VIsqo Posted November 16, 2010 Report Share Posted November 16, 2010 Kanye West - 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy' (Def Jam)Beautifully melding style and substanceCreativity is back in style, thanks to a breed of rap stylists bent on reshaping the future of hip-hop. Today's rap gods joust for supremacy by luxuriating in the style of music that grabs your ear on the first listen. Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy stands as a testament to this emerging force. Hip-hop has been with us for over forty years now. Each era had its own class of poets, and their rhymes reflected their times. Today, rhyme slingers like Kanye West and Jay-Z have become increasingly style-conscious. This is wildly evident on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Kanye's job is no longer to simply make art, but to make it stylish and stadium-ready without compromising his poetry. It's no easy feat juggling both. Good thing Kanye bathes in the creative process, and he's having a blast doing it. Check his Gucci flow on "Monster," his diamond-encrusted delivery on "Power," his sharply-creased Rosewood sonic on "Devil in a New Dress." Oh, "that's Dior Homme, not Dior homey," he's quick to point out. Have fun identifying the array of ornamental displays on "All of the Lights." But style is only half the battle. Substantive lyrics are equally intrinsic to quality hip-hop. "All of the Lights" laments a topic that took Drake an entire album to dissect: the travails of stardom. The Bon Iver-assisted "Lost in the World" examines emotional trauma to great effect. When Kanye was addressing matters of the heart on 808s & Heartbreak, he was warbling too robotically for any pure-rap fan to tell. This time, he's blending braggadocio with emotion and dropping witty quotables as he goes. "If we die in each others arms, we still get laid in the afterlife," he sings on the aforementioned "Lost in the World." And when he muffles his voice on songs like "All of the Lights" and "Gorgeous," the vicious molasses still oozes dense rhythms. He's putting distorted riffs and synth showers where droning basslines used to be. Creative ebullience boiled down to its essence. Dark Fantasy shows an eclectic conversationalist who is aware of the world, interested in things beyond his immediate environment. How many rappers would dare taint their street cred by inviting Bon Iver to a recording session? How many would tap a ballet dance troupe to anchor their 35-minute music video? No wonder Kanye's sound transcends genres and cultures. You might even think of him as a philosopher if it weren't for the occasional fatuous remark dressed up as profundity. On the surface, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy has little to do with rap. Just art, adventure, life, and naked honesty, which are essentially what hip-hop culture is about. It's a gracefully structured, wonderfully produced manifesto on how to meld style and substance. By the end of the ride, Kanye pulls you in and shoots you out the other side a little fresher. Best Songs * "Power" * "Devil in a New Dress" * "Monster" * "All of the Lights" Release Date: November 22, 2010 Source: Rap.about.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevilsJim89 Posted November 16, 2010 Report Share Posted November 16, 2010 Definitely looking forward to this album! "Power" and the remix is just straight fire! "Devil in a new dress" is good while "Monster" is ehhhh... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JumpinJack AJ Posted November 16, 2010 Report Share Posted November 16, 2010 I have no interest in him anymore. As a person he disgusts me too much. I'll give it a listen just 2 be fair but it's hard to like the music of someone you don't respect. I just don't see Kanye bringing "substance." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VIsqo Posted November 16, 2010 Author Report Share Posted November 16, 2010 Everybody is talking about how this is going to be the best album Kanye brings in Ages. I might give it a hear before I buy it though, but Im expecting something good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigted Posted November 16, 2010 Report Share Posted November 16, 2010 (edited) I'm with AJ here, I'll probably give it a listen online but that's about it, I'm just about done with Kanye, his career's and attitude's nothing but a gimmick, I rather spend my hard earned cash on the Public Enemy box set rather than another average at best Kanye CD 'cause when somebody like Chuck D says "F Bush" they back it up with intelligence but Kanye don't Edited November 16, 2010 by bigted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turntable Posted November 17, 2010 Report Share Posted November 17, 2010 Kanze is not how you think he is, everything that ya'll hear about him is part of an image, he is way to avantgarde for the hip hop crowd these days, they just dont get him. Kanye is a smart man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VIsqo Posted November 17, 2010 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2010 Well, I believe he is smart too, and he might demonstrate it with this new album. By the way, the runaway short film is really artistic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevilsJim89 Posted November 18, 2010 Report Share Posted November 18, 2010 I have no interest in him anymore. As a person he disgusts me too much. I'll give it a listen just 2 be fair but it's hard to like the music of someone you don't respect. I just don't see Kanye bringing "substance." If you have no interest in him man, why do you respond? Also, if your talking about how he is as a person, how in the world do you like DMX? Aren't you a big DMX fan? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VIsqo Posted November 18, 2010 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2010 I dont really care how rappers are in person. I really dont know any of them. I like music. The only rapper that has showed me that has a personality that extends way over his music or his artistry is Will Smith. Kanye is not Will. He wants controversy to get sales and recognition. He has produced great beats over the years and has some pretty good songs. But he is in the spotlight right now because most people are waiting for great music from him after a couple of dissapointing albums. Im really looking foward to what he has to bring to the plate now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JumpinJack AJ Posted November 18, 2010 Report Share Posted November 18, 2010 My thing is this. With music (of any genre...but especially Hip-Hop) I appreciate music that I can identify with. I usually like artists because I hear their lyrics and think "that's why I'm going thru'" or "this reminds me of when this happened to me." Kanye's personality is immature and kinda disgusting to me. I liked Kanye in the beginning but as he's been successful, he's gotten comfortable. I don't know if he's naturally that way or if fame has changed him. But let's be honest...who things the beats he makes these days are as good as the ones he did from 1998-2005? This is all a matter of opinion but I'm pretty sure most people would agree that his beats were better and more consistent earlier in his career. The reason Fresh Prince, LL Cool J, Heavy D, etc are my favorite emcees is because I can't relate to virtually every song they've done. I like what they stand for in most of their songs and I like the people they are in interviews, in person, etc. People aren't perfect. People make mistakes. DMX bothers me because I think he is one of the dopest street emcees of all time. It pained me to read articles in the past of him getting in trouble. I'll be honest and say I'm not as big of a fan as his as I was in 1997-2000. But what I do like is that he calls himself out on it and is trying to better himself. I feel that he is more caught up in the drama in his life. Kanye is just douche who doesn't know when to shut up. Kanye says and does stupid things all the time. There's a difference between making occasional mistakes and doing stupid stuff all of the time. Granted DMX's past issues are more severe than Kanye's but the differences, ignoring all of their fame and music lets me know that kicking it with DMX for a day would be cool. Hanging out with Kanye all day would be annoying....lol. If Kanye learns how to put a filter on his big mouth and gets rid of his stupid behavior, he wouldn't bother me as much. I feel that if that adjustment was made, his lyrics would be better and if he really focused, he could return to making some of the best beats in Hip-Hop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turntable Posted November 18, 2010 Report Share Posted November 18, 2010 DMX would not kick it with you, he would just kick you because you do theather, unlike Kanye. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigted Posted November 18, 2010 Report Share Posted November 18, 2010 (edited) Like AJ stated DMX has had past issues but in recent times he's worked to improve himself as a man from those mistakes and clearly his music is much more consistant than Kanye's, I'd put him up there with the legends of hip hop 'cause he brought the underground street edge of hip hop to the mainstream with his first 5 (woulda been 6 straight if "Year Of The Dog...Again" wasn't outsold by a few copies) albums debuting at #1 on the charts, they're all dope hip hop albums, in fact I'd say his worst album "Grand Champ" had enough hot songs on it to say that it's better than Kanye's best album "Late Registration", DMX is like Dennis Rodman, a troubled individual but a proven winner, in fact his one verse he did recently on "Stop The Party" with Busta Rhymes(who also has had many troubles but is a conistant mc) is better than anything I heard from Kanye recently... Edited November 18, 2010 by bigted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turntable Posted November 22, 2010 Report Share Posted November 22, 2010 (edited) Wow. What can I say? Kanye made a freaking masterpiece here, this album is nothing less than a piece of art. I did not like the singles that much at firts, but now that I listened to the whole album it all makes sense. So all of you, yes also you AJ, who should to listen to this before making a judgement - you have to listen to it back to back or else you'll miss the point of this album. Kanye breaks all the rules here: Verse-Hook-Verse-Hook-Verse? Three minutes playtime for each track? 16 bars? **** that. Kanye does not care and by not doing that he hit the nail with this one. This album is everything Graduation wanted to be. He pushed the envelopue with this one, I cant even describe it. This truely is one of the best albums I ever heard. This is art. Every little piece fits, even the ones you didn`t expect reading the tracklist, from Nicki to vocoder to tribal sounds to violin solos and Chris Rock just talking for two minutes. Its crazy I tell you. I'm telling this to all of you who doubt Kanye: Listen to this album back to back (not on youtube but on a good stereo!!), let it sink in and than tell me that this isn't freaking classic! I'll bet ya! Edited November 22, 2010 by Turntable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigted Posted November 22, 2010 Report Share Posted November 22, 2010 I was listening to this G.O.O.D. Friday mixtape today and I gotta say that this is some great stuff, I'm pleasantly surprised to say that Kanye's bringing it, I just might get this new album soon after all: http://www.livemixtapes.com/mixtapes/12707/good_fridays_boutique_collection.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VIsqo Posted November 22, 2010 Author Report Share Posted November 22, 2010 Im gonna get the new album today! my wife said she bought it for me and its taking it home tonight for me to hear it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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