My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Review

Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010): 9/10

Kanye is just heads and shoulders above any mainstream pop/rap/hip-hop artist out there. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was in my opinion really similar in the layout of the tracks to the College Dropout in the sense that there were a number of skits, spoken word poetry, ballads, and was at times really crude.  That’s not meant as a complaint though; College Dropout is one of the best albums I have ever heard.

I sort of wish Kanye West didn't release like half the songs before the album came out because it takes away from the enjoyment of hearing them. I've been listening to Power (which might be the best song on the album) for the last like six months. I'm kind of used to how great the song is so when I hear it on the album its more meh. 

I think Kanye could have cut out a couple songs - 13 is one or two too many in my opinion. My favorite songs in no particular order were: "Gorgeous", "Power",  "So Appalled", "Blame Game", "Runaway", "Who Will Survive in America", and "Lost in the World".  There weren’t any bad songs on the album - I didn't love "Monster" but even that was ok.  "Blame Game" would have been my favorite song if not for the unnecessary Chris Rock skit that was crude and not that funny. The first two/thirds of "Blame Game" is as good as anything Kanye has done and brought back memories of "Family Business" but the last third ruined that. My complaints are really minor though; My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is easily in the top 5 rap albums I have ever heard. The level of creativity that has to go towards making something of this caliber is mind-blowing.  I would argue Kanye surpassed Jay-Z on this album; Jay-Z was pedestrian at best in the two or three songs he was in. There was no creativity or excitement and compared to the energy and creativity of Kanye its not even close. Seriously a line about a dark knight feeling? I probably could have written that with any/all due respect. The greatness of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is even more apparent when you compare it to other albums out by "Radio" artists.

Favorite lines from the album:

• "Sex is on fire, I'm the king of fire. I'm the king of Leona Louis"
• "Too many Urkel's on your team that's why you're winslow"
• "Penitentiary chances, the devil dances and eventually answers to the call of autumn, all of them fallin' for the love of ballin', get caught with 30 rocks, the cop look like Alec Baldwin, inter century anthems based off inner city tantrums"
• "What's a black beetle anyway, a fucking roach"
• "Is hip-hop, just a euphemism for a new religion"
• "Screams from the haters, got a nice ring it. I guess every superhero needs his theme music"
• "They say I was the obamanation of Obama's nation. Well that’s  a pretty bad way to start the conversation"
• "Address me as your highness. High as United, 30,000 feet up and you are not invited"