Take off of Air Yeezy.

Sorry for the delay between posts! Major computer problems!

However that has given me the chance to really get into the nitty gritty of the latest Kanye West offering! ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ is Ye’s 5^th mainstream release and defiantly lives up to the hype.

When I first started reading reviews of this album’s “excellence” and how it was lining up to be Kanye’s “Best Hip-Hop offering yet” I immediately began to dread this release. In my opinion you should never.... EVER over hype an album, as 99% of the time it simply doesn’t live up! (Look at Jay-Z’s infamous return to Hip-Hop in 2006 with ‘Kingdome Come’) and you end up ultimately disappointed and frustrated.

BUT occasionally, very occasionally you manage to discover an album that is more than just hype, and makes you sit up and listen. That priceless 1%, that tiny niche which doesn’t just happen by chance but by pure brilliance! ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ is just such an album!

I’m going to be straight up and say that I’m a massive Kanye fan, I’ve even heard a lot of his mix tape material, which a lot of is pretty awesome, (like his version of Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’). His music is just so powerful. And yes we all know that he can act out a little when it comes to being in the public eye, but to me that is just a way of keeping him in the public eye. Any publicity is good publicity.... ask Taylor.

Outbursts aside, the man falls into that category which I personally feel is FAR too over used, and has almost lost its significance due to this. But Yeezy, like his ‘Big Brother’, is nothing short of a musical Genius.

From his first venture into rap in 2004 with ‘The College Dropout’ his music has been streets ahead of his peers. From the first [skit] track to the last, the album had classic written in/ on/ through/ and all over it. Seeing the first single ‘Through the Wire,’ sampling Chaka Kahn’s ‘Through the Fire’, which in a literally sense painted the agony of the 2002 car accident which shattered his jaw. Ye exploded onto the scene... and when he arrived, it was obvious he was here to stay! Stepping away from the gun toting, gangsta persona which was almost inbuilt into Hip-Hop at the time, Kanye’s self reflective, style speaks volumes about love, loss, family, humour, politics, pain and life... and was a breath of fresh air! The meticulous production value is one of the key factors making Yeezys music so compelling, and is no more obvious than in ‘The College Dropout’. Infusing his Hip-Hop offerings with off-the-wall samples, string orchestras and Gospel choirs, this was truly a revelation in the genre.

His 2005 and 2007 albums ‘Late Registration’ and ‘Graduation’, respectively, continue this fantastically intricate blend of socio-political middle class Hip-Hop. Listening to these albums you get a real sense of Kanye West maturing in/ and through music. With tracks such as ‘Heard ‘um Say, ’Roses’ and ’Flashing Lights’ contributing more passion in a few lines, than most Hip-Hop artists can muster in their whole (usually short lived) careers.

2008 saw Ye reinvent himself (Madonna style) with the deeply emotional ‘first break-up album’ in Rap. ‘808’s & Heartbreaks’ welcomed you to Kanye’s own personal devastation, asking the question how could you be so heartless? This deviance from ‘straight’ Hip-Hop was described by Ye as less Rap, more ‘Pop Art’.(... clearly Kanye had ALOT to get off his chest, and felt the best way to do it was through synthesisers and Auto-tune...? Thank you Jay-Z for ‘The Death of Auto-Tune’!!)

But Yeezy has come back to his routes in Hip-Hop and ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ feels like a real leap forward for the charismatic mogul.

The album brings together all of the best parts of his previous offerings, bundles them together and spits out something new and innovative. The album has a beautiful flow to it beginning with the track ‘Dark Fantasy’, which I had to laugh at... the man who needs no introduction gives the first track on his new album TWO.... then the song starts. The scene is set like a twisted old fairytale, before throwing you down the rabbit hole to be spat out completely energised, with no idea whether there was a happy ending... or any ending at all! Then, as soon as its over, you want to take the trip again!

This feeling of almost an LSD style, trip through Kanye’s mind is elaborately coupled with the 30minute video he produced to extend the track ‘Runaway’. The track itself is an incredibly honest stunning song, (all be it for a rather prolonged ending), and is defiantly one of the stand out tracks on the album. This showing off one of the many creative facets to Kanye’s artistic, captivating personality.

The first single ‘POWER’ is classic Ye. With a heavy base and complex lyrics he smashes you with his deep emotional veiled metaphors, and his thick political undertones. The track is a monster! After nearly 3 years away from (true) Hip-Hop it is clear that he has lost none of his game. Choosing not to go with one of the many collaborations on the album is possibly a marker set down by West, as he comments on various tracks through his career that he feels that featured artists often outshine him (especially seen in ‘Big Brother’ from Graduation with regards to Jay-Z). This is a stand-alone track. It is all about Kanye West now. And he really does himself justice.

Other tracks worth mentioning on the album are... well... ALL of them!

I don’t often say this about an album, but there isn’t a track on there I don’t like! I even like the ‘All of the lights (Interlude)’ which butters you up before hitting you with the full track. ‘All of the lights’ is defiantly one of the biggest tracks, and a personal favourite of mine. Joining forces indiscriminately with the likes of Elton John, and Fergie on this one Ye shines through as the driving force of this song, and the album.

Speaking of monsters, the track ’Monster’ is a classic Kanye-Jigga collaboration, which really lives up to its name. With the likes of Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj & Bon Iver also featured the track is a really heavy Hip-Hip track, which it looks like everyone wanted a piece of by the extensive list of names featured.

But for me it is the second half of the album that plays out the biggest tracks. ‘Lost In The World’ (feat. Bon Iver) is an amazingly striking track that has all the tenderness of a ballad with all the rawness of Hip-Hop infused. Ye’s confusion about love and loss bleeds from every pore of this track. Where as ‘Blame Game’ (feat. John Legend) is a fantastically composed track that once again speaks of Yeezy’s emotional turmoil post relationship. Culminating in a hilarious piece of improv by Chris Rock, parodying a phone call from Ye’s ex lover

(watch out for the lines:

"you know what i goota thank yeezy, 

and when i see that brother i gotta thank him!
I'ma buy the album, 

I'ma download that s**t.... 

I'ma shoot a bootlegger!! 

thats how good i feel about this!")

'Devil In A New Dress' (feat. Rick Ross) is yet another track on the album that needs a mention. Yeezy’s blunt honesty through the album is crescendo’d here. Speaking of his wild love life, and relationships through to one night stands, with the starp “the way you look should be a sin, you my sin-sation”.

I really can’t give this album any more plaudits, or like me you’ll start thinking I’m over hyping it and stop listening. But if you have any favour for Mainstream Hip-Hop this album is the Must of 2010… maybe even more so than Jay-Z’s Blueprint III (… controversially).

Definitely get this!
Cheers for reading! Leave me a comment!! Tx