Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

[Mr. V]

looks like i'll be the only one!

hopefully it's not like 808s...

it is, in parts.

this is kanye's first album. it's cohesive and everything just works perfectly. His previous work sans-808s sounded like a shitload of songs just together, slapped together. runaway is the centrepiece but there isn't a weak track on here. just been reading some lyrics and there's some fucking amazing rhyming here, especially from jay-z.

 

[PhilsFan]

I cannot find this album.

 

[LemonMelon]

Check your lease. And, while you're up, your PM box.

 

[cobl04]

i'd love a PM too elmel

it is, in parts.

this is kanye's first album. it's cohesive and everything just works perfectly. His previous work sans-808s sounded like a shitload of songs just together, slapped together. runaway is the centrepiece but there isn't a weak track on here. just been reading some lyrics and there's some fucking amazing rhyming here, especially from jay-z.

i'll have an open mind!

jay-z is a sick cunt, and if anyone within dares to jeer him at U2 i'll belt the shit out of them.

 

[LemonMelon]

i'd love a PM too elmel

Shit, I missed this before. Sent!

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

The album is good. Pretty damn good. Nothing will ever top College Dropout for me, as I've said before, but this has a chance to overtake Late Registration and move into the #2 spot on my Yeezy albums list. Some of the backing tracks here are just flawless.

The opening track, Dark Fantasy, is a highlight, even though "my sex is on fire, I'm the King of Leon-a Lewis" is as cringe-worthy a line as I've ever heard the man spit. Just awful. His ghost writers need to step up their game.

Monster is another standout. Nicki Minaj's verse is awesome. And the extended Runaway sounds great.

Did you guys see the crazy awkward interview he did with Matt Lauer on the Today Show? Shit.

 

[PhilsFan]

Did you guys see the crazy awkward interview he did with Matt Lauer on the Today Show? Shit.

He's freaking the fuck out on Twitter about how it's an example of the media trying to set him up.

Spoiler

Welcome back, you beautiful son of a bitch.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Ha, yeah, I just checked his Twitter. Wow.

Thanks, man. What did you think of this Dark Twisted Fantasy album?

 

[If you shout...]

The interview in question can be found here. Strange. Dude is one of the most inarticulate motherfuckers I've ever seen, and I can't help but feel like he's only so upset because he made himself look so stupid but doesn't want to admit that he, and only he, is at fault. Who knows, though?

 

[PhilsFan]

Ha, yeah, I just checked his Twitter. Wow.

Thanks, man. What did you think of this Dark Twisted Fantasy album?

I'm refraining from listening to it until the uncensored version is out. Censoring profanity ruins songs for me.

 

[PhilsFan]

The interview in question can be found here. Strange. Dude is one of the most inarticulate motherfuckers I've ever seen, and I can't help but feel like he's only so upset because he made himself look so stupid but doesn't want to admit that he, and only he, is at fault. Who knows, though?

He's horribly inarticulate, and I understand exactly what he was trying and failing to say. Basically that he prides himself on being passionate and off-the-hook like that, and that he thinks the word choice was poor but he doesn't regret saying it because he likes people thinking he's like that. He once said he has "little baby Tourette's" because "sometimes the truth just slips out like that." Which means he has no understanding of what Tourette's actually is, or that "baby" is not a way of stating "a minor case of."

He was so worked up about trying to choose his words that the video and the people talking off the set distracted the shit out of him.

 

[powerhour24]

This leaked? I'm out of the loop this week, and I was just excited to see Rolling Stone call it his best album to date, I don't know if that's possible but it was nice to read in the face of the pessimism that was spreading around here. They also said that 'no one half-way sane could have written this album' !!

A PM would be appreciated from anyone with... 'directions' if you catch my drift, .

 

[LemonMelon]

it was nice to read in the face of the pessimism that was spreading around here.

I'm honestly surprised that there was any. Power, Monster and Runaway are all terrific, and the GOOD Friday songs got a great response. Why would the album suck?

 

[mobvok]

I'm refraining from listening to it until the uncensored version is out. Censoring profanity ruins songs for me.

I tried listening to it but had the same reaction. I'm pretty sure in a few places they switched the sound of "shit" up so it was "it-sh-uh", so Kanye kept talking about how itchy he was.

 

[lazarus]

I'm looking forward to hearing this, but I'm not foaming at the mouth for it. I'll wait until it hits the store.

 

[AiRMaRcI9o0]

Just a heads up...the uncensored version has been floating around the net for a few days.

 

[LemonMelon]

Fuck yes it is.

In spite of how catchy a good number of these tracks are, my favorite right now is undoubtedly Monster. What a gutsy, dissonant, heavy-ass beat. One of the amazing things about this record is how much effort was obviously put into its production while still feeling visceral, seconds from falling apart at any given moment. You could interpret it as him not giving a fuck, but it's difficult to say that in the face of tracks as elaborate and beautiful as Runaway and All of the Lights.

The scary thing is that this is only my third favorite Kanye album for the time being. Dude is a beast.

 

[Mr. V]

Fuck yes it is.

In spite of how catchy a good number of these tracks are, my favorite right now is undoubtedly Monster. What a gutsy, dissonant, heavy-ass beat. One of the amazing things about this record is how much effort was obviously put into its production while still feeling visceral, seconds from falling apart at any given moment. You could interpret it as him not giving a fuck, but it's difficult to say that in the face of tracks as elaborate and beautiful as Runaway and All of the Lights.

The scary thing is that this is only my third favorite Kanye album for the time being. Dude is a beast.

Kanye West samples; here's one for example.

 

[gvox]

Hell Of A Life is nothing short of brilliant. This whole album gets an A+ from me.

(and a track like HOAL can't possibly be any good censored )

 

[LMP]

"Yo team's full of Urkels that's why yo' win's low."

Holy fuck.

 

[bono_212]

Oh shit, I am in physical pain over that one.

 

[LemonMelon]

The album has a perfect 100 at metacritic right now. That will drop substantially by the release date, but the goodwill for Kanye right now just proves that you can be the biggest dickbag on the planet and still be respected as long as you take care of your shit. People have always thought badly of Kanye, but it wasn't a major issue until Graduation/808s, and all of that will take a backseat now that the new album is a killer.

 

[corianderstem]

I don't think I've heard anything from this yet (I wasn't really paying attention to the songs on SNL), but am really excited about it.

 

[gvox]

My trajectory on this was to watch the 34 minute movie for "Runaway" and then listen to the uncensored version. I'd recommend that for anyone, I liked the window into the songs and his artistic vision the movie provided.

 

[powerhour24]

I was just coming to say at I avoided the leak and had only heard Power and Runaway until I watched his batshit crazy Runaway film, and damn I'm more excited for this album than ever, the mixing is awe-inspiring (which is saying something since one expects a lot from Kanye on production) and the hooks are killer, 'All of the Lights' .

"You know your girlfriend's a bird right?" !!

 

[onebloodonelife]

Has anybody been keeping up with the G.O.O.D. Fridays songs? Favorites so far?

"The Joy" is smooth as hell. Curtis Mayfield on it and Pete Rock production for the win. And, "Don't Look Down," with Mos Def, Lupe, and Big Sean, is quite the ambivalent banger, between Mos on the melancholy chorus and the headstrong interplay between the marchesque snare drum and visceral bass.

 

[PhilsFan]

I didn't want to listen to any of them before the album came out. The only songs I listened to in the lead up were Power (both the single release and the live SNL take) and Runaway (just the live SNL take). Maybe I'll retroactively go back through them now that I've heard the album.

 

[LMP]

Has anybody been keeping up with the G.O.O.D. Fridays songs? Favorites so far?

"The Joy" is smooth as hell. Curtis Mayfield on it and Pete Rock production for the win. And, "Don't Look Down," with Mos Def, Lupe, and Big Sean, is quite the ambivalent banger, between Mos on the melancholy chorus and the headstrong interplay between the marchesque snare drum and visceral bass.

I've heard a handful of them, definitely not the ones you've mentioned which I will download asap.

The "Power" remix is the bee's knees.

 

[onebloodonelife]

I didn't want to listen to any of them before the album came out. The only songs I listened to in the lead up were Power (both the single release and the live SNL take) and Runaway (just the live SNL take). Maybe I'll retroactively go back through them now that I've heard the album.

Definitely check 'em out. It's always a plus to get another album's worth of material from an artist, especially when it's Kanye, who has the pull to get so many bomb guests.

I've heard a handful of them, definitely not the ones you've mentioned which I will download asap.

The "Power" remix is the bee's knees.

Fuck yeah, that remix of "Power" is INSANE. Kanye's flow on his last verse absolutely kills.

 

[LemonMelon]

Pitchfork: Album Reviews: Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Finally, a reason to compare this album to Kid A: their P4k reviews are equally overwrought.