Album Review: Kanye West’s All-Time Classic, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

By: Cody Abney

The Year Of 2010, some people may say that when they think of 2010, they may think of the Winter Olympics, Others may think of “The Black Eyed Peas” performance at the Super Bowl Halftime. However, this was the year that something special was created.

As said by many, this album is considered one of the greatest. This album was one of the most expensive of all time. Many artists were featured, and all had amazing verses. This project was months in the making for artist, Kanye West. Now we go deep into an all-time great, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

This album is a very unique one. Kanye West wanted to go all out for it. During the making of this Album, Kanye West stayed in a Glass Mansion that was worth 57 Million Dollars. The cost to produce the album was 3 million dollars. He had to pay for the features as well, making this a really expensive album. During this time, West had hired 2 chefs to make the album, one to cook him up hot food, and one to cook him up cold food. Kanye would also not have a full night of sleep during this. He would take Power Naps to be able to record.

Now onto the songs. When you first start the album, a song by the name of “Dark Fantasy” starts to play. The first 20 seconds of the song is an unrecognized voice with a British accent. As this part ends, the song immediately begins with Kanye’s Vocals.

This marked the beginning of many what would call a “Perfect” album. The song continues with an amazing beat switch and a great verse from Kanye. This song was one of the best to start an album.

As you skip to the next song, a song called “Gorgeous,” comes on. The song begins with an amazing verse by Superstar Artist, Kid Cudi. Cudi delivers the vocals and amazing lyrics, this verse would end up being the chorus of the song. After the first part, Kanye West hops on, he delivers an amazing verse as he does on every other song on the album. This song is one of his most streamed on the album and by the lyrics, it is not surprising.

The next song that comes on is “Power”. This is what everyone calls their favorite “Hype” song. This is the song you hear at our football games to get the student section loud and proud. This song is in everyone’s gym and motivational playlist. The song has an upbeat and hype vibe from the very beginning.

It is a fast-paced, fun, and hype song that makes you know why Kanye West is one of the all-time greats. Power is a song that is still talked about to this day and there is no surprise as to why, it is an all-time great.

The next song is the Interlude of the album. The interlude is basically going from one part of the album to another. This is what Kanye did for the “All Of The Lights Interlude”.

The interlude is about a minute long. It is a beat that consists of Piano, Cello, Violin, and more. As the interlude comes to a close, there is a quick pause, and after that quick pause, the song, “All Of The Lights” begins to play.

Right off the bat, you know the song is gonna be a classic. The chorus is sung by Superstar Female Artist, Rihanna. Rihanna delivers an amazing chorus with amazing vocals. Kanye hops on after the chorus and delivers one of the best, if not the best verses on the whole album. There is also one thing that stands out about this song.

West had gotten a lot of artists to feature on this track, whether they were producing or doing the backup vocals. West had artists such as Elton John, John Legend, Alicia Keys, Drake, and many more to do vocals. Other Verses in the song are Kid Cudi who is already featured on “Gorgeous”, and another superstar by the name of Fergie.

The halfway point in the album is a song called “Monster”. When the song plays, just the introduction gives you chills. The Introduction to Monster is one of Kanye’s best on the album because it gives you the hint that you are in for something great. The song begins with a feature from Artist, Rick Ross and he delivers a great feature along with classical lyrics from Kanye West.

The next feature of the song comes from All time great, Jay-Z. Jay-Z proceeded to rap about every monster he could think of. The last feature was from Nicki Minaj, in this song, she proved to everyone that she was a star with her powerful voice delivery. This song was a classic mainly because of the All-Star level lineup that West was able to put together.

This next song needs no introduction. This is considered by many a Top 5 song of all time. The song, “Runaway” is one of Kanye West’s best songs of all time and really defined music in late 2010. This song is the one that puts all of Kanye’s talents on display. The production of this song is like no other and Pusha T’s verse is beautifully delivered and executed. The song is 9 minutes long, the last 3 minutes is Kanye putting on a vocal performance and harmonizing with the beat. This song was what mounted the comeback of Kanye West’s career after everyone thought he was done after his other album, “Graduation”.

The Album Ends with many songs, but this one deserves a mention. The song “Blame Game” is the song that humanizes Kanye West. In this song, Kanye mentions that he has relationship issues and that playing the Blame Game can be a good thing.

The feature from John Legend is legendary with his vocals and lyrics that fit really well with the song. This is the occurrence for the first half of the song. As you approach the second half, it ends with a skit from Actor, Chris Rock. He provides the comedic relief of the song which is what makes this song a classic on this album.

Some artists may have beaten this album, but everyone has to give credit where it’s due because this album changed the game for Hip-Hop. Kanye West delivers this all-time great putting his all into it. Well, it is now safe to say that after 13 years, it has paid off. Every penny that West put into this album was worth it. He ended up selling 3.6 million copies of this album in the U.S. Maybe there will be more Kanye music in the future, but right now, this album is an amazing way to look at his past.

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