"$+23"(&"22"$+23"(&"22
/,4-& 224& 13*$,&
&%&-03*/.&&0*5&.3/3)&"(.4-042)"3"5&%&%&-03*/.&&0*5&.3/3)&"(.4-042)"3"5&%
".7&92"1&&1".7&92"1&&1
1")"-$"1&.*.&,,*
.*5&12*37/'3)&"$*:$
(!-$,"1&.:.&,,*40"$*:$&%4
1")"-$"1&.*.&,,**204124*.("%&(1&&*.42*$.%4231734%*&2
)*2"13*$,&6"261*33&."20"13/'3)&$411*$4,4-'/13)&"$)&,/1/'42*$*.42*$
"."(&-&.3".%3)&"$)&,/1/'$*&.$&*.42*$.%4231734%*&2"3.*5&12*37/'3)&"$*:$
"$)234%&.3$/.%4$3&%1&2&"1$)#"2&%/.)*2/1)&1/6."1&"2/'*.3&1&23".%234%7
/,&"1.-/1&"#/433)&01/(1"-5*2*3(/0"$*:$&%4-42*$*.%42317
,,*-"(&242&%'1/-",#4-$/5&12"1&*.$,4%&%4.%&13)&"*12&01/5*2*/./'/071*()3
,"6".%1&-"*.3)&01/0&137/'3)&*11&20&$3*5&$/071*()3/6.&12
/,,/63)*2".%"%%*3*/.",6/1+2"3)33022$)/,"1,7$/--/.20"$*:$&%4#"$+23"(&0"22
"13/'3)&132"."(&-&.3/--/.24%*/132".%$/423*$2/--/.242*$%4$"3*/.
/--/.242*$/,/(7/--/.242*$&%"(/(7/--/.242*$&1'/1-".$&/--/.23)&1
42*$/--/.2".%3)&"%*//--/.2
&$/--&.%&%*3"3*/.&$/--&.%&%*3"3*/.
$"1&.*.&,,*1")"-&%&-03*/.&&0*5&.3/3)&"(.4-042)"3"5&%".7&92
"1&&1
"$+23"(&"22
/,2213*$,&
5"*,"#,&"3)33022$)/,"1,7$/--/.20"$*:$&%4#"$+23"(&0"225/,*22
)*2/.$&13".%,#4-&5*&6*2#1/4()33/7/4'/1
'1&&".%/0&."$$&22#73)&/.2&15"3/17/'42*$"3
$)/,"1,7/--/.23)"2#&&."$$&03&%'/1*.$,42*/.
*."$+23"(&"22#7"."43)/1*8&%&%*3/1/'$)/,"1,7
/--/.2/1-/1&*.'/1-"3*/.0,&"2&$/.3"$3
-(*#.&70"$*:$&%4
Redemption: A Deep Dive Into the Magnum Opus That Saved Kanye’s
Career
By Graham McLaren-Finelli
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
was a turning
point for Kanye West. His previous album, 808s &
Heartbreak,
had shaken the music community to the
core, and now West was faced with the daunting task of
topping it. On top of this, West’s chilling balladry and
cinematic composition on 808s
had been fueled by the
grief he felt regarding the recent death of his mother.
Critics argued that in order to even touch his previous
achievement, West would have to tap into an emotion
more potent than that brought upon him by the loss of his mother. ‘Ye was on an unofficial
hiatus, citing exhaustion as the reason. After the 2009 VMAs incident with Taylor Swift, West
had fallen from grace, to an extent. Now, he would have to deliver something breathtaking to
recapture the spotlight that his previous releases had brought him. Anyone who knows his
discography, or his personal history, will tell you Kanye West was never one to play it safe. His
debut track was recorded with his mouth wired shut, he reinvents his sound over and over again
with each album release, and he never shies away from controversy or unpopular opinion. So it
only makes sense that rather than releasing a project with a familiar sound, West had decided to
reinvent himself yet again. Gone were the dance-inspired drums and ice cold synths from 808s
,
and in their place came electric guitars, magnificent string sections, and rap drums for oldheads
1
McLaren-Finelli: Redemption: A Deep Dive Into the Magnum Opus That Saved Kanye’s C
Published by Scholarly Commons, 2019
and new-wave listeners alike. West’s maximalist, egotistical, magnum opus saw him rapping
with a new fury, each syllable brimming with emphasis, masking all emotions with a
charismatic, undeniable confidence.
“Dark Fantasy” is the first track on the album, and opens with Nicki Minaj’s delivery of a
poem in a British accent over some vocoded humming from West. The track then opens up into a
gorgeous piano, vocal, and string arrangement, all punctuating the phrase “Can we get much
higher?” The track continues on, switching to a boom-bap groove, over which West raps about
himself. A common thread throughout the album, West crams as many bars about himself as
humanly possible into every verse across this album. On this track though, West’s rapping sets
the stage for the sumptuously cinematic album that follows. “Gorgeous,” the next track, features
Kid Cudi on the hook, and Raekwon providing a gritty verse at the tail end of the track. Cudi
sings along with some crunchy electric guitars, which begins to establish the rock motif that runs
through this album. West raps through what sounds like a guitar amp on this track, but the end
result is quite pleasing, as this allows West’s vocals to mesh with the electric guitar quite nicely.
His frustration with the media comes through heavily on this track as well, “It’s not funny
anymore, try different jokes/tell ‘em hug and kiss my ass/X and O’s.” West delivers hilarious
and cutting jabs at anyone who would like to see him fail, announcing that, “The same people
that try to blackball me forgot about two things/my black balls.”
The next track, “Power,” was a promotional single for this record. This track is a work of
sampling magic. It features a chant taken from “Afromerica”
by Continent no. 6, a very well
placed sample of King Crimson’s “21st Century Schizoid Man,” and crunchy, militarized drums
2
Backstage Pass, Vol. 2 [2019], Iss. 1, Art. 12
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/backstage-pass/vol2/iss1/12
taken from “It’s Your Thing”
by Cold Grits. Overall the track comes together wonderfully,
painting a picture of West’s egoism like never before, as the song’s refrain is, “No one man
should have all that power,” but nonetheless, he still does. Approximately five minutes, four
verses, a bridge, and an orchestral outro later, “Power” concludes. “All of the Lights,” the next
song, was so cinematic West felt it needed an introductory orchestral track, entitled “All of the
Lights (Interlude).”
Of course, this track
does not disappoint, and features a triumphant brass riff,
bombastic breakbeat drums, and features galore. Kid Cudi, John Legend, Ryan Leslie, Charlie
Wilson, Alicia Keys, Fergie, Elly Jackson, Rihanna, The-Dream, Tony Williams, and none other
than Sir Elton John are all featured on this track, and their vocals are all layered together to
create the very unique texture of the chorus. Interestingly enough, Fergie’s verse on this track
isn’t even all that bad. In this album of heavy collaboration, West somehow ensured everyone
brought their A-game to fulfill his twisted fantasy.
“Monster”
follows and ranks as my personal favorite from the album. The track opens
with a heavily distorted Kanye moan-singing a brief few phrases, before the instrumental begins
with screaming and animal noises, as well as an outrageous verse from Rick Ross. Heavy 808s, a
loud distorted snare, and a haunting synth riff characterize this instrumental, and Ross’s opening
verse sounds as though he’s recording from his studio in the jungle, with a gorilla as his
engineer. West delivers an equally outrageous verse, in which he asks, “Have you ever had sex
with a pharaoh?” Jay-Z’s verse is ice-cold on this track as well, but the real showstopper comes
with the final verse delivered by Nicki Minaj. Minaj screams, yelps, does various voices, and
switches her flow too many times to count in her iconic, two-minute verse. With each syllable,
Minaj sounds as though she’s stomping her heel into the listener’s windpipe, begging them to
3
McLaren-Finelli: Redemption: A Deep Dive Into the Magnum Opus That Saved Kanye’s C
Published by Scholarly Commons, 2019
question her ability. Next up, “So Appalled,
”
features a refrain from Swizz Beatz, and verses by
RZA, Jay-Z, Pusha T, and Prynce Cy Hi. A G.O.O.D. Music posse cut, each rapper delivers
entertaining verses with an overwhelming amount of clever wordplay from all parties. The beat
is sprawling, and languid, with twittering synths, crunchy snares, and a velvety liquid string
section.
“Devil in a New Dress”
is a time capsule of sorts. Kanye revisits his roots, except this
time he revamps them. The eighth song on MBDTF, “Devil in a New Dress”
sees West rapping
over a chipmunk-pitched soul sample; a style that he pioneered. But the track is so much more
than just a soul chop, and features swelling strings, pianos, and of course, West’s signature
clever wordplay. “We love Jesus, but we done learned a lot from Satan,” he reminds the listener,
over the beautifully textured beat, which serves as the perfect canvas for West to paint his
picture. “The crib Scarface/could it be more Tony/you love me for me/could you be more
phony?” is another of the memorable bars in this track. After a few verses from West, and a
dramatic guitar solo, Rick Ross delivers a final verse in which he does not disappoint.
The next
track, “Runaway,” opens with a single piano note, which repeats just long enough for the listener
to question, “What am I listening to?” before the beat enters out of nowhere, in full force. The
instrumental features crunchy Moog synthesizers, strings, piano, and some distorted vocal chops.
“Runaway”
also features some of the best singing of West’s career, and interestingly enough,
some of the most cringeworthy bars of his career as well. “She find pictures in my email/I sent
this bitch a picture of my dick/I don’t know what it is with females/but I’m not too good at that
shit.” Still, what West’s lyrics may lack in class, they make up for in brutal honesty, “And I just
blame everything on you/at least you know that’s what I’m good at,” West admits. The track
4
Backstage Pass, Vol. 2 [2019], Iss. 1, Art. 12
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/backstage-pass/vol2/iss1/12
features an equally crass, but honest Pusha T verse. At the end of this seven minute epic, West
displays some of his most innovative ideas to date. After a lengthy outro, the sounds of what
could only be a guitar plugging into an amplifier can be heard, but it is later revealed to be
West’s voice, heavily processed through guitar amps and autotune. He goes on to “sing” a guitar
solo, which closes out the track.
“Hell of a Life”
is a rework of the Black Sabbath classic, “Iron Man.
” The track is about
falling in love with, and eventually marrying a pornstar, and divorcing her by the end of the
night. The instrumental features heavily distorted bass, relatively simple drums, and X-rated
lyrics galore. A striking dichotomy to this hedonistic anthem is the next track, “Blame Game.”
This track features a melancholy piano beat, rattling drums, and guest vocals from John Legend,
as West expertly navigates his way through the fights brought on by romantic relationships,
which he characterizes as the blame games. West uses this track as a moment of self reflection
on the impact he has on his relationship partner, and instead of leaning on the typical
relationship-oriented rap cliches, he takes an honest route. “On the bathroom wall I wrote I’d
rather argue with you than to be with someone else,” West admits. The track features a bit of
comic relief towards the tail end, coming in the form of a Chris Rock skit. Rock plays the role of
the man Kanye’s significant other is cheating on West with, as Rock rambles about how amazing
this woman is. Every time he asks the woman how she got to be so breathtaking, her only
answer is, “Yeezy taught me.” “Blame Game”
is a track that is sure to hit home with many,
many listeners.
5
McLaren-Finelli: Redemption: A Deep Dive Into the Magnum Opus That Saved Kanye’s C
Published by Scholarly Commons, 2019
The penultimate track,
“Lost in the World,
”
opens with beautifully icy and sparse
auto-tuned falsetto vocal harmonies from West, before a piano, and eventually bombastic drums
creep in. The drum programming seems to be a callback to 808s and Heartbreak,
but West
quickly launches into a rap verse, reminding the listener that this is not the balladry they heard on
808s.
After his verse, the track concludes with beautiful vocal additions from Bon Iver, and
eventually what sounds like a tribal drum breakdown, which fades seamlessly into the next track,
“Who Will Survive in America.
”
This track is an extension of the previous instrumental, and
features a powerful spoken word piece from Gil-Scott Heron, which wraps up the album very
nicely.
As it turned out, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
was everything Kanye needed it to
be. The album was a smash hit, receiving a 5-star review from Rolling Stone
, a 10/10 from
Pitchfork
magazine, a Grammy for best rap album of the year, and being ranked as the number
one album of 2010 and the 64th most acclaimed album in history according to the Acclaimed
Music statistics website. Needless to say, Kanye regained the spotlight, but things were a little
off, as evidenced even more by his next release, Yeezus.
But, regardless of concerns about his
sanity, Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
solidified his spot as a rap icon. This is
an album that has withstood the test of time, and the staggering maximalism is something
listeners will shake their heads at for generations to come.
6
Backstage Pass, Vol. 2 [2019], Iss. 1, Art. 12
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/backstage-pass/vol2/iss1/12
Works Cited
“Project Runaway.” Complex.com
, www.complex.com/music/kanye-west-interview-2010-cover-
story.
“Kanye West Feat. Dwele's 'Power' - Discover the Sample Source.” WhoSampled
, Kanye West,
1 Jan. 1970, www.whosampled.com/sample/54878/Kanye-West-Dwele-Power-Continent-
Number-6-Afromerica/.
“My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.” Wikipedia
, Wikimedia Foundation, 31 Mar. 2019,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Beautiful_Dark_Twisted_Fantasy#cite_note-144.
“Top Albums of 2010.” Acclaimed Music
, Henrik Franzon.
http://www.acclaimedmusic.net/year/2010a.htm
“My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.” Wikipedia
, Wikimedia Foundation, 31 Mar. 2019,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Beautiful_Dark_Twisted_Fantasy#cite_note-144.
.
7
McLaren-Finelli: Redemption: A Deep Dive Into the Magnum Opus That Saved Kanye’s C
Published by Scholarly Commons, 2019
