Kanye West
MY BEAUTIFUL DARK TWISTED FANTASY
Released in 2010, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is the fifth studio album of producer/rapper Kanye West. Over his music career so far Kanye has released 8 albums collecting 21 grammys along the way. Packed with incredible production, top tier features and littered with memorable lyrics, this albums is nothing short of a masterpeice.Kanye Omari West was born on the 8th of June 1977, in Atlanta. Kanye was best known for his music producing as it got himself a record deal with Roc-A-Fella Records in the early 2000s, in which he produced hit songs for the likes of Jay Z. However, Kanye didn't want to stop here and took it to the next level as he wanted to become a rap star, so in 2004 he released his debut album "The College Dropout". It was the lead single from this album "Through The Wire" (Video) which gained his initially popularity as he was the victim of a terrible car crash which almost killed him. As a result of this, Kanye had to get his mouth wired back in shape, and it's whilst he had this that he decided to record his single as he litereally spit his lyrics through the wire giving his voice a different tone. After Kanye's notorious incident at the 2009 Grammy's (Video), he lost a lot of fans and the industry turend againt. Due to this Kanye fled the country to Rome to take some time off from music. When he would return to music, his next move would have to be his best work as the stakes were higher than ever.
This is one of my favourtie albums of all time as Kanye pours his soul into each of the 13 tracks. After Kanyes long break from music, he dediced to move to Hawii for 6 months where he would begin recording his 5th studio album. To help make his album, Kanye flew over a team of all stars who would feature on the album such as; Jay Z, Pusha T, Rick Ross, Kid Cudi, Bon Iver, John Legend, Elton John and more. My Beuatiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is a genre bending masterpiece that explores the darker sides of celebrities, fame and love in which Kanye has never spoke on such a personal level before. The album was widley acclaimed by both fans and critics as it recieved a near impossible 10/10 rating from Pitchfork. Some of my favourite songs from the album include; "Gorgeous", "So Appalled", "Devil In A New Dress", "All Of The Lights", and "Runaway".
All Of The Lights
This track is one of the lead singles from the album featuring many artists including; Rihanna, Kid Cudi, Elton John, Drake, Alicia Keys, Fergie and Elly Jackson. The song is about Kanye's qaulms living as a celebrity with personal problems in the public eye. He conveys this through the story of a troubled family going through domestic abuse, imprisonment and separation. The character in the story has problems which resulted in him wrongly hitting his girl and going to jail. When he gets out he is excited to see his girl again, but to his suprise she has replaced him. This links to Kanye's story with music as after his incident with Taylor Swift at the Grammys, he received a public backlash and decided to take time off from music by moving country. When Kanye had returned home he was excited to start making music again, however he had been replaced by new stars such as Drake.
Devil In A New Dress
This is my favourite song from the album being one of the best produced beats in Hip Hop, in which many have decribed as the best gem from a diamond mine. It samples Smokey Robinson's "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", as Mike Dean shreds an electric guitar solo for 1 minute half way between Kanye West and Rick Ross legendary verses. The song contains lyrical themes of lust and heartache, in addition to love and religion as Kanye finds himself using familiar relogious imagery upon a women he knows that begins to lose her faith. The Miami rapper Rick Ross delivers what is often regarded the best verse of his career. One of my favourite lyrics from this song is "The Lyor Cohen of Dior Homme, that's Dior Homme not Dior Homie". The first line is a smoother yet less catchy varation on Kanye's old nickname 'The Louis Vuitton Don'. Dior Homme is a high end French clothing label. To a non French speaker they meay read 'homme' as 'homie', in which Kanye makes a joke out of to show his growth from the hood.
Gorgeous
This is the 3rd track on the album and it features Kid Cudi and Raekwon. The production of the song features a beautiful melodic guitar riff that contrasts with Kanye's thoughts on racial injustice, social disillusionment and sexual exploitation in America. Kanye's voice is distored making the vocals sound as if they were another instrusment blended with lush electric guitar. This song is a jab at the American judice system as he ironically and patronizingly calls the song gorgeous. One of my favourite lyrics from the album is "And what's a black Beatle anyway, a f**king roach? I guess that's why they got me sitting in f**king coach". These lines are often seen as some of Kanye's best lyrics as he uses a band as an example to point out racial inequalities. Kanye believes that a black person achieving as much as The Beatles would not recieve their dues. So when people call Kanye a black beetle, he views it as racist as he is thought of as no higher than a cockroach. Hence the image of sitting in coach behind first-class.
The production of "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" seems to have compressed every sound Kanye has into one vision, including; the soul samples from "College Dropout", beautiful orchestra of "Late Registration", gloss synths of "Graduation" and the auto-tuned melodies of "808s & Heartbreak". Today the album stands as a masterpiece and often thought of as a the best peice of 'artwork' ever made by Kanye West as it sold over 2 million copies alone in the United States.
Videos
Kanye West - Runaway (Full-length Film) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg5wkZ-dJXA
Kanye West: The Making of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t0nipO6Rcw&t=973s
Every Sample From Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJ4vr2ex4L4
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