My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
The final album I’d like to cover is yet another Kanye album — MBDTF. I chose this as the conclusion to my rap series because I believe this to be the most complex rap album ever created.
This album is a masterpiece — yes, it’s closely beaten out by Graduation in my eyes, but it’s very close. This piece of art features the perfect trifecta of qualities shared by most great rap albums — a compelling backstory, interesting lyrics and features, and unbelievable beats. Let me explain:
First, backstory. Let’s think back to where Kanye was at this point in his life. He had already enjoyed incredible success with his first group of studio albums — College Dropout, Late Registration, Graduation, and 808s and Heartbreaks were all verified successes. But, not everything was going well for Kanye. His mother, Donda, with whom he was extremely close for his whole life, had recently passed away due to a complication from a routine surgery. Kanye had also recently walked to the stage at the VMA awards to interrupt Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech — a move that prompted POTUS Barack Obama to call him a “jackass.”
After this flurry of events, Kanye basically went into hiding. Self-admittedly, he was depressed, unsure of his future, and extremely unstable in his mindset. So, he turned to the thing he knew best — music. Kanye, like Travis Scott, rented a complex in Hawaii, from which he entirely created MBDTF. He invited features without really telling anyone what was going on.
In his production of this album, Kanye threw out everything he knew about music. He created absurdly complex beats and lyrics, and put his entire being into the work. This was it for him — he couldn’t possibly sink any lower, and this was his one chance to reinvent himself, to come out of the other side of his tribulations not only as a stronger artist, but as a better man.
The album dropped in November of 2010, and immediately received exemplary critical acclaim, while simultaneously being an album that every fan of hip-hop had to download. I’m going to now talk about my four favorite songs on the track (again, in no particular order).
Gorgeous (feat. Kid Cudi & Raekwon) — Gorgeous is just an awesome track. If you want an example of how unbelievable Kanye is as a producer, look at this beat — the main guitar and drum sample comes from a cover version of a 1968 song called You Showed Me by the Turtles. Yes, you heard that right — Kanye created a song with a song that was created from another song forty years before he built the beat. That’s genius, and also should disprove anyone who doubts the musical knowledge you must have to produce rap music. This song also debuted as a freestyle on The Funkmaster Fresh show about a week before the album dropped, and was equally awesome there. The lyrics, as is a common theme in the album, focus on Kanye imperfections, while presenting the fact that Kanye is ready to move forward as an artist and a person.
Lost in the World (feat. Bon Iver) // Who Will Survive in America — This song stands out on the album because of its unique sound, vocal structure, and effects. The song begins with a minute of Kanye and Bon singing — well, kind of. Both utilizing autotune, the two artists weave a tapestry of overlaid harmonization. It’s really beautiful, and a sound that I’ve still really never heard anywhere else. This vocal harmonization serves as a background melody for the rest of the track, with Bon Iver carrying more of the singing weight when Kanye starts rapping. Then, the song fades back into a chorus of fast drums, and the two previous voices with another previous voice. At the end of the chorus, the harmonization continues to build and build, until abruptly the drums cut out, and then re-enter alongside African vocal samples. It’s truly a masterpiece of musical production, and every time I listen to it, I wonder how anyone could be creative enough to come up with it. Seriously, if you’ve never heard this song, check it out NOW. At the end, it fades into the next song on the track, which uses the same quickening drum track, set to a live performance of soul and jazz poet Gil Scott Heron. Suddenly, the combined titles make sense — Kanye is lost, and unsure how he will continue to survive in this country.
Monster (feat. Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj & Bon Iver) — Monster is probably the most upbeat song on the album. It’s special because of its super unique themes, and featured artists. All of them rap about how they’re “monsters,” whether that means they’ve done bad things, hurt people, hurt themselves, or refuse to believe their shortcomings. The result is an extremely interesting track that pretty much stands alone in its own sub-genre of rap. Rick ross raps the first verse, followed by Kanye, Jay, and then the best verse of the song, and maybe even the whole album — Nicki Minaj’s. Think back to 2009 — she was virtually unknown, and Kanye heard a track of hers and thought that her multiple personalities would be perfect for this two-faced track. According to Dissect, one of my favorite podcasts, when Kanye first heard the verse, he was so intimidated by it that he seriously considered removing it from the track because he didn’t want to be overshadowed. Thankfully, he didn’t do this, and her verse stands out as one of the best on the whole album. Overall, this song is yet another masterclass in composition and production, as well as lyricism. SEEING A TREND YET?
Runaway (feat. Pusha T) — Ah, Runaway, the pièce de résistance of the album, and quite possibly the best song Kanye has ever made. It is amazing for so many reasons, but I’ll talk about three: what it means, how it was composed, and how it ends. Runaway has one of the most iconic opening sequences ever — 16 high E notes, followed by a progression down to A, leading into one of the most epic beat drops I’ve ever heard. The first words of the song are “look atcha (at you), ” and then the absolutely iconic chorus drops: “let’s have a toast for the douchebags, let’s have a toast for the assholes, let’s have a toast for the scumbags, every one of them that I know.” Wow. Think back to what I said earlier about where Kanye was when he was making this album, and try to tell me that this chorus doesn’t define it in four lines. These lyrics are the basis of the self-discovery represented throughout the album, and are some of Kanye’s best. During the chorus, the piano still plays, but if you listen carefully, you’ll notice something different: in most music, from classical piano to hip-hop, in a 4:4 song (4 beats per measure), notes 1 and 3 are emphasized. Because of this traditional style, you’d expect the piano notes to occur on beats 1 and 3, but Kanye shifts them back to 2/4. This gives the whole song a sense of uncertainty — a feeling that something isn’t quite right — while Kanye has foreseen this effect alongside the fact that few people know enough about music theory to even perceive this change. GENIUS! Next, Pusha’s verse, which is also one of the album’s best. At the time, Pusha had just gone through an ugly breakup with his longtime girlfriend, which made it extremely hard to write the verse that Kanye described as “more douchebag!” Kanye then has another similar verse. But wait, isn’t Runaway over nine minutes long? What happens at the end? Well, let me just say that the end of Runaway is the single most hauntingly beautiful piece of music I’ve ever heard. Starting at 6:08, Kanye sings with a heavy effect on his voice, making it sound like a guitar, alongside a string quartet, the same piano pattern, and heavy synthesizer base. Kanye is essentially “playing” his voice — he can’t play the guitar, but the way he harmonizes, almost in a free-form way, is unreal. I highly recommend to you: drop what you’re doing, put on some good headphones, close your eyes, and just listen to the last 3 minutes of Runaway. It’s unbelievably beautiful, and is the type of creativity that truly sets this album apart.
All in all, if you’re familiar with this album, you can probably understand why I love it. I love it so much, in fact, that I’m ready to make a major announcement — after writing this post, and putting my thoughts about this album on paper, I am changing my top rap album rankings! MBDTF can’t be beat. Graduation is great, but this album is an absolutely impeccable masterpiece of creativity, self-discovery, vulnerability, and perseverance in the face of despair. It will forever be one of the most important rap albums of all time, and I feel as though it’s an excellent place to wrap up my series. I hope you’ve enjoyed it, and please let me know if you have any recommendations for me! I always appreciate the opportunity to listen to something new.
