My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy – Kanye West
It’s crazy that the best album of the decade came from one of the least favorable years for music, but it’s Kanye, that’s what he does. Before anyone starts, this is not a discussion of his political antics, or antics as of late. We are discussing things from 2009-2010. So let me set the stage for you: 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. For Video of the Year, Taylor Swift wins. Fans and musicians applaud and cheer the young woman for getting such an honor. All but one. And that one jumped out of his seat, took the mic, and said that Beyonce had one of the greatest videos of ALL TIME. Why am I bringing this up? Because this is integral to how Kanye moved afterwards. He exiled himself, left the public eye, and dedicated his time to working on one of the best albums of all time. I’ve discussed this in my Grammy article, but I can still go on. Even though this wasn’t an apology album, it definitely felt like it. Let me start by discussing some of the songs. “Dark Fantasy” is one of the best intros ever, “Gorgeous” has on of Kanye’s best verses, “Power” is about having so much power, and then having to relinquish it, “All of the Lights”… I could write an essay on why it is one of the greatest songs of all time. After repeated listens, this is an album about three things: loss, love, and acceptance. The song “Runaway” is one of the greatest songs to ever be produced, and I believe this to be the culmination point of everything. The first verse is Kanye battling with himself about not being great with females, finding something wrong all the time, toasting all the assholes, d-bags, jerkoffs of the world in the chorus. The second verse being Pusha T’s, where he plays that douchebag role very well, and pretty much tells the girl, “I’m going to do whatever I want. You can either accept it or leave, but I got more hoes waiting for me.” The third verse being about how Ye doesn’t enjoy romantics and how his girl sees that as a major problem. The third act, even though it is just mainly instrumental, is so beautiful. To me, it is part of the acceptance. It is Kanye saying some things through a vocorder, but mainly letting the instruments take you to a place where they let you think about everything he said. They take you on an emotional journey for 4 minutes where you can just reflect. This is the album that made everyone remember that while he seems like an egotistical asshole, he also is one of the greatest musical minds of our time. This is the album that we will look back on and study for its flawlessness and greatness, just as we will look back on it as the greatest album of the last decade.
Disagree? Well, I don’t know what to tell you, because these top 5 albums I’ve listed in this series are fantastic. However, I’d still love to know all of your opinions on music. Tell me what your favorite album of the decade was; tell me what album you’re anticipating the most this year; and tell me what music you might be listening to, so we can listen to even more! This wraps up my top 5 albums of the decade series. Hope you enjoyed it!
