Review by Alex Simmons (No image found)
When Matt first asked me to do a reflection/review for the tenth anniversary of President Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, I said “please stop sending me gory pictures of roadkill” and also “I would love to!” So I started thinking, analyzing, and quantifying my thoughts on the record (forever fighting TLOP for favorite Kanye album), and realized I simply couldn’t abide by a standard binary “review” format, as my reactions to this album are only visceral rather than pragmatic and objective. So, for my piece, I thought I would take a relisten to the album as a whole, and write my thoughts on each track as I listen. And who knows, we may make some friends on the way.
TRACK ONE: “Dark Fantasy”
I wonder who came up with the idea that Nicki Minaj would introduce the album in a British accent. When the chorus kicks in with the victorious maximalist refrain, “Can we get much higher?,” I immediately think of this as a precursor to modern day Choir Leader President Kanye. The chorus, in all of their holy glory, asserts to the listener that this album is going to be massive; it’s going to be dramatic, it’s going to demand your full devotion. When the more conventional piano-driven beat kicks in, it reminds us that this is still a hip-hop album at its core and, though it may present itself as a holy place of worship, there are still going to be some club ready bangers tailor made for bumpin’ and grindin’ on your boo thang. It’s a great track on its own, made even greater as the opener for this album. Can we get much higher?
TRACK TWO : “GORGEOUS”
“The cop looked like Alec Baldwin.” Why did I single out this line in particular? I think it’s funny. The only thing Dark Fantasy was missing is, of course, Raekwon from the Wu-Tang clan, but Gorgeous makes sure to deliver on that front. The beat isn’t heavy with 808s or the deep bass you might expect from a lot of contemporary rap, instead electing to vamp with a smooth, buttery guitar loop over a quiet drum beat and, yet, it still carries the bombast and intensity on par with the rest of the record. Kanye’s verses sound like they were recorded on an iPhone, and maybe they were? Probably not, but, hey, who knows, they could be. Raekwon, the secret best rapper of the Wu Tang clan, of course kills his verse. He packs his bars so tight with rhymes and rhythm that I always find myself wondering where he hides his breaths, if he does, in fact, breathe at all. The solo at the end isn’t particularly impressive, but it doesn’t really matter? Overall, despite my glowingness and positivity, this is a lower point of the album for me, especially after the amazing intro. The beat hardly switches up, and it doesn’t quite bump on the car radio like I would like it to. It’s Kanye you can take home to your parents. Kid Cudi’s hook, however, is a highlight.
TRACK THREE: “POWER”
Though this is the most radio-friendly track, it absolutely encompasses everything this album should be. It’s perfect for action-movie trailers, for the club, for workouts, for road trips, for freestyling over with your friends. Kanye’s verses are very very Kanye here. “I know damn well y’all feelin’ this shit
I don’t need your pussy, bitch I’m on my own dick.” And we love him for it. This is the kind of song that makes me feel like I could lift an entire car and throw it into my apartment, and the kind of song that makes me feel like I could clean the wreckage in the running time of this song. The beat is so heavy with deep kicks that my headphones might explode. This is the most popular song on the album, but in no way does it succumb to any music snob’s version of “basic and pedestrian.” Just a fire bop.
TRACK FOUR: “All of the Lights (Interlude)”
Well, this is certainly pretty.
TRACK FIVE: “All of the Lights”
You mean to tell me that interlude is going to turn into a real song? I am going to fangirl out for a second here. I absolutely LOVE this song. I love that half of it is Kanye listing different kinds of lights. I love the horn section. I love the hook. Again, Kanye reminds us that this album is to be reckoned with; it’s as if a hip-hop record had a baby with a rock opera and classical symphony. Somehow, this song actually lights up the room I’m in with street lights, car lights, whatever the fuck, like I’m in the center of the Earth’s stage dancing with Kanye. Fergie shows up to say some stuff about credit cards, I don’t really know why, but I am not opposed. Again, I think of modern Kanye, and how he has always has a deep appreciation for choir and gospel music, as the chorus of seemingly dozens of people reverberate around the horn section, demanding our undying faith in Kanye.
TRACK SIX: “Monster”
Favorite, favorite, favorite track on the album. Most listened to track on the album. Favorite verse, Nikki Minaj’s, is on this song. The beat, first of all, bangs hard. The downtempo, heavy drum section is made for strutting in slow motion to. Kanye blesses us with some of his freshest flow on the whole record. Have you ever had sex with a pharaoh…. Put that pussy in a sarcophagus. What the hell does that even mean? Jay-Z tries his best to ruin this track, but it goes so hard that even he can’t do it. His verse is wack as fuck. He’s so out of breath the whole verse that I wonder if he was on a treadmill when he spit it. Minaj’s verse absolves any and all of the sins of Jay-Z’s, as she hits us with some bars so hard and varied, reminiscent of ODB in “Da Mystery of Chessboxing” or Busta in “Scenario.” She isn’t kidding when she says “they can’t stand beside me.” It’s just a shame that she clearly has this incredible talent, but its been so watered down by the pressures of big record labels and radio stations that hardly anybody recognizes what she has. Then Bon Iver shows up, because of course he does. Were you expecting him not to?
TRACK 6 : “So Appalled”
Apparently some people hate this song and consider it a low point on the record? I am so appalled! The shrieky synth hits that pepper the chorus awaken something deep in me that I can’t recognize as happy sadness or sad happiness, but, whatever it is, I feel it to my core. Normally, I think I would come down hard on a hook that says “fuckin’ ridiculous,” it’s just weird to me, but I like it here. And Jay-Z, I still think you were ass on Monster, but I feel you here. Even though you may be a billionaire robot, I hear real emotion here. Okay, now can I get candid? I like Pusha T just fine, I think he has a passable verse here, but I am not with the hype over him. His flow doesn’t particularly impress me, his bars are never all that clever, and please don’t show him this because he would diss me and I don’t have the time to engage in a high profile rap beef. Cyhi has my favorite verse and my favorite line “If God had an ipod, I’d be on his playlist.” Imagine a big bearded dude in the sky cycling through his music library and landing on Cyhi the Prince is a delightful image.
TRACK 7: “Devil in a New Dress”
I am a sucker for songs that start with a drum hit, like this one does! This song is definitely the sexiest on the album, dropping dongs and thongs all throughout the world. It makes sense, as the song heavily samples Smokey Robinson, one of the leading writers of sexy songs. “The way you look should be a sin, you my sinsation,” on paper, should be a terrible bar. But it seems a motif of mine is loving these rhymes by pure virtue of them being rapped by Kanye. The song interludes in the middle, injecting a slick, hot, sweaty guitar solo to prelude to… Rick Ross. His verse is good though, and his deep Barry White voice greatly compliments the overall romanticism of this track, making me kind of attracted to Rick Ross? I don’t know, I have some things to work out. This song is huge and intense disguised as low-key and mellow; all the instruments are turned up to 11, the sheer amount of things going on is enough to burst an amp into flames.
TRACK 8: “Runaway”
Is there a more Kanye song than Kanye’s song, “Runaway?” Overly long, incredibly dramatic yet deceptively simple, lyrics that are somehow both narcissistic and self-deprecating, all at once? Toasting douchebags, assholes, and scumbags, every single one of them that I know? And, as with all of these songs, it vibes. So. Hard. The piano line that runs throughout the whole song is something a first time piano player or gifted toddler could come up with, without the burden of overthinking. Pusha T kills his bars, making me nearly regret my previous disparaging. Kanye isn’t the most especially gifted singer, but he croons here like a mohawked, punked out Marvin Gaye. 6 or so minutes in, he gifts us with an incredibly distorted auto-tuned chorus or hook or verse or something that is impossible to make out the words to, leaving us to make it up ourselves, like listening to Kenny from “South Park” speak. I’d wager that the words are hardly prophetic or meaningful, but somehow so prophetic and meaningful, just because it’s Kanye and that’s how it seems to go for him.
Track 9: “Hell of a Life”
What better to follow the somber, reflective “Runaway” with “I think I fell in love with a pornstar?” President Kanye goes from balladeering to full on Johnny Rotten Punk here, rapping against a power-chordy synth line. The hook is what really grabs me here. “Pussy and religion is all I need,” thus is the duality of man. Unaided by any features here, this is pure Kanye bars. And, as usual, they’re all fucking awesome and hilarious. “Make a nun cum, make her cremate.” Does it get any better than that? My head can’t stop moving to this one. I want to go out and beat coronavirus with my fists or something. He really nails the “I fell in love with a pornstar” point here, he says it like ten times. My man be masturbating and proud of it. The heavy breathing at the end is a little weird though.
Track 10: “Blame Game”
The beat is slick. It’s another beat that, like “Gorgeous,” hides the heavily filtered drums in the background, bringing the piano front and center. As a good, liberal, 21st century student of social politics, I take issue with the line “I’ll call you bitch for short, as a last resort and first resort.” But, as a good, loyal, Kanye fan, I’ll laugh it off and move on. Legend’s buttery voice lathers itself all over me and bakes me at 350 degrees and serves me for dinner. This song is an unabashed look at a struggling relationship, and the ins and outs of unconditional love. Coming from the man that sang “I thought about killing you today,” this is going to be honest and unfiltered. “I would rather argue than live without you” carries such weight and is a sentiment so pervasive in so many long term relationships. There’s a bit in this track where a pitched down Kanye trades bars with regular Kanye, while it pans back and forth from left to right like a Kanye tornado. A Kanyedo, if you will. Anywho, I enjoyed that part. A lot of songs on this album, as maximalist and intricate as it is, are often predicated around single loops that hardly vary throughout. And you hardly even notice. Chris Rock shows up at the end, and it’s just the cherry on top of a mountain of cherries on top of the best sundae you’ve ever had. He doesn’t need to be there, but of course he is. He has a history of showing up in rap songs and just talking, I’ve noticed, and I am always absolutely delighted. His little speech goes on slightly too long while being slightly too pointless, but I am still pleased. Yeezy taught you well.
Track 11: “Lost in the World/ Who will Survive In America”
This is a triumphant, victorious, optimistic ending to the shaky, uninspected wooden rollercoaster that is MBDTF. After reveling in despair over ourselves, our careers, our relationships, this song is a reminder that, at the end of it all, we are simply little specs in a vast universe, and that’s beautiful. I can’t stop dancing in my chair. “If we die in each other’s arms, still get laid in the afterlife.” More yin and yang; a sentiment as beautiful as dying holding the one you love coupled with the fact that, in Heaven, you’ll still get to fuck. The whole album was building to this moment, and it’s definitely one of my top three or so tracks on the record (following Monster, perhaps tied with all of the lights). I am a sucker for toms, and the breakdown near the end of the track, exuding primal, raw, tribal energy, gets me fired up. It flows into a separate track, though it is really just a continuation of the song, using a powerful speech by the revolutionary and excellent Gil Scot Heron to send us off.
