The 500 - #353 - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - Kanye West

 I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: # 353

Album Title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Artist: Kanye West

Genre: Hip Hop, Progressive Rap, Rap Opera, Art Pop

Recorded: Three Studios, including Electric Lady in NYC.

Released: November, 2010

My age at release: 45. My guest blogger, Harry Hodson, was 18

How familiar was I with it before this week: Not At All

Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Power

When I saw that Kanye West had three records on The 500 I experienced a little anxiety. I was willing to give each record a fair shot, but my opinion on “Yeezy” (West’s preferred nickname) had been coloured by his well-documented antics and divisive, often bizarre, statements.

 

My hockey teammate and teaching colleague Nic, who is 20 years my junior, insisted that I needed to give Yeezy a chance. “Separate the artist from the art,” he told me one evening as we were lacing up our skates before a game.

So, I did. I listened to My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy with an open mind...and Nic was right. This is a tremendously catchy and beautifully crafted record. I have a new appreciation for Yeezy, but I will put my comments on hold for Kanye's next record on The 500, The College Dropout, at position #298.

For this week, Harry Hodson has volunteered to be the guest commentator for this record (MBDTF). Harry is the son of Rob, my friend, teaching colleague and a recent guest blogger himself -- he penned the post for Album #356, 12 Songs by Randy Newman.

Harry & his sister Grace

I have known Harry since he was nine years old. He has his father’s intelligence, love of music and spirit for adventure. I think you will love his insights into this rich and interesting record. Enjoy.

By Harry Hodson

In the early 2010’s, in the years after My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy had dropped, my friend and I used to wake up early in the house we were renting. We would drink coffee while meticulously rolling "far too much" weed into Swisher Sweets, before listening to Kanye West’s entire discography, front to back.

“Swisher Sweet" Cigar products - sometimes used as rolling papers for marijuana blunts”

We enjoyed this ritual every few months for more than a year. If you’re at a point in your life where you can get away with a directionless day, it's highly recommended. What better compliment can you really give to a performer than to tune out the world in favour of their music?

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (MBDTF) is the fifth release by American rapper and producer Kanye West. The bulk of the record was recorded during West’s self-imposed exile in Honolulu, Hawaii. 

There are so many individual points in the album that are just perfect, whether it be the kick of the first King Crimson sound-bite sample in the track Power, or Pusha T’s legendary ‘YEUGH’ on Runaway. Part of me thinks that Yeezus might secretly be better, and I truly love his earlier albums as well, but no piece of music is likely to ever hit me in the chest the way MBDTF did...and does. I treat my love of this record like an addict -- I worry about my rising tolerance, so I sometimes take it out of my Spotify rotation, just to keep it pure.

Album Cover for Power - single release

For me, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy marked the peak of West’s creative output. In the context of his recent outrageous behaviour, and the albums which followed, MBDTF might seem like Kanye’s pop record. However, when it dropped, it was strange and beautiful and, if you were a music nerd like me, you were delighted by any opportunity to discuss it.

Music review sites dutifully ran pieces describing either their rapturous joy upon hearing MBDTF or, in an attempt to establish journalistic gravitas, some decided it wasn’t really that good after all. Regardless, I don’t think I went to a house party that year that didn’t include West’s music and I, a deeply pretentious man, did not get sick of it, nor was I ever too cool to sing along with Runaway.

Album Cover for Runaway - single release

The album does so many things well, and makes transitioning in between them seem so effortless. I was tempted to write this review song by song, but then I figured that might lead to fewer people feeling the need to listen for themselves.

 

In brief, Who Will Survive In America introduced me to Gill Scott-Heron. His I’m So Appalled is pure energy, and I firmly believe that there is a large population of people who have had the best sex of their lives while Devil In A New Dress was playing. I could go on. It’s like that line from the comedy film, Get Him To The Greek, “I brush my teeth to this shit.”

Kanye West’s latest album, Donda, dropped the week I was writing this. I wasn’t sure this would happen. The manic-savant that is Kanye may have just as easily decided that the entire record needed to be reworked. Kanye is unpredictable.  Sometimes, it’s frustrating being a Kanye fan because you have to connect yourself to a person whose future comments and output are wildly erratic -- not an issue that I face with any other living artist I respect.

Kanye infamously interrupts Taylor Swift's Video Music Award's Speech

When Kanye entered the Oval Office of the White House in a MAGA hat I decided that I was no longer a fan of the man, but it's impossible for me to ignore the effect that his music has had on me over the course of my life. I debated whether politics or his personal life were within the scope of an album review, but part of Yeezy’s greatness was always the way that you could hear his life coming through the music. Being a person with bi-polar disorder, it felt wild hearing Kanye mention his Lexapro medication on record years later. His openness on MBDTF had the same effect on me, even if it wasn’t as specific.

Kanye in the Oval Office (October, 2018)

There’s a picture I really love of Kanye in the recording studio in Honolulu that was set up for the album. He appeared distracted and, on the wall behind him, was a series of rules he had taped up for the session. One of them read, “Just shut the fuck up sometimes,” which is my personal favourite.

Kanye in the studio with his motivational poster wall.

I could see a lot of people wishing Kanye would take that piece of his own advice more often. I've often though, "please stop saying childish things on camera and delaying your albums so that I can worship you in peace". If only I could love things forever as much as I used to love Kanye, but I can’t really fault him for not spending more time in the studio and starting a shoe company instead, or for marrying Kim Kardashian. He doesn’t owe me anything.

Kanye & his former wife, Kim Kardashian
on the cover of Vogue (April, 2014)

Kanye West won’t be able to age into a space where he’s a universally respected musician because he is never going to stop being experimental in his art and in his personal life, and this album wouldn’t be as great if it were made by a different person.

During the MBDTF recording sessions, Kanye insisted that everyone get up in the morning and play basketball together before work started later in the afternoon. It’s a funny image, a bunch of producers and rappers playing ball with the Hawaiian surf behind them while Kanye called late comers to “hurry up and hustle for points”. I like to imagine that it was a beautiful time in his life, creating an album that satisfied all his unrealistic demands and working with brilliant people in paradise.

Kanye on the court

I’m honestly not that excited about the release of Donda, which carries the realization that ten years is a long time and I’ve changed a lot along the course of Kanye’s career. I thought that when I sat down to revist  MBDTF, played very loudly on good headphones, that I was going to get a blast of nostalgia. But this record is more than that -- It still kicks ass!