Lyrically I lost faith in Kanye the moment I heard Jesus Walks, don't get me wrong the song is epic but I thought it was funny how he crammed in "Theysayyoucanrapabout anything except for Jesus" it's in the song, listen to it I guarantee you will hear it. And then in his Late Registration album he just goes off on a lot of random tangents in his lyrics, especially in his poetic song Roses, as beautiful as it should be, it's also kind of awkward; in the sense that there's too much info. Now by this time I have come to accept Kanye's lyricism as part of his production. I just listen to the song as a whole and act as if him rapping is just part of the beat.
With that being said, his latest album "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" displays Kanye as a man with jokes and someone who is very much into their own penis and money. I say jokes as in he does a lot of play on words i.e. "Head of the class and she just want a swallowship," ha!
I basically place Kanye right next to Lil Wayne in the category I just made up known as "emcees who are simple minded, and tell it like it is." ...I'm finally beginning to see why a good friend of mine kept telling me not to buy the album cause Kanye's lyrics aren't great.
But the production value of this album...woo! It's incredible, Kanye really draws out the best in people. Whenever artists are featured I feel like they are just a commercial before it gets back to the original singer, but as you will witness in this album he draws out a side of people you haven't seen; Jay-Z doesn't have his normal tell-all monotone flow that he's able to stretch out for an entire beat, he actually breaks down in a fit of anger to the point where his voice almost cracks. Then you got Nicki Minaj who hits another level of crazy, just when you thought she couldn't get more animated...I am starting to like her.
I know this album will disappoint most who are expecting what essentially is considered "rap." Keep in mind that the album is titled "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" from a man with a career consumed by crazy things he's said and done:
...Yeah, so when a crazy narcissistic genius calls his album "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" you can imagine just what it is he's going to rap about, and judging by the album Kanye thinks of himself as being Malcolm X, a rock star, and a porn star, which in my opinion falls perfectly in line for the overall theme of the album, but god forbid you if you think I am saying he's some lyrical genius.
The tracks on this album are hard to listen to as a standalone, and I think in that aspect Kanye did a good job piecing together every track to go along with the overall theme of his album.
In conclusion this album is really different. It reminded me of when I first heard the Outkast album where Big Boi and Andre 3000 did their own thing and made Speakerboxxx and the Love Below, some may not be ready for it and others may have been waiting for it...Kanye is truly working hard at changing the face of rap so it can break out of the commercial hell that it's been rolling around in for the past decade. It has a very strong thematic element to it.
8/10
-DK
