Its hard to find artists that push musical boundaries every time they record, but one of those artists is Kanye West. We all know his story of the last last year, ridiculed for speaking his mind and telling the truth Kanye is finally back with a pure Hip-Hop album.
The album starts off with a tone setting track "My Dark Fantasy". The chorus boasts "can we get much higher? " and Kanye takes his rapping abilities to the next level starting off his first saying "I dreampt bout this back in Chicago, mercy me mercy me that murcielago". He boldly states that he "found bravery in my bravado". A statement of thats shows the moments he has had of expressing his opinion (Taylor Swift, George Bush) he does not regret. His statements were made for a reason and his willingness to step out when no one else would is a gift in his opinion. It's obvious from this track that Kanye is out to prove he is not only great at creating soundscapes but that he can rap with the best in the world and even calls himself a Chicago Nas.
The track Gorgeous features a hook from Kid Cudi and verse from Raekwon. Kanye holds the track down until the last minutes of the song when the track seemlesly breaks off into a piano based track with some guitar rather than an all string song. The piano part has the feelingly of old school Wu-Tang songs and Raekwon decimates the track.
Power follows and brings the tempo of the album up as Yeezy declares "Fuck SNL and the whole cast tell them Yeezy said they can kiss my whole ass". Once again his lyrical game is head and shoulders above where it once was "My childlike creativity, purity and honesty/Is honestly being prodded by these grown thoughts/Reality is catchin’ up with me/Takin’ my inner child, I’m fighting for it, custody". Once again at around the 4 minute mark Kanye breaks down the song and lets Dwele do his thing.
Kanye follows up Power with an even bigger song "All of the Lights" featuring Cudi, Fergie, Rihanna, Alicia Keys, Elton John amongst others. Throughtout the song you can hear the passion of Kanye contrasted with the smooth sound of Rihanna's chorus. When Kanye says
I'm heading home, I'm almost there
I'm on my way, heading up the stairs
To my surprise, a n-gga replacing me
I had to take 'em to that ghetto univesity
Then in comes the chorus with horns that can only be described beautiful with Rihanna's voice being excentuated by their presence. The songs breaks down once again and brings the piano to the forefront showing how truly structed and layered the song is.
The songs is followed by Monster, which is a departure from the previous song, the songs even says "i cut the lights out". The songs features Rick Ross and Jay-Z but Nicki Minaj has the standout verse on the track. Kanye emphasizes her lines with echoes and pauses of the beat. Its a lyrical slaughtering
"So Appalled" is another posse cut that features Jay-Z, Pusha T, Prynce Cy Hi, Swizz Beatz & The RZA. Another Kanye beat is used as the landscape for a lyrical killing, including Jay-Z making fun of MC Hammer's money problem "I lost thirty mill so I spent another 30/cuz unlike Hammer 30 mill can’t hurt me" The beat has a creepy feeling and allows for each MC to bring their own particular flow onto the track.
Devil in a New Dress is up next and has a College Dropout type of feeling with Kanye even singing without auto tune on the track. . The track, much like all of the lights, breaks off into a heavy piano track torwards the end with Rick Ross actually not ruining the track. The feel becomes R&B and soul like. Once again lyrics cause this track to standout.
Runaway begins the last stretch of songs and is 9 minutes long with a verse from Pusha T. The song is the most well known from the album at this point and incorporates all of Kanye's past works (808s chorus, Late Registration beat). The biggest winner on this track is Pusha T, who Kanye had record and re write his verse multiple times. Pusha comes off as an arrogant asshole and fits perfectly into the song by telling a woman off for not being able to keep up with the lifestyle he is providing for her. The track feels like it should end a few times but does not and rewards the listener by taking them into a layered song.
The final 3 tracks on the album are the best. Hell of a Life, Blame Game, and Lost in the World embody all of Kanye's works. Whether is an autotune hook on Lost in the World, a hilarious skit at the end of Blame Game or a confeesional verse on Hell of a Life Kanye brings the audience back into what made him who he is. Lost in the World features one verse but it is the best of the entire album and will be listened to multiple times by everyone who hears it.
Kanye claims that he finally decided to re use some of his old sounds when making this CD rather than going off into a whole new genre. He brings back that old kanye feel but pushes music to its limits with 9 minute tracks and songs more layered than anything ever heard. He even uses the sound of wind in Runaway! The CD is an instant classic and stands among his previous 4 as musical perefection.
All I can say is thank you Kanye.
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