekwon treats listeners to some stunning electric guitar work and a thick dose of malaise during in Kid Cudi’s chorus: “I can feel it slowly drifting away from me.” Kanye’s rapping sounds like it’s delivered through a foghorn or toilet pan (possibly both), but looking past that bizarre audio distortion, the filter takes nothing away from the sheer brilliance and insight of his lyricism.

Kanye West has been accused of loving the sound of his own voice too much, an angle that has been discussed ad nauseum following the Taylor Swift incident. However, it’s my opinion that when his words are this poetic, it’s a good thing that he projects his thoughts so loudly. The classy song is topped off with a stellar guest verse from Raekwon. There are a lot of excellent songs on this album, but amongst them, Gorgeous stood out for me.

Power featuring Dwele is a terrific fusion of rap and rock, backed by a healthy dose of tribal hollering that provides the track's driving rhythm. The arrangement follows a massive crescendo—layering sound upon sound, growing louder and louder—before suddenly dropping out. It's safe to say Kanye has a bit of a chip on his shoulder regarding the public ostracisation of the Taylor Swift affair (“they can kiss my ass… more specifically they can kiss my asshole”, he swaggers). Whilst Kanye West talking about others being egotistical has some ironic novelty value, but this is brilliant stuff. It is bold, brassy, completely Kanye, and full of intelligent wordplay that you’ll have to strain your ears to hear lest you miss a beat.

When I didn’t see a Rihanna name credit on the song All of the Lights, I must say I was surprised. Her feisty vocal work on the soaring chorus stands out far more than any of her male counterparts, providing a terrific, melodic complement to Kanye’s fast-paced rapping.

The beat is unashamedly big, brassy and bombastic, and as such, hugely catchy. Rihanna isn’t the only celebrity to feature on it – The-Dream, Kid Cudi and John Legend to deliver brief vocal cameos, while Elton John anchors the track's dramatic bridge on the piano. Texturally, it’s one of Kanye’s richest  and most maximalist songs, and lyrically, it’s untouchable.

The list of talent included in Monster itself is somewhat of a behemoth– Jay Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj and Bon Iver all join the fray. It’s good to see that the whole VMA drama hasn’t impaired Mr West’s ability to spit bars at breakneck speed. I think of myself as quite a fast talker, but there’s no way I could keep up with Kanye at the velocity he raps here. Jay-Z, clearly determined not to be outplayed on his own protégé's track, picks up the pace to match Kanye's frantic momentum, delivering a rapid-fire verse packed with his own quirky asides. 

Up-and-rising bright star Nicki Minaj refuses to be outdone by the fellas. She, too delivers a guest verse in a manner that is incredibly fast, frenetic, and totally furious, proving beyond a doubt that she is the one to watch right now. (She also epitomizes cool in her appearance in Rihanna’s song Raining Men). 

“Life sometimes can be ridiculous” we are told in So Appalled, another song that is exceptionally heavy on the stars power – Jay Z features again, along with Pusha T, Cyhi the Prynce, RZA and Swizz Beatz. Whilst I'm not totally sure what’s being discussed in this song; the track functions as a slow-burning meditation on whatever happens to be occupying the weird and wonderful world of Kanye West’s mind. 

Each of the artists in the track have their own agendas and list of grievances, using the dark, cinematic production as a sounding board to voice their frustrations. “What would you rather be, underpaid or overrated?” Jay-Z demands of the listener. Judging by this song, Kanye West is neither.

Devil in a New Dress tells the story of a beautiful but toxic woman - think Goldigger, but amplified: “I know I’m preaching to the congregation/We love Jesus/But you done learned a lot of Satan”. The pace is noticeably less frenetic than the majority of the tracklist, but there’s a wealth of dry wit as well as signature Kanye self-aggransiement, as well as a healthy dose of soulful instrumentals. The entire song feels like a throwback to old-school, College Dropout-era Kanye, and the trip down memory lane pays off; it’s a strong track.

Runaway, which clocks in at almost nine minutes, takes its time getting started – deploying 40 seconds isolated, single piano keys and another twenty seconds of introductory buildup before we hear any actual vocals. The track features Pusha T, a frequent collaborator of Kanye's; the duo previously teamed up on "Take One for the Team," a track as infectious as it was casually misogynistic Here, he brings swagger aplenty, rapping “Invisibly set, the Rolex is faceless / I'm just young, rich, but you’re tasteless''. The vocals dissolve to make way for a sprawling three-and-a-half minutes of instrumental outro, capping off an accomplished, avant-garde but very memorable song.

Hell of a Life is one of the few songs in which Kanye holds the spotlight on his own, handling both the melodic chorus and the verses to showcase his versatility. “Have you lost your mind / tell me what you thinkin’ when you crossed the line”. The instrumental ding-a-ling-ing of the electric piano keys sounds like it wouldn’t be out of place in a Microsoft Pinball game and the bass (and random cacophony of sounds throughout) suggests to me that Kanye himself may have lost his mind when creating this one. Yet, that erratic energy is exactly what compounds the track's genius.

When I saw that Kanye had collaborated with John Legend again, I wondered if the result would mirror their jovial ode to infidelity, Number One. Instead, Blame Game, whilst touching upon similar themes, is of a different musical pedigree completely. Over seven minutes long, the track reinforces the album's overarching ethos: it is completely unafraid to do whatever it wants. Essentially, it’s an elegiac love song, reflecting on the bitter dissolution of a relationship.

John Legend exhibits his soulful vocals to the backdrop of lingering minor piano keys, while Kanye’s verse spins a long, meandering, and profoundly melancholic narrative. The result is a haunting, beautiful little number that shows Kanye West can execute raw emotional vulnerability with the best of them.

One could be mistaken for thinking it was a woman’s voice at the start of Lost in the World; the intro, with the sparse lack of instruments and vocal harmonisations alone, is something that Imogen Heap mastered years ago. Sampling Bon Iver’s Woods, it captures the multi-faceted, paradoxical nature of romance: “You’re my devil, you’re my angel / you’re my heaven, you’re my hell”. Texturally, it’s very dense – uggling pitch-shifted autotune, complex rhythms, and dynamic beat shifts, while cleverly interpolating the iconic Michael Jackson chant popularized for our generation by Rihanna's Don't Stop the Music. At one point the sheer sonic chaos becomes a bit overwhelming, and as such, I would rank it as one of my least favourites on the album, but it’s remains a fascinating piece of music.

The album closes with the arty outro Who Will Survive in America, a 90-odd second long spoken word piece that samples Gil Scott-Heron's Comment No. 1. It serves as a poignant soliloquy touching upon freedom, soul, fraternity, and all the grand existential themes prevalent in Kanye’s career-long ponderings.

Ultimately, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is an unforgettable masterpiece. It is a sprawling, chaotic, yet meticulously engineered work of art that captures a generational talent at the absolute zenith of his powers. Across its runtime, Kanye effortlessly bridges the gap between commercial pop accessibility and boundary-pushing experimentation. 

It is bold, brilliant, and completely unforgettable music 

9/10

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