Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

[Lex Diamonds]

So here (http://www.mediafire.com/?10txwoo88s13ka0) it is. Dirty version just leaked in the last day or so.

Heard most of the tracks before it came out and it's awesome, as expected. Easily the best hip-hop album of this year so far, maybe last year too.

[checkyourprez]

its pretty good. i think people are giving it the slobberknocker a bit much but for as mainstream as it gets for rap its defiantly good.

nice to see rae and pusha t getting some shine. rza doing his thing on there too which is cool.

[Tzar]

cheers.

[Tzar]

pusha murrrrders it on track 7.

monster is filthy too.

[Kid Presentable]

I like Monster a lot, yeah. I think the rest is pretty good; I like anything that Pusha T appears on, but I'm well and truly tired of Runaway in spite of his appearance. If I'm being gushing about the album, I'd say it's an amazing statement, and that he's accomplished a lot here which justifies the praise.

If I'm being realistic, I'd say it's probably getting so much love for being grandiose because nobody else can be bothered injecting such grandiosity into hip-hop. The music makes me feel like I'm supposed to be enamoured with every single moment, and I'm not. Credit where it's due for the effort, but it doesn't all work perfectly or make for mind-blowing listening.

The best thing is that it's something that sounds fresh from him, while being somewhat of a natural progression.

[Lex Diamonds]

I agree with your assessment for the most part, but I genuinely think it's a great album. Every 5 years or so a rap album comes along that the next few years is filled with people trying to emulate (Raising Hell, Straight Outta Compton, The Chronic/Doggystyle, Ready To Die, 2001, The Blueprint) and I think this is going to be that album. It's pretty special that someone can actually release something groundbreaking in mainstream hip-hop today but I think Kanye's managed it and walked the line between hip-hop and pop music. I don't buy into hype at all but on the level it's a 5 star album for me.

[Kid Presentable]

Yeah I suppose that makes my point for me. Until somebody can be bothered to emulate it it's going to be elevated as this grand thing in its own realm. It's an interesting situation. I reckon it's solid enough, can definitely see me and wifey driving around wineries listening to it like we did with College Dropout.

[Lex Diamonds]

I don't know about it being elevated into any grand realms... it's just fresh, original and well-made. Hence people wanting to emulate it in the first place and why they didn't think of it first.

[Kid Presentable]

I said grand thing in its own realm, by the way.

Gotta say I am really feeling Hell of a Life. Right up my alley, it seems.

[Lex Diamonds]

The outro on Blame Game is cool as far as skits go... sounds like a shot at Amber Rose. Chris Rock stays appearing on classic hip-hop albums.

"Yeezy reupholstered my pussy"... haha

[checkyourprez]

i agree with a lot of what has been said.


it does sound like he has put a lot of work into and and crafted some very good music. which is usually not the case with hip hop.

hip hop isnt always good music. but this certainly is. although it feels a bit over produced at times. like hes trying to make his stuff sound too important. i suppose tho kayne being a pretentious person cant help put translate some of that into his work. but the parts that dont sound like that, which is most of it to be honest, do sound really good. some hand crafted quality shit were talkin here.

[Kid Presentable]

I actually listened to it a lot today doing some assignments, and I have to say, I'm finding myself more and more convinced. Particularly when you balance it up against his back catalogue. Depriving the dude of the accolades he thinks he deserves has meant that musically he still sounds hungry. When you think of all the shit he poured into the last four albums, he's still firing.

[Lex Diamonds]

Told you.

It's a classic album, no question.

[Kid Presentable]

I maintain it's very good and has gotten better; 'classic' is a word that is too easily bandied about. Let's see.

[checkyourprez]

Told you.

It's a classic album, no question.

hes not a good enough rapper for it to be called a classic. not to mention nikki minaj is on it.

[Lex Diamonds]

Nicki is by no means a bad rapper. She was sick back in '06/'07.

And I don't mean classic in the childish way kids on rap websites throw the word about and abuse it. I mean this will be remembered as a classic poopular music album. Mark my words.

[Kid Presentable]

hes not a good enough rapper for it to be called a classic. not to mention nikki minaj is on it.

I keep going back to Hell of A Life, the music is pretty dope from the outset, pretty straightforward, the hook is alright, but the 'Fuck with the lights on' refrain hits and it's like "whaaaaaaaaat?" and pretty quick after that some New Order sounding synth comes in and it's just turned into something crazy. The lyrics support it, don't vie for attention, just complement it perfectly. And then it segues pretty nicely into the next one.

Any word on production credits? Dark Fantasy is plainly RZA, I read somewhere that Monster is a Preemo beat (wtf) and Runaway was Pete Rock (WTF???). As I understand he was taking musicians around with him and adding shit to these productions, building on the bones that these legends gave him.

[checkyourprez]

Nicki is by no means a bad rapper. She was sick back in '06/'07.

And I don't mean classic in the childish way kids on rap websites throw the word about and abuse it. I mean this will be remembered as a classic poopular music album. Mark my words.

shes not terrible or anything. but shes not good. shes just annoying i guess would be the appropriate thing to call her. within a span of 10 seconds she will sound like a baby, her normal self, and have gnarl. like switching it up with the flow is cool, but to be switching up your style AS YOUR STYLE is retarded to me.

[roosta]

it's pretty good, but I don't think it's great. But it is solid. And I appreciate he is pushing the music forward.

Highlights are Dark Fantasy and Hell of a Life.

I think the Chris Rock bit is terrible. Why would you ever want to hear that again? Waste of time.

Too much Autotune too. Lost in the World would be 150 times better without it.

[Lex Diamonds]

The Chris Rock thing (and the whole song before it) is a diss to Amber Rose. If you get what it means it's quite entertaining.

I agree about the autotune on LITW but at least it's not 808's And Heartbreak. This album is infinitely better than that one, I can't even believe it's the same artist.

[pshabi]

Diggin' it. Happy the "look at ya" sample is on the final version of Runaway. The hook on all of the lights (cop lights, flash lights, spotlights.....) is just off the chain. Can't get enough of it. Some of the tracks are a little too long, imo. Autotune is enough already. Nothin' on there that I really wanna skip tho.

Well done, Kanye. (y)

[Kid Presentable]

(can't believe I'm typing this) Fergie's part on All of the Lights is sick. :(

[checkyourprez]

its getting better with more listens.

i dont mind any of the auto tune on there.

i do wish that chris rock skit was a separate track so i could delete it and not have to put it on my ipod. its just doesnt bring anything to the album other than giving kanye another outlet to diss amber, which is his choice but i dont care to hear it.

but i just like overall what he did with it, its fresh. not the same tired forgettable beats rappers seem to be rapping over these days.


check out the latest good friday track...ft. talib and produced by q-tip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLRMKamjxpo). sounds like tip was in a halloweeny vibe when he did it. im still diggin it tho.

[pshabi]

(can't believe I'm typing this) Fergie's part on All of the Lights is sick. :(

Ahhh. I couldn't figure out who it was. At first I thought it was Rihanna.....then Nelly Furtado. That part is cool.

[roosta]

Diggin' it. Happy the "look at ya" sample is on the final version of Runaway. )

Ha...when I heard that, I thought "there's someone on the board who was hoping that sample would be on the final version..."

It's growing on me more with multiple listens.

Solid album, for sure.

[hpdrifter]

Does the deluxe version have extra songs on it? The guy at the music store said yes but from what I've seen online it's just a DVD.

[mickill]

It's just a dvd. But you've probably already discovered that on your own by now.

I think the album is a bona fide classic. It doesn't necessarily have tons of better songs than say his first two albums, or Graduation for that matter, but it's more consistent, less-cluttered, and just flows better than any of his other albums, overall.

I like the entire presentation of the album, from the artwork to the gratuitous use of cellos and pianos. And the juxtaposition of opulent with gritty instrumentation, coupled with the 'sensitive one minute, extremely vulgar the next' content in nearly every song seems very unforced. He's just all over the place in terms of subject matter, emotions-wise, and musically, yet it remains entirely cohesive. It's all very ego-driven, yet honest...even modest at times.

[pshabi]

Upon further inspection:
It's a classic album, no question.

This.

[Knuckles]

To be honest it might be my favorite Kanye album.

[Kid Presentable]

I really, really like it, but it reminds me of Chinese Democracy. That statement is just a statement, read into it what you may.

[mickill]

Chinese Democracy sounds like a compilation.

[Documad]

I love you people.

I couldn't overhear this conversation anywhere else in my life.

[Lex Diamonds]

This will be remembered as a classic poopular music album.
LOL I said "poopular"!!!

[cosmo105]

I loooove Nicki Minaj's verse on Monster :o Have to agree with everyone, this album is incredible.

[roosta]

yeah, it's really grown on me. very good.

good work!

[BBboy20]

I noticed that the first half is more about (the) life while the later half about is more of dealing with women.

[Lex Diamonds]

Haha, "poopular". :)

[RoryMC]

It's gotta be album of the year.

[hpdrifter]

I think what's great about this is (and I'm not trying to be a jackass here) it feels... oh god I have to say it and it sounds so douchey in my head... transcendent. I mean, I'm not deep into rap like a lot of you here. My primary musical leaning is rock. But I've listened to this shit nonstop since I got it. At work I just let it repeat. There's something about it that just makes me not want to turn it off. So many delicious punchlines, so many gorgeous melodies, so many perfectly placed production topnotes.

I disagree about the Fergie thing, though. It feels thrown in just to be thrown in. He's already got Rihanna singing the hook, there's no real point to Fergie rapping for 15 seconds in the middle with no context. I don't get it.

[Kid Presentable]

This is just an interpretation, and as such very subjective, but for me All of the Lights is like a challenge Ye issued to himself. Like “how do I take all of these disparate elements and make something cohesive?”. So he painted the first layer with some ridiculous (ridiculous) drum-programming and off he went.

Now, I don’t have all of the production credits (must have lost them brehs wink wink), but what follows is what the song and its collaborations do for me. If I’m way off the money then oh well, I only knocked this nonsense up in a matter of minutes. I have to stress that because once I get going it’s quite easy for me to ramble on, and people will likely accuse me of overthinking. I’m thinking as I write. Cheers. :)

The ‘Lights’ to me are the honesty about warts-and-all celebrity, dealing with exposing the truth of the human condition through fame, and how it magnifies our faults and foibles.

Rihanna is one example; she had the crap kicked out of her by her boyfriend, but it’s only news because of her fame. And now we have seen that side of her; she is under ‘All of the Lights’ because it is always going to be something we know about her.

Yeezy, well he lives under those lights, which we all know by now. His opening line about MJ sets that scene – invoking the true embodiment of living in the public eye. Elton John represents similar ideas for me, Cudi also. The things we know about them (primarily related to heroic levels of drug ingestion) go hand in hand with their fame.

And so Fergie also is in there for her past indiscretions, made all the more poignant for the fact that she is actually singing about it (“about to do that line”), which is quite at odds with the superficial tripe she churns out.

That Kanye can use these artists and their experiences in this way, while maintaining the theme of the reality behind fame is pretty cool to me. These people and their ups and downs are the colours on his palette, which is why I suppose my appreciation is so long-winded and pretentious, like an art critic, because in my mind it paints a picture.

That aside, the vocal effect on Fergie’s part I really like, and it’s quite a crucial part of the song, because it bridges us into the triumphant conclusion in which Alicia Keys leads the recovery – signifying that you can move forward from these trials and that living under all of the lights isn’t such a bad thing.

In practical terms, it’s really more of a statement in terms of production, though; he uses all of these random parts to construct something that really works as a cohesive whole. That’s on some old-school producer/composer tip, almost Quincy Jones-like. It’s diminished a little by his desire to be the greatest rapper, which is a shame, because it’s quite the achievement as a production work.

[Kid Presentable]

aaaaaanyway my actual favourite song on the shit is Devil in a New Dress. Rick Ross is always pretty generic to me but I doubt he'll ever drop a better verse. If I weren't fucking stupid I'd swear that was Prince on the guitar solos.

[cosmo105]

I feel like the last half of the album sort of drops off a bit. It's still good, but not as good as the first. Some of it's a little corny. Still, overall a really great album.

[Tzar]

^ feel the same. from 'so appalled' onwards.