My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

A powerful return following a shaky third release, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy manages to feel like an an album split in two; there is a mix of manic highs and true melancholy. There are some really vulgar parts of this work, something that in later works (e.g., The Life of Pablo) I would not be so willing to look past, but here the whole package is just so good that the vulgarity feels like it really contributes to the work. For a quick example, there is a good ten seconds of just moaning in Hell Of A Life, but it doesn’t feel out of place (a bit weird to suggest it to friends though). Overall, I think this album really successfully threads through the mindset of someone indulging in a life of true excess, who still feels some kind of shame or regret for the things they are doing.

Almost all of the songs are great, and there is a lot more variety in theme than West’s other works since The College Dropout. The worst song is probably Monster, although Nicki Minaj’s verse on it and the intro are fantastic; its just that everyone else on it isn’t doing nearly as well as they are on the other ones. Jay-Z’s verse on that one, in my humble opinion, is almost as bad as Common’s all the way back on Get ’Em High; definitely not AS BAD, but it has that same problem where it just doesn’t feel like he’s following the beat that well.

TL;DR: Double-headed monster with a mind of his own.