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My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

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Untitled

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is the fifth studio album by American hip hop artist Kanye West, released November 22, 2010 on Roc-A-Fella Records. Production for the album took place in Diamond Head, Hawaii during 2008 to 2010 and was handled by several record producers, including West, Jeff Bhasker, RZA, Ken Lewis, No I.D., and Mike Dean, among others.

The album produced three singles that attained chart success, including US Billboard hits "Power", "Monster", and "Runaway". Upon its release, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy received general acclaim from music critics, earning praise for its varied musical style, opulent production quality, and West's dichotomic lyrical themes.

Background

The album was formerly known as Good Ass Job and tentatively Dark Twisted Fantasy,[1][2][3] GOOD Music artist Big Sean was the second to announce the title of the album as Good Ass Job"[4] On July 24, 2010, on Kanye West's blog, a banner appeared reading "My Dark Twisted Fantasy Trailer". On July 28, 2010, Kanye announced via his new official Twitter account that "The album is no longer called 'Good Ass Job' I'm bouncing a couple of titles around now."[5]

The official title was announced on October 5, 2010, one day after the release date of November 22, 2010 was announced.[6][7]

Recording

The album was initially reported to feature production by Q-Tip, RZA, DJ Premier, and Pete Rock.[8][9] DJ Premier has since revealed that the beat he made for the album will not be included.[10] In an April 2010 interview, he discussed the album's production in comparison to West's previous work, stating "Well, first of all, if you look at all of Kanye West's output, he actually did a lot to bring back sampling and make it cool again, even though he's more of a mainstream artist...but his new album is strictly hard beats and rhyme. He's totally done with electro. You're gonna be surprised what you hear".[11]

West and others working on the album were reported to have cleared their minds before working everyday by playing five or six games of 21 against locals. Kid Cudi smoked weed in preparation and RZA worked out in the weight room.[12] Pete Rock elaborated on his studio experience with West, stating "He's definitely hip-hop, his roots, I was testing him on joints...He takes it to another level which is dope. He had these musicians and this song, they played around my little raggedy beat and made it real. I love the way he works -- he goes from one room, writing rhymes then goes to another beat and goes to another room and does something else -- I love what he's done, I always thought he was clever.[13] Madlib stated that he made five beats for Kanye West for the album.[14] It was reported that Kanye had spent over $3 million of Def Jam's money on the recording of the album.[15]

The album's guest artists were at one time or another confirmed to include Raekwon, RZA, Dwele, Nicki Minaj, Drake, Beyoncé Knowles, Big Sean, Charlie Wilson, Justin Vernon, Jay-Z, Kid Cudi, Rick Ross, CyHi tha Prince, M.I.A., Mr Hudson, Tony Williams, Pusha T, Swizz Beatz, John Legend, Lloyd Banks, Alicia Keys, Fergie, Rihanna, The-Dream, Ryan Leslie, Elton John, Elly Jackson and Chris Rock.[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] Also included, on the album's closing track, are large samples of both Gil Scott-Heron's poem "Comment #1," which originally appeared on Heron's Small Talk at 125th and Lenox, and Bon Iver's "Woods," which originally appeared on Bon Iver's Blood Bank (EP) [28]

Release and promotion

Singles

On May 28, 2010, an unfinished version of a speculative first single titled "Power" was leaked onto the internet. It features Dwele and is co-produced by Kanye West and S1.[29] It was officially released on July 1 on iTunes. The official remix features Jay-Z & Swizz Beatz. It was released on August 20, 2010 at 12:00 AM on Hot 97 by DJ Kayslay.[30] On September 12, 2010, West performed "Runaway" at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards.[31] Three weeks later on October 2, West performed the song on Saturday Night Live, along with "Power". The song was officially released to the iTunes Store on October 4, 2010.[6][32] Kanye West's 35 minute movie for his "Runaway" single was released on October 23. It featured all the tracks from the album, except "Monster" and "So Appalled".

On October 23, 2010 , "Monster" was released as the third single on iTunes.[33] The song was originally released on August 27, 2010 as part of West's music program "GOOD Friday". The song was performed at Jay-Z's and Eminem's "Home and Home" concert on September 14, 2010 along with Nicki Minaj. [34] The fourth single from the album will be "All of the Lights".[35]

Cover art

On October 17, 2010, Kanye West revealed through Twitter that My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy had been rejected by certain stores because of the cover art.[36][37] The artwork (a portrait by George Condo) shows West being straddled by an armless winged female (a phoenix). Both characters are depicted nude, and one nipple of the phoenix's breasts and her buttocks are visible. The painting is centered on a red background with a thin yellow border. The artwork follows along the apparent theme of the album, as well as West's music film "Runaway".[38] According to an interview with MTV News, this is one of five album covers; all of them will be included with its purchase.[39] A second cover, with a painting of a ballerina by Condo, was posted on the Amazon.com pre-order page.[40] It was intended to be the original artwork for "Runaway," but West used a photograph of a ballerina instead.[40]

According to New York, a new painting intended for the album, entitled “The Priest”, was completed by artist George Condo, who is also responsible for the five covers that have already been revealed.[41] Condo stated that the piece is an attempt to bring depictions of religious figures into the modern world.[41]

Tour

Kanye West revelead he will go on tour in promotion of the album. Tour mates he would like to possibly get involved include Nicki Minaj, Rick Ross, Kid Cudi, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne and/or Drake.[42]

Critical response

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[43]
Entertainment Weekly(A)[44]
The Guardian[45]
The Independent[46]
The New York Times(favorable)[47]
Pitchfork Media(10.0/10)[48]
Rolling Stone[49]
Slant Magazine[50]
Spin(9/10)[51]
The Village Voice(favorable)[52]

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy received general acclaim from music critics.[53] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 98, based on 21 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim".[53] Andy Gill of The Independent gave it five out of five stars and called it "one of pop's gaudiest, most grandiose efforts of recent years, a no-holds-barred musical extravaganza in which any notion of good taste is abandoned at the door".[46] Entertainment Weekly's Simon Vozick-Levinson complimented West's "outrageously hedonistic lyrics" and stated "West has tricked out these tracks with sharper verses and grander instrumental interludes, then lined them up in a sequence that demands to be heard from start to finish [...] essential components of a soundly built structure—easily his most consistently compelling full-length since 2005′s Late Registration".[44] Los Angeles Times writer Ann Powers called West's music "Picasso-like, fulfilling the Cubist mandate of rearranging form, texture, color and space to suggest new ways of viewing things".[54] Steve Jones of USA Today gave the album four out of four stars, calling it "an epic, adventurous aural mélange that easily outstrips anything he's done".[55] David Browne of Time cited it as "his most extravagant work [...] congested, constantly bustling" and wrote that it "reasserts the fact that few combine disparate elements as smoothly as West".[56] The Washington Post's Chris Richards dubbed it West's "masterpiece [...] pure pop bravura, with hip-hop's biggest ego torquing self-obsession into unapologetic new shapes".[57]

Kitty Empire of The Guardian criticized some of its lyrics regarding "women as ruthless money-grabbers", but ultimately found the album "herculean... a flawed near-masterpiece".[45] Rolling Stone writer Rob Sheffield cited it as West's best album and "his most maniacally inspired music yet, coasting on heroic levels of dementia, pimping on top of Mount Olympus [...] Nobody else is making music this daring and weird".[49] Sputnikmusic's Channing Freeman noted "a zest for life in these songs that is really quite beautiful" and viewed the album as "the first album in which he's truly lived up to his potential in every way - as a rapper, as a lyricist, as a songwriter".[58] Jon Caramanica of The New York Times called West "a better rapper than he’s ever been" and described it as "a startlingly maximalist take on East Coast rap traditionalism".[47] The Village Voice's Sean Fennessey viewed that "Kanye is rapping and singing better and with more tenacity than he ever has on Fantasy" and called the album "a staggering, often breathtaking work [...] masterfully engineered and sequenced, each song bleeding over like some long night out into the hazy morning after".[52] Allmusic writer Andy Kellman noted inconsistency in West's rapping and the album's "contrasting elements and maniacal extravagance".[43] He described it as "the culmination of Kanye West's first four albums" musically and elaborated on its significance in West's catalogue, stating:

As fatiguing as it is invigorating, as cold-blooded as it is heart-rending, as haphazardly splattered as it is meticulously sculpted, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is an extraordinarily complex 70-minute set of songs. Listening to it... is a laborious process. [...] The 13 tracks... sometimes fuse them together simultaneously. Consequently, the sonic and emotional layers are often difficult to pry apart and enumerate. [...] As the ego and ambition swells, so does the appeal, the repulsiveness, and – most importantly – the ingenuity. Whether loved or loathed, fully enjoyed or merely admired, this album should be regarded as a deeply fascinating accomplishment.[43]

— Andy Kellman

The Boston Globe's James Reed described the album as "a fun house of styles and sentiments, as self-involved and overstuffed as you’d expect from him but also progressive and universal in its themes".[59] Alex Denney of NME called it "an utterly dazzling portrait of a 21st-century schizoid man".[60] Chris Martins of Spin noted its production as "loud and proud, but also poignant and gripping" and called the album "a sinister, orchestral, hugely grandiose affair that owes as much to the artist's self-aggrandizing ego as to the voracious id that would destroy it publicly".[51] Chicago Sun-Times writer Thomas Conner gave it four out of four stars and noted West's "difficulty in communicating" as "pretty compelling on record".[61] Chicago Tribune writer Greg Kot perceived the album's feel as "a collision of opulence and emptiness" and complimented West's transparency, "his almost pathological allegiance to expressing his emotions, unfiltered... a curious mix of bravado and vulnerability".[62] Nitsuh Abebe of New York called the album "adventurous, fierce, and full of vitality", writing that "Its guiding principle seems to be to go in harder on every front: Be more opulent and arty, be more vicious and aggrieved, be more 'complicated' and self-lacerated".[63] Slant Magazine's Matthew Cole viewed it as a milestone in hip hop music and lauded its themes of "self-aggrandizement and self-effacement", writing that it "allows Kanye a thematic palette broad enough to confront his pride and anguish".[50] Pitchfork Media's Ryan Dombal called it "a hedonistic exploration into a rich and famous American id".[48] Giving the album a 10/10 rating, David Amidon of PopMatters complimented West's dichotomic themes and noted "there are few more human albums in hip-hop".[64]

Track listing

The track listing was confirmed by Amazon.com.[65] Production list from liner notes in the booklet.

No.TitleProducer(s)Length
1."Dark Fantasy"The RZA, Kanye West; No I.D. (co); Jeff Bhasker, Mike Dean (add.)4:40
2."Gorgeous" (featuring Kid Cudi & Raekwon)Kanye West, No I.D., Mike Dean; Ken Lewis (add.)5:57
3."Power" (featuring Dwele)S1 of Strange Fruit Project, Kanye West; Mike Dean, Jeff Bhasker, Andrew Dawson (add.)4:52
4."All of the Lights" (Interlude) 1:02
5."All of the Lights" (featuring Rihanna, Fergie, Kid Cudi, Alicia Keys & Elton John)Kanye West; Jeff Bhasker (co)4:59
6."Monster" (featuring Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj & Bon Iver)Kanye West, Mike Dean, Plain Pat, Jeff Bhasker (co)6:18
7."So Appalled" (featuring Jay-Z, Pusha T, Prynce Cy Hi, Swizz Beatz & The RZA)Kanye West, No I.D.; Mike Dean, Jeff Bhasker (co)6:38
8."Devil in a New Dress" (featuring Rick Ross)Bink!; Mike Dean (co)5:52
9."Runaway" (featuring Pusha T)Kanye West; Emile, Jeff Bhasker, Mike Dean (co)9:08
10."Hell of a Life"Kanye West, Mike Caren; Mike Dean (co)5:27
11."Blame Game" (featuring John Legend)Kanye West, DJ Frank E, Mike Dean (add.)7:49
12."Lost in the World" (featuring Bon Iver)Kanye West; Jeff Bhasker, Ken Lewis, Anthony Kilhoffer (co)4:16
13."Who Will Survive in America"Kanye West; Jeff Bhasker, Ken Lewis, Anthony Kilhoffer (co)1:38
iTunes bonus track
No.TitleProducer(s)Length
14."See Me Now" (featuring Big Sean, Beyoncé & Charlie Wilson)Kanye West, No I.D., Lex Luger6:03
Notes
  • Deluxe edition contains DVD with film "Runaway".
Sample credits

"Dark Fantasy"

"Gorgeous"

"Power"

  • Contains elements from the Cold Grits recording “It’s Your Thing”
  • Contains elements of “Afromerica” (Francois Bernheim/Jean-Pierre Lang/Boris Bergman)
  • Contains material sampled from “21st Century Schizoid Man” performed by King Crimson

"So Appalled"

  • Contains samples of the Manfred Mann’s Earth Band recording “You Are – I Am”

"Devil in a New Dress"

  • Contains samples of the recording “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” as performed by Smokey Robinson

"Runaway"

  • Contains a sample of “Expo 83” performed by Backyard Heavies
  • Contains excerpts from Rick James ‘Live at Long Beach, CA’ 1981

"Hell of a Life"

  • Contains samples of the Mojo Men recording “She’s My Baby"

"Blame Game"

"Lost in the World"

  • Contains a sample of the recording “Think (About It)” as performed by Lyn Collins
  • Contains samples of “The Woods” performed by Bon Iver

"Who Will Survive In America"

Personnel

Credits for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy adapted from Allmusic.[66]

Musicians

Production

References

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  3. ^ Concepcion, Mariel (2010-09-21). "M.I.A. To Collaborate With Kanye?". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 2010-10-19.
  4. ^ "Big Sean Workin' On Kanye's "Good Ass Job"". Rap Radar. 2010-02-14. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
  5. ^ http://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/19758633594
  6. ^ a b Lipshutz, Jason (2010-10-05). "Kanye West Announces 'Dark Twisted Fantasy' Title and Details". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 2010-10-05.
  7. ^ Rodriguez, Jayson (2010-10-05). "Kanye West's Album To Be My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy". MTV News. Retrieved 2010-10-05.
  8. ^ "Kanye West's Next Album To Drop In June | Get The Latest Hip Hop News, Rap News & Hip Hop Album Sales". HipHopDX. 2010-04-08. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
  9. ^ Langhorne, Cyrus (2010-04-08). "Pete Rock Calls Kanye West "Hip-Hop", Confirms Working W/ Him In Hawaii". Sohh.Com. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
  10. ^ Kanye West – Take One for the Team (ft. Pusha T, Cyhi Da Prince, Keri Hilson).
  11. ^ "Premo says: Kanye's new album is strictly hard beats and rhyme | The Amajanese Blog". Amajanese.blogspot.com. 2010-04-09. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
  12. ^ Kanye West's Studio Arrangement Analyzed In Complex Cover Story
  13. ^ http://thisizgame.com/. "Thisizgame". Thisizgame. Retrieved 2010-07-14. {{cite web}}: External link in |author= (help)
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  15. ^ Def Jam Records Has Reportedly Spent $3 Million On Kanye West's New Album | Get The Latest Hip Hop News, Rap News & Hip Hop Album Sales | HipHopDX
  16. ^ Tony Williams Talks Studio Sessions with Kayne West
  17. ^ "Exclusive: Kanye West Enlists Nicki Minaj for New Album". Rap-Up.com. 2010-06-30. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
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  19. ^ DJ Toomp Praises Kanye’s New Album x T.I. Confirmed As Guest
  20. ^ MIA announces collaboration for Kanye West album 'Dark Twisted Fantasy' | News | NME.COM
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  22. ^ # ^ http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.12413/title.kanye-west-calls-off-this-weeks-good-friday/
  23. ^ http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1649541/20101007/west_kanye.jhtml
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  25. ^ http://rapradar.com/2010/08/05/t-i-recorded-six-tracks-with-kanye/
  26. ^ http://www.hiphoprx.com/2010/10/11/kanye-west-my-beautiful-dark-twisted-fantasy-album-download-hip-hop-collabs/
  27. ^ http://www.kanyelive.com/talk/kanye-west/my-beautiful-dark-twisted-fantasy-***november-22-2010***/11572/
  28. ^ a b "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West". RollingStone. 2010-11-09. Retrieved 2010-11-09. Cite error: The named reference "RollingStone" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  29. ^ Jake Paine (2010-05-28). "S1 Explains Co-Producing Kanye West's "Power"". HipHopDX. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
  30. ^ Kanye West To Release "Power (Remix)" With Jay-Z Tomorrow | Get The Latest Hip Hop News, Rap News & Hip Hop Album Sales | HipHopDX
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  33. ^ http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/monster-single/id399733768
  34. ^ http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1647790/20100914/jay_z.jhtml?mobile=true
  35. ^ http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1649320/20101005/west_kanye.jhtml
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  42. ^ http://www.rap-up.com/2010/10/24/kanye-west-to-take-fans-to-church-of-hip-hop-on-next-tour/
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  66. ^ Credits: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Allmusic. Retrieved on 2010-11-21.
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