I, like the rest of the world, have had a chequered relationship with old Kanye West. First time I heard "Touch the Sky" back in 2005I loved it. I borrowed Graduation from a friend when it came out and listened to it pretty much non-stop. Then I started to branch off into other realms of hip-hop- mostly early 90s stuff like Arrested Development, A Tribe Called Quest etc. but more recent and more intense stuff like Immortal Technique. And I began to doubt Kanye. I thought that, in comparison to the happy, chirpy early 90s rappers and the serious, political stuff I was listening to, Kanye seemed a bit juvenile, shallow and commercial. He was one step close too Jay-Z (who, contrary to popular belief, is not the best thing to happen to hip-hop ever). This probably also came at the same time as when I started getting into alternative music and made the childish mistake of rejecting ANYTHING in the charts as inherently crap. Also, I was in a phase of listening to almost EVERYTHING my brother said about music, and he is DEFINITELY no Kanye fan.
Then of course came Kanye's classic moments- saying live on TV that "George Bush doesn't care about black people", and then of course THIS. That started an internet meme. No one has ever recovered from an internet meme. And there was just a general load of what one may fairly describe as "douchebaggery". Plus, the release of 808's and Heartbreak, a huge departure for West but, to be honest, it didn't set the world on fire. It was met with a universal shrug, despite or maybe because of the personal nature of the songs.
So Kanye, about a year ago, was incredibly low in my estimations. And probably in all of our estimations.
But things changed.
OH how things changed!
First of all, Kanye rose rapidly up through the ranks of Twitter. His feed became one of the most popular on the network, and it made (and still makes) fascinating reading. Most artists and musicians on Twitter generally just tweet about gigs, releases, thankyous to fans and casual banter. Kanye was different though. Kanye was wearing his heart on his sleeve. Following Kanye on Twitter, you got a play by play rundown of what was going on in his head and his heart, 140 characters at a time. It was truly astonishing. He poured his heart out over the Taylor Swift thing- see here for the top tweets from that. I was genuinely shocked and moved by that. Since when does a musician- especially in a genre so egotistical and self aggrandising as hip-hop- come out and hands down admit they were wrong, without needing to it through music, and just publicly dress themselves down?! Kanye went up in my books.
And yet there were still seemingly contrived tweets saying things like "Let me be great!" We just couldn't get it! Was he humble? Arrogant? I don't know. I don't think the guy was striving to create a consistent public image. He was, in his own words, "human" and "real". Kanye gave us a living, breathing picture of the real person behind the media images, behind the furore, behind the meme. I think doing that really is the only thing that has saved him from forever being a raging internet joke.
So. Was it just the tweets that meant Kanye started going up in my books again? No. Kanye launched his "G.O.O.D Fridays" project- a vow to release a new piece of music every Friday until Christmas 2010, just because he loved his fans and wanted to give them something. I know that all great bands and artists love their fans, and their albums are for them, and lots release EPs, downloads etc, to give something back. But Kanye's was just on a such a grand, frequent and sincere scale. The first track I heard form it was the fantastic "See Me Now" featuring Beyonce and Charlie Wilson. I loved it. A couple of my favourite lyrics of the year actually:
"I'm like Socrates, 'cept my skin more chocolatey!"
"I'mma let you finish but I got Beyonce on the track y'all!"
That last lyric is just hilarious! It just showed me that Kanye was incredibly self aware- he knew exactly what people thought of him. But he'd apologised. Now it was time to move on. It was time for business.
And business has been good.
This week, Kanye's much hyped new album My Beautiful Dark Twisted fantasy was unleashed upon the world.
My first reaction?
W
O
W.
Guys, let's break the fourth wall for a minute. This album is amazing. Really. It is OUT OF THIS WORLD good. It's a hip-hop MASTERPIECE. It's a pop MASTERPIECE. Buy it. You can't not listen to this album.
It's not that Kanye has re-written the hip-hop rule book- but he doesn't bloody need to! There is just everything good to say about this album. It's got blanket sensational reviews and Pitchfork- either the Holy Grail or the height of pretension to many- gave it the site's first 10.0/10.0 rating for a new album in a good few years.
Now, I don't need to sit here and write about how huge and epic each of the tracks on this album are, without sounding gross and hollow like a Kings of Leon or U2 track. You can go (and really DO!) and listen to "Power", "All of the Lights", "Monster", "So Appalled", "Runaway", "Lost in the Woods"... hell the whole sodding album, and realise that every track is- for want of a better word- BANGING! Every track is pop perfection.
But I just want to say, having had a few days and a good few listens, why this album just works.
I've read a few articles that have been sceptical of the universal praise for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Not that many, but they are out there. A common criticism I've found is that, apparently, reviews have spent more time talking about Kanye's past controversies and his Twitter account than they have actually talking about the album. A slight exaggeration probably, but every review I've read (and this article!) has spent a decent chunk recounting the gaffes and the Twitter rants? Why?
You've got to think about context! How many great albums lose something (or all) of their greatness if you remove them from their context? Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles, Nevermind by Nirvana, Is This It? by The Strokes. Those albums mean so much more, and gain their status in history, because of their context. And this record is contextually perfect! Though not on a societal level- it's not London Calling or anything. But in the context of everything Kanye has done and said- and had done and said to him- this album is perfect. It is a totally spot on response to everything Kanye related over the last couple of years. He's become such a sensation, such a figure, that he's just created this whole context around himself and risen gloriously out of it.
This album is jointly a humble confession, an audacious statement of self belief, a huge middle finger to a media that totally turned against him, a massive a acknowledgement of his own precarious stardom, an insight into grandiose life of a pop superstar that is at times stunningly rewarding yet at others lonely, vacuous and heartbreaking. The two sides of the coin are best seen in the absolutely stunning chorus of "Runaway", featuring Pusha-T:
"Let's have a toast for the douche bags!
Let's have a toast for the ass holes!
Let's have a toast for the scum bags!
Every one of them that I know!"
When Kanye sings that, he's singing about all the haters who've been on him for the last two years- but he's also singing about himself! He's saying "you guys, you're douches, screw you!" and at the same time recognising "I'm a douche bag too. I screw up. I have screwed up. So screw me I guess". The way he's captured that duality is just mind blowing! He's captured two disparate emotions and blended them together in a way that even great literature probably can't. Plus- what a chorus to singalong too!
Also, I think this album really turns Kanye into a mainstream superstar who's a true artist. Aside from creating brilliant music that will find its way into the charts, he's made some stunning lyrical insights into the life of someone as insanely famous as himself. Rhianna sings on her guest spot on the PHENOMENAL "All the Lights":
"Turn up the lights in here, baby
Extra bright, I want y'all to see this
Turn up the lights in here, baby
You know what I need, want you to see everything
Want you to see all of the lights"
Kanye's got this desire to be exposed! To just bleed and wear his heart on his sleeve. Yeah yeah, he's rolling in it- but he's a human being. He's got a mother who loves him. "All The Lights" goes on to give insights into the troubled life of being a rap superstar- "Restraining order/ Can't see my daughter/ Her mother, brother, grandmother hate me in that order" being a choice line Perhaps a nod to Eminem, but still a stunningly human, truly emotional insight into the life of the superstar. And what I love is also is that the album is in one way very Lady GaGa- it is ostentatious, it is pop music on a totally new level- but the music is pure, raw Kanye. I love GaGa- but we never see Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta. We only see the facade, the front, the creation- brilliant as that is. Kanye has all that- but it's him. Pure, raw, flawed, conflicted, unadulterated human being. I think Kanye himself had a bit of a revelation in regards to this a while ago when he Tweeted (and I paraphrase from memory): "It just hit me- I make commercial art!!!" Oh you do Kanye. And it's stunning.
This album is an event as far as I'm concerned. It's not just empty grandiosity and bluster. It demands that you listen to it- as a musical event, a pop culture event, a collection of unbelievable songs, a frank and honest confession of one man's beautifully flawed humanity. If you harbour bad thoughts or feelings to Kanye, listen to this. It's his side of the story. And you'll be surprised at just how engrossing the world of Kanye is.
I'll leave you with the lyric that this post draws its title from, from the track "Gorgeous" featuring Kid Cudi and Raekwon:
"You blowin' up, that's good, fantastic
That, y'all, it's like that, y'all
I don't really give a fuck about it at all
'Cause the same people that tryna blackball me
Forgot about two things- my black balls!"
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