I can sit here all day and tell you about all sorts of things like why I love Rage Against the Machine, or why watching sports isn't as fun as it used to be, and so on. OK, not all day, but you catch my drift. Too many things to talk about, and to be honest, I don't want to clutter this blog with posts-after-posts of utter crap or unimportant stuff. Then again, I probably already do. But at least I'm limiting it, right?
Alright, without further ado I present to you my choice of Best Album of 2010: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West. If you ask me (which you probably are), Kanye West is an underrated artist. Sure he has said and done a lot of dumb things while being in the limelight, but his music talents (vision, producing music, rapping, etc) should not be brushed aside. We all know about the whole Taylor Swift incident: Kanye interrupting Swift's one true moment of "honor" by saying Beyonce should have won the award. Immature? Yes. Was he right about America turning a blind eye to real/true art and culture? Of course he was. Hate him all you want, but Kanye never tries to be someone he's not. It's like watching a Guns N' Roses concert live: Axl Rose will come on stage late - always has, and always will - don't expect him to perform on time. Kanye West is, well, Kanye West. Talented, big ego (oh, does he ever), says what he feels when he feels like it, and so on. He admits it himself.
Despite doing some dumb things, Kanye West is a great artist who goes beyond the limits in the musical world, and isn't afraid to deliver a different style of music. In other words, Kanye West invests heavily in the art of music.
Enough of my rambling. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy gives off the impression of an egotistic maniac trying to do so many things in a short amount of time. Add the sexual fantasies, twisted humor, insanely good flow in both the beat and the singers/rappers, and a bit of almost every genre, and you've got My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Sounds a lot and all over the place, and in a way it is - but in a very good, yet complex way. Sort of a big sound. Kanye, again, trying to deliver something different from his other albums. Mission accomplished.
I will admit it. The first two, three times I heard the new album, I said to myself, "Different. Seems loud (rhythm, layers, etc), and it's missing something." It was missing something alright: my deep attention. I expected something more akin to Late Registration or Graduation, but what I got was something totally different - something that tested the waters and was different than any rap album. Kanye did it again.
Song list:
1. Dark Fantasy
2. Gorgeous
3. Power
4. All of the Lights (Interlude)
5. All of the Lights
6. Monster
7. So Appalled
8. Devil in a New Dress
9. Runaway
10. Hell of a Life
11. Blame Game
12. Lost in the World
12. Who will Save America
Ones in bold are my favorite. The first half of the album is in-your-face, heavy rhtym and vocals; the second half is more light, and artsy. Runaway is a perfect example of Kanye breaching the limits and delivering Art.
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