My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West (Review)
[Originally Published on June 1, 2020]
By November 2010, calling Kanye West’s public life controversial would have been a massive understatement. He was clearly on drugs, had infamously interrupted Taylor Swift in an incident that may or may not have sparked #GrammySoWhite years later, had a very public breakup with Amber Rose, and had cancelled his joint 808s and Heartbreaks tour with Lady Gaga without explanation. Besides that, the press seemed to feed off the artist’s explosive reactions to them invading his privacy and personal space. Kanye’s back was pinned to the wall. Instead of continuing to open his mouth, he did what he does best and let his music do the talking. West took a hiatus from public life and retreated to Hawaii to record My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy at Avex Recording Studio in Honolulu. The resulting project is undoubtedly the most impressive musical body of work of the last decade, at the very least.
The album’s strength lies in its inclusion of multiple voices, perspectives, and talents. In fact, the project has less of Kanye than any of his previous releases. Many critics and writers have characterized West as the project’s maestro or conductor, but he’s more like its personal trainer. Kanye aimed to create a communal, collaborative environment that would integrate the very best of each of the top tier features. Cemented legends such as JAY Z, Raekwon, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon are in top form. Hungry newcomers such as Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Pusha T, and Rick Ross deliver career-making performances that would etch their name among the greats. And masterful producers such as RZA, No I.D., and Mike Dean collaborate with West to craft sounds we never imagined possible.
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy isn’t West’s most lyrical tape. That distinction belongs to his brilliant sophomore effort Late Registration. It also doesn’t have the culture shifting singles such as “Jesus Walks” and “Through the Wire” or the nostalgic value that made College Dropout an instant classic. However, the production on this project is pristine. Its sound is exquisite enough to be enjoyed in an elegant amphitheater hall and grimy enough to be blasted through headphones or in the whip. Its dynamic nature can be attributed to the fact that Kanye allotted a different room in the studio to each song and would zip back and forth to work on each of them when inspired. The audio influences here range from soul sampling to alternative rock to synths and everything in between. Perhaps the most distinctive component of the sound is the use of voice as instrumentals. The defiant “Power” is a revolutionary song that appeals to creative freedom and is defined by looped vocals. The most profound line reveals why creators such as Michael Jackson and Walt Disney held onto their child personas. “My childlike creativity and honesty is honestly being crowded by these grown thoughts,” he raps.
Then a fresh face in the rap game, Nicki Minaj begins the album in her “Roman” persona by giving a short monologue about how culture has become “watered down” and “all wack and corny.” It’s telling that she’s the first voice we hear. On the ghoulish, head-knocking “Monster”, Nicki sprouts more menacing fangs than West and JAY Z—the duo who would call themselves The Throne. With lyrical flexes such as “she’s on a diet but her pockets eatin’ cheesecake” and “my money so tall that my Barbies gotta climb it”, Minaj damn near swallows the track whole. West later admitted that he considered removing her titanic verse for fear of it overshadowing the album. Possessed and more locked-in than we’ve ever seen her, the Queen did conquer indeed.
As he revealed in his memoir Hurricanes, Rick Ross was proud of the original “Devil in a New Dress” verse he handed to West. But the Chicago rapper asked him to scrap it and start over. “You can dig deeper,” he remembered him saying. The second iteration of his verse described the track’s imagery perfectly: “spinning Teddy Pendergrass vinyls as my Jay burns.” You can see Rozay gritting his teeth as he fires absurd brags such as “so many cars DMV thought it was mail fraud” and “getting 2Pac money twice over.” The beat sounds like Kanye is sitting in a silk, burgundy suit but the lyrics let you know he’s blinking back tears. “I thought I was the asshole, I guess it’s rubbing off,” he raps. The braggadocio, drugs, and luxurious high life he glorifies throughout the first half of the album has caught up with him. His leading lady has had enough.
On the opulent “Runaway”, West knows deep down his lustful, egotistic nature will drive his partner away, but that doesn’t make it hurt any less. “I don’t know how imma manage, if one day you just up and leave,” he sings. This song basically says “We both know I’m bad for you. You should leave, but not really.” It communicates West’s issues with intimacy and trust. As brash as we’ve come to expect, Pusha T is much less remorseful. He unapologetically raps, “Ok I did [cheated]. Now pick your next move, either leave or deal wit it.” The lovely synth breakdown at the end of the song is a soft current that gently pulls your subconscious thoughts to the forefront of your mind. It bleeds perfectly into “Blame Game”, which features a strong hook from John Legend and a poem that displays how torn up Kanye is over his ugly breakup. “With so much of everything, how did we leave with nothing,” he wonders, quoting poet Chloe Mitchell. The Chris Rock skit at the end provides comic relief, but is also self-serving with the repeated phrase “Yeezy Taught Me.” To heal, West must convince himself his love interest is nothing without him.
On the auto tune heavy “Gorgeous”, Kanye defines hip hop as “a euphemism for a new religion. The soul music of the slaves that the youth is missing.” Alluding to the school to prison pipeline, he adds “the school’s closed and the prison’s open.” He wrote this album to inspire young creatives, movers, and shakers to create the world they want to see—even if it takes destroying the current one. “Lost in the World” sounds like West is in full ceremonial paint and charging through the rain forest. However, he doesn’t have a hunting spear and he’s not running from a predator. He’s running towards his light.
The song transitions into “Who Will Survive in America”, a drum driven outro that includes a snippet from freedom fighter Gil Scott Heron’s poem “Comment #1.” It challenges the historical narratives we were “programmed” with in school, reframing outcasts Nat Turner and Paul Revere as “the good guys.” My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy displays what the greatest artist of our generation was capable of at the peak of his powers and in the right frame of mind. It has a strong argument for being included in the pantheons of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Off the Wall, Thriller, Purple Rain, and Songs in the Key of Life as some of the best albums of all-time in any genre. As the world burns and the unheard black youth rise up in defense of our bodies, we could’ve used someone like Kanye behind us.
