MBDTF: thoughts

I think I have mentioned this before, but I was kind of apprehensive about listening to Kanye's new's album. This is really not so much an affront as an homage; my wife and I often refer to Graduation as our favorite hip-hop album of all time. Now, for all the polarizing opinions about him, I think we can all agree that he is pretty self-aware, and I think that after the success of Late Registration, Graduation represented a departure for Kanye, showcasing a newfound obsession with European club/synth based music. The result was an album with almost no weak spots ('Drunk and Hot Girls' and 'Barry Bonds' excluded) and some of his highest points ('Homecoming', 'Can't Tell Me Nothing', 'Stronger').

In the aftermath, we can now look back and see that the prodigious success of Graduation left him bored. This, combined with some emotional tumult (relationship drama, I think?) led to Kanye's first truly radical departure, 808s and Heartbreaks, which, while uneven, did have some great songs ('Say You Will' and 'Love Lockdown'). The lead-up to the true successor to Graduation has been filled with the usual Kayne-esque hullaballoo that is largely self-generated (I've written before about how this shows his incredible media savviness, a fact accentuated by his amazing tweets). So, after all that, what are my (quite late to the party, understandably) thoughts on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy?

Unquestionably, its his best album, for a number of reasons. First, it's an album that, at this point, no one but him could produce. It's interesting that I was listening to Dr. Dre's new single, "Kush," on the same day that I listened to this album beginning to end for the first time. Honestly, "Kush" is probably more intrinsically catchy than anything on MBDTF, with a great hook and the classic West Coast heavy, slithering, synth track that Dre originated and perfected. But, ultimately, its a fairly standard hip-hop song; one that you'll hear a bunch for the next few months and then forget.

Conversely, MBDTF is truly the product of a "twenty first century schizoid man." You get the proud/indignant Kanye on tracks like 'Power' and 'So Appalled' and the introspective Kanye on 'Blame Game' and 'Runaway.' You get a re-interpolation of Black Sabbath on 'Hell of a Life,' a three minute orchestral outro combined with Kanye autotune-riffing on 'Runaway' and a closing track, 'Lost in the World' that can barely be classified as a hip-hop song. Mostly though, what makes the album, like Kanye, so likeable is how human he is. Rather than hiding his faults, he expresses them and works on the publicly, on Twitter and on the album. He brags about dating a porn star, then blames himself for the end of a relationship, then has Chris Rock testify to his sexual transcendence, then tells everyone to "runaway fast as [they] can" ... he is everyone's identity crisis, filtered through his incomparable artistry and played with the speakers turned to eleven. Kudos, Kanye.

Best tracks: 'Monster', 'Power', 'Runaway', 'Blame Game', 'So Appalled', 'Lost in the World'

Worst tracks: 'All of the Lights', 'Devil in a New Dress'