Kanye West released his fifth album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy to controversy over the album cover, which was his ingenious plan. If you want to make a hit album you need something besides the music. You need some great marketing. Obviously, we know that if you do anything provocative in the USA, then certain groups will protest it and it will cause others to be curious to see it. West’s album blew up with the critics and the public. I did never listened to any of it. I was in Hungary and I missed a lot of American music. I have never been a rap fan so I wasn’t missing anything. Honestly, I do not understand what most rappers are rapping about. They change words into nonsensical things just for a rhyme.
The first song “Dark Fantasy” is really catchy. For me it’s the sampled “In High Places” by Mike Oldfield featuring Jon Anderson. Also, the opening narrative delivered by rapper Nicki Minaj from one of my favourite childhood author’s Roald Dahl is awesome.
My other favourite songs are the soulful “Devil in a New Dress”, “So Appalled”, “Runaway”, and “So Appalled”.
The worst songs are “Gorgeous”, “Blame Game”, and “All of the Lights”. I am not a fan of John Legend and Rihanna. I find their voices irritating.
Side note: I accidentally heard some songs from his album 808s & Heartbreak, while I was writing this review and I kind of enjoyed it more, except for the autotune parts. Maybe I will listen to the whole album later.
Overall, this album is really good. I am not sure if I like it better than his previous album on the list The College Dropout. I am sure that I actually like some of West’s songs. He is not a great singer at all. I consider him a great orchestrator of talent. He knows how to get the right producers and the artists to make his vision a reality. I am not a fan of his personality either, but I blame that on society. We are the ones who put these people on a pedestal and the ones who allow them to act that way. At the same time, I do not agree with cancel culture either. I tend to separate the art from the artist. Besides who among us is perfect? Some of us suffer from PTSD, multiple personalities, severe mental disorders, whatever and we have to work and live in the world too. 8/10.
an ocean roars 