Kanye West is the most controversial, love/hate relationship, genius/idiot artist of this generation. Either way you see it, he really is one of the outstanding legends that we will be looking back in thirty or so years with great nostalgia. Personally, I loved the 808′s album and think it was completely necessary so that he could perfect and, at the same time, destroy the autotune era. Though people were using it afterward (and for some reason still use it), it’s frowned upon and will (hopefully) soon be completely outdated and blacklisted.  With his latest work, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye is back to what got him here in the first place: rapping.  He proves once again why he’s so cocky and proud of his talent.  The album is awesome…outside of my own snobby nitpicks.

Lets start with the short film he came out with in promotion to the album.  ”Runaway” was released about a month or so before the release date, and it was beautiful.  Everything about that video (other than what appears to be an engineering problem with the phoenix’s wings at one point) was amazing and perfected.  It showed where Kanye’s mind was while creating the music.  It also showed that he truly is a man of many talents, and that he deserves to be where he is today.  How could you watch the part of the film with the ballet dancers and not get goosebumps?  Phenomenal.

The album opens with the same track that opens the film, “Dark Fantasy”, but seems to have a different mix, as do all the other songs that appear on the fim as well as the album.  This is to be somewhat expected, as most songs have a slightly different mix when used for film or radio, but since you become accustomed to the mix used in the film, when you hear it on the album it takes some getting used to.  I was greatly thrown off at first, especially by the chorus of “Dark Fantasy” because I prefer the film version, but it’s still a great track.

The album then moves to the song “Gorgeous” with Kid Cudi and Raekwon, which is one of the better things Kid Cudi has come out with lately.  If I get around to reviewing his latest album, I’ll explain in better detail at that point.  Basically, Kid is incredibly hit or miss, either saying something meaningless that he came up with high, or he’s spouting something slightly short of amazing.  This song, however, is something great, and when Kid does something great, its refreshing and addictive, especially when Kanye is involved.  ”Gorgeous” is killer.

“Power” is a track that has been around for quite a while now, since it was released as a single months ago.  The same goes for the song “Runaway.”  The album versions carry a slightly different mix, and once again if you notice it can be quite off-putting and uncomfortable at first.  I’m used to it now, but I still prefer the initial releases.  And I must say, the part in the film where Kanye uses the beat pad, cutting up the “Power” beat, is one of the best parts, second to the “Runaway” performance, which is one of the most beautiful things he has ever done.

“All of the Lights” took some adjusting to, because I wasn’t big on the horns being so stop-and-go in the background, I would have preferred them to be a little more fluid, in order for them not to sound so midi. But once again, it’s really  just me being a snob and for some reason thinking I know how the song should sound better than the artist himself (I have my douche moments, but it’s my review so deal with it).  It’s also great to finally hear a song with Rihanna that doesn’t sound like every other song with Rihanna.  She seems to lately be the go-to artists for a radio-magnet chorus hook, and it tends to make them all sound too similar.  Even if you are incredibly tired of her voice and “over it” you can still thoroughly enjoy this track.  And was I the only one that got the slight reference of the lyric “our nigga dead” to Skank from The Crow? It may just be my embarrassing goth-emo past coming back to haunt me (Marilyn Manson + JNCO’s, anyone?).

Every other song on this track is amazing, and though I never clearly understood the appeal of Nicki Minaj after hearing her on the Drake album and then the release of her single “Right Thru Me,” it hit me hard with her appearance on the track “Monster.”  She was, pun intended, a fucking monster on this song.  Her verse is one of the highlights of the album and will convert anyone who says she is overrated.

My biggest problem with the album is the track “So Appalled,” and it has made this track my least favorite of the album.  It’s simply because the recording sounds extremely amateur.  You notice it from the very start, when Kanye says the word “appalled.”  If you know anything about recording, you’ll quickly realize there is seemingly no pop-blocker (de-esser, whatever you’d like to call it) in front of the mic.  It’s almost as if Kanye tracked this song on a laptop while on the road with a computer mic.  The rest of the song you can hear it as well.  The EQ of the vocals is off, the pops are huge, and its incredibly distracting.  I am forced to skip this track nearly every time it comes up.

My second biggest problem with the album is very  minute and easily overlooked.  It comes in the song “Hell Of A Life,” and only in the chorus and the outro.  At first I thought it was just Kanye putting in the click track because he thought it sounded cool, but the closer attention I paid, I began to realize it was a part of the beat he put in, and not the click.  Either way, it bugs the shit out of me because it sounds like the click.  It sounds like the coconuts from The Holy Grail and it completely takes me out of the moment.  If that wasn’t in the track it would probably be one of my favorites of the album.  Those together with the slightly different mixes, the overly long guest appearance by Chris Rock at the end of “Blame Game” (he literally goes on for a full two and a half minutes), and my distaste for Jay-Z, are my only pains about the album.

Though I have my snobby moments with My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, it’s still an amazing work from one of the greatest artists out there.  You may prefer his older work better, but as he grows, he certainly progresses and matures in his art and is consistently coming up with new sounds and directions to take himself.  You can’t say he was ever repetitive or a one-trick pony.  This album gets a full five stars.