My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Studio album by Kanye West
Released November 22, 2010
Recorded 2009–2010
Avex Recording Studio
(Honolulu, Hawaii)
Glenwood Place Studios
(Burbank, California)
Electric Lady Studios, Platinum Sound Recording
(New York, New York)
Genre Hip hop
Length 68:42
Label Roc-A-Fella, Def Jam
Producer Kanye West (also exec.), Jeff Bhasker, Bink, DJ Frank E, Emile, Jay-Z (exec.), Kyambo Joshua (exec.), L.A. Reid (exec.), Lex Luger, Mike Caren, Mike Dean, No I.D., Gee Roberson (exec.), The RZA, S1
Kanye West chronology
808s & Heartbreak
(2008)		 My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
(2010)		 Watch the Throne
(2011)
Alternate cover
Physical release sold in retail stores
Singles from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
  1. "Power"
    Released: July 1, 2010
  2. "Runaway"
    Released: October 4, 2010
  3. "Monster"
    Released: October 23, 2010 (2010-10-23)
  4. "All of the Lights"
    Released: January 18, 2011 (2011-01-18)
  5. "Lost in the World"
    Released: September 29, 2011

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is the fifth studio album by American hip hop recording artist Kanye West, released November 22, 2010, on Roc-A-Fella Records. Recording sessions for the album took place primarily at Avex Recording Studio in Honolulu, Hawaii during 2009 to 2010. Production was handled by West and several other record producers, including Jeff Bhasker, The RZA, No I.D., and Mike Dean, among others. Following a hiatus from his music career, West worked on the album through a communal development that involved him and various other musicians and producers contributing collectively to its music. Noted by music writers for its varied elements, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy incoporates musical components from West's previous works and features themes regarding excess and celebrity.

The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 496,000 copies in its first week in the United States. It achieved respectable international charting and produced four singles that attained chart success, including US Billboard hits "Power", "Monster", "Runaway", and "All of the Lights". 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 dichotomous themes. It was also named the best album of 2010 in numerous critics' polls and year-end lists. The album has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America and, as of October 2011, has sold 1,212,000 copies in the United States.

Contents

Background

The album was conceived during West's self-imposed exile in Oahu, Hawaii, following a period of legal and public image controversy amid an overworked mental state at the time.[1] West later said that his fatigue from overworking led to his controversial outburst at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, his disgust with its ensuing media response, and his hiatus from recording.[1] Amid negative response to the incident,[2] his scheduled tour with recording artist Lady Gaga in promotion of his previous album, 808s & Heartbreak, was cancelled on October 1, 2009, without reason.[3]

The album was formerly known as Good Ass Job and tentatively Dark Twisted Fantasy.[4][5][6] GOOD Music artist Big Sean was the second to announce the title of the album as Good Ass Job.[7] On July 24, 2010, on Kanye West's blog, a banner appeared reading "My Dark Twisted Fantasy Trailer". On July 28, 2010, West 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."[8] The official title, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, was announced on October 5, 2010.[9]

Recording

Avex Recording sessions

Recording sessions took place primarily at Avex Recording Studio in Honolulu, Hawaii, with additional recording at Glenwood Place Studios in Burbank, California, and at Electric Lady Studios and Platinum Sound Recording in New York City.[10] It was reported that West spent over $3 million in expenses from his record label Def Jam on the album's recording.[11] He later explained the initial recording process to Noah Callahan-Bever, Complex editor-in-chief and West's confidant at the time, who said that "he'd holed up in Hawaii and was importing his favorite producers and artists to work on and inspire his recording. Rap Camp!".[1]

Recording artists reported to have participated in the sessions for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy at one time or another included Raekwon, The RZA, Pusha T, Rick Ross, Charlie Wilson, Big Sean, CyHi Da Prynce, Swizz Beatz,[12] Dwele, Nicki Minaj,[13] T.I.,[14][15] Drake, Common, Jay-Z,[16] Eminem, Lil Wayne,[17] John Legend, Fergie, Rihanna, The-Dream, Ryan Leslie, Elton John,[18] M.I.A.,[19] Justin Vernon, Seal, Beyoncé Knowles,[20] Kid Cudi, Mos Def, Santigold, Alicia Keys, Elly Jackson,[21] and Tony Williams.[22] Record producers who participated at the album's recording sessions with West included Q-Tip, The RZA, DJ Premier,[23] Madlib,[24] and Pete Rock.[25][26] Madlib has stated that he made five beats for the album.[24] DJ Premier later revealed that his beats were ultimately discarded.[26]

Recording process

West, who had previously recorded at Avex for 808s & Heartbreak, block-booked the studio's three session rooms indefinitely to work on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.[1] According to Noah Callahan-Bever, who visited West during the recording sessions, "when he hits a creative wall... he heads to another studio room to make progress on another song".[1] He often worked through the night and napped in the studio, and recording engineers were present behind the mixing board 24 hours a day.[1] Prior to recording in the afternoon, West and most of his crew played games of 21 against locals at the Honolulu YMCA for leisure.[1] Kid Cudi smoked marijuana in preparation and worked-out on a treadmill, while RZA worked-out in the weight room.[1][27] West held breakfast each morning at his Diamond Head residence for his crew.[1]

Kid Cudi contributed vocals to several tracks on the album.[10]

Throughout the album's development, West elicited other producers and musicians to weigh-in on its music with conversations and contributions at the studio.[1] In observing discussions among them during his visit, Callahan-Bever noted that "Despite the heavyweights assembled, the egos rarely clash; talks are sprawling, enlightening, and productive [...] we are here to contribute, challenge, and inspire".[1] In an interview with Callahan-Bever, Q-Tip described the process as "music by committee" and elaborated on its significance to the sessions and West's work ethic, stating:

[H]e'll go, ‘Check this out, tell me what you think.’ Which speaks volumes about who he is and how he sees and views people. Every person has a voice and an idea, so he's sincerely looking to hear what you have to say—good, bad, or whatever. [...] when he has his beats or his rhymes, he offers them to the committee and we're all invited to dissect, strip, or add on to what he's already started. By the end of the sessions, you see how he integrates and transforms everyone's contributions, so the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. He's a real wizard at it. What he does is alchemy, really.[1]
—Q-Tip

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".[28] Rapper Pusha T characterized the album as "a collage of sounds" and found West's methods unorthodox when recording for the album, "We could easily be working on one song, thinking we're in a mode, and he'll hear a sound from someone like [producer] Jeff Bhasker and immediately turn his whole attention to that sound and go through his mental Rolodex to where that sound belongs on his album, and then it goes straight to that song, immediately".[1] BET executive vice president Stephen Hill, who was invited to listen to material for the album, commented on its musical direction as "less like 808s & Heartbreak and more like Graduation".[13] In an April 2010 interview, DJ Premier discussed the 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".[29]

Composition

Music and style

The album's music has been noted by writers for incorporating elements from West's previous four albums.[30][31][32] Entertainment Weekly's Simon Vozick-Levinson perceives that such elements "all recur at various points", namely "the luxurious soul of 2004's The College Dropout, the symphonic pomp of Late Registration, the gloss of 2007's Graduation, and the emotionally exhausted electro of 2008's 808s & Heartbreak".[31] Sean Fennessey of The Village Voice writes that West "absorb[ed] the gifts of his handpicked collaborators, and occasionally elevat[ed] them" on previous studio albums, noting collaborators and elements as Jon Brion for Late Registration ("arranging orchestral majesty"), DJ Toomp for Graduation ("adapted DJ Toomp’s oozing menace"), and Kid Cudi for 808s & Heartbreak ("Cudi’s moaning melodies became elemental").[33] Ryan Dombal of Pitchfork Media calls it a "culmination" of his past work, writing that "musically, [My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy] largely continues where 2007's Graduation left off in its maximalist hip-hop bent, with flashes of The College Dropout's comfort-food sampling and Late Registration's baroque instrumentation weaved in seamlessly".[32] Allmusic's Andy Kellman also views it as the "culmination" of those albums, while noting that "it does not merely draw characteristics from each one of them. The 13 tracks [...] sometimes fuse them together simultaneously. Consequently, the sonic and emotional layers are often difficult to pry apart and enumerate".[30] Kellman denotes "All of the Lights" as most representative of the album's "contrasting elements and maniacal extravagance".[30]

Lyrical themes

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy features lyrical themes regarding excess and celebrity,[32][34][35][36] with subject matter such as decadence, grandiosity, escapism, sex, wealth, romance, self-aggrandizement, and self-doubt.[32][37][38][39][40][41] Andrew Martin of Prefix Magazine notes the album's ethos as "more is more" and describes it as "a meditation on fame", in which West decries the burden that it entails.[35] My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy also features more open references to drinking and drug use than on West's previous albums.[33] Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club describes the album as "darkly funny, boldly introspective, and characteristically fame-obsessed", noting "manic highs and depressive lows emotionally" in West's lyrics.[42] Music journalist Sean Fennessey compared its thematic structure to that of a Greek tragedy, adding that "things do come crashing down, and [...] it’s felled by a woman".[33]

Alex Denney of NME characterizes West as "by turns sickeningly egocentric, contrite, wise, stupid and self-mocking", "the pop star for our morally implicated times; an instinctive consumer with a mouthful of diamonds and furtive bad conscience, a performer who lives the American dream to its fullest with a creeping sense of the spiritual void at its heart. 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy' captures that essence in full".[43] Music writer Ann Powers interprets West's predominant theme on the album to be "the crisis of the jet-lagged cosmopolitan [...] the exhausted cry of one who's always new in town, chasing whatever goal or girl is in the room, fueled by consumer culture's relentless buzz, but finally left unsatisfied".[38] Powers views the album's songs to work "as pornographic boasts, romantic disaster stories, devil-haunted dark nights of the soul" and perceives West's "uncertainty about his own place in the world" to be connected to the subject of race, stating "The rootlessness West celebrates and despairs of on 'Fantasy' belongs to someone who feels unwelcome everywhere. This isn't just a personal problem. It's the curse of what the theorist Michael Eric Dyson has called 'the exceptional black man', embraced for his talents but singled out for the color of his skin".[38] Music essayist Robert Christgau finds the themes of insecurity and uncertainty on the album to be West's "heart, his message, the reason he's so major", noting the tracks "Hell of a Life" and "Runaway" as examples.[37]

Content

The album's opening track, "Dark Fantasy", is introduced with a narrative by Nicki Minaj, elocuting in an English accent, that serves as a retelling of writer Roald Dahl's poetic rework of "Cinderella".[38] It introduces the album's themes of decadence and hedonism,[44] with West musing how "the plan was to drink until the pain was over / But what’s worse, the pain or the hangover?".[43] His lyrics on the track contain various musical and popular culture references, including those to the song "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)", the Lamborghini Murciélago sports car, rapper Nas, fashion designer Phoebe Philo, short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", the song "Sex on Fire", singer Leona Lewis, and television character Steve Urkel.[45] "All of the Lights" incorporates drum 'n' bass breaks and brass fanfare.[43][46] West's lyrics contain a reference to the death of Michael Jackson in the opening lines and present a narrative of a character who abuses his lover, does prison time, scuffles with her new boyfriend, and subsequently mourns his absence from his child's life.[46] For the song, West enlisted 11 guest vocalists, including Alicia Keys, John Legend, Elton John, Tony Williams, Elly Jackson, and Rihanna, who sings the song's hook.[47] In an interview for MTV, Jackson said of the song's vocal layering, "He got me to layer up all these vocals with other people, and he just basically wanted to use his favorite vocalists from around the world to create this really unique vocal texture on his record, but it's not the kind of thing where you can pick it out".[48]

Built on a sample of Smokey Robinson's quiet storm recording "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow", "Devil in a New Dress" contains lyrics about lust and heartache,[40] with sexual and religious imagery described by one critic as "part bedroom allure, part angelic prayer".[49] It is the only album track without production by West,[10] but features his characteristic style of manipulating the pitch and tempo of classic soul samples.[40][50] "Runaway" features a piano-based motif comprising a series of sustained descending half and whole notes,[51] with a coda that incorporates light strings and vocoder-singing by West.[40] Its lyrics are self-critical and reflect on the narrator's personality and character flaws.[52][53] Sean Fennessey cites the song as the point in the album in which "self-laceration overtakes chest-beating", noting West's sung-line "I'm so gifted at finding what I don't like the most".[33] Inspired by his two-year relationship with model Amber Rose, "Hell of a Life" contains a psychedelic rock sample and a lyrical narrative about marrying a porn star.[32][33] According to music writer Ryan Dombal, the song "attempts to bend its central credo— 'no more drugs for me, pussy and religion is all I need'— into a noble pursuit. [...] [T]he song blurs the line between fantasy and reality, sex and romance, love and religion, until no lines exist at all. It's a zonked nirvana with demons underneath; a fragile state that can't help but break apart on the very next song".[32]

"Lost in the World" features tribal drums and samples Bon Iver's "Woods",[54] a song originally written about alienation, applied by West "as the centerpiece of a catchy, communal reverie" on the album.[40] It features several musical changes, beginning with Iver's faint vocals, followed by 4/4 drums, gospel-styled chorus,[55] and increased tempo, and a final measured tempo.[56] "Lost in the World" transitions into the closing track "Who Will Survive in America".[39] It serves as the album's coda and is built on a sample of Gil Scott-Heron's "Comment No. 1",[43] a blunt, surrealist piece delivered by Scott-Heron in spoken word about the African-American experience and the fated idealism of the American dream.[38][41][51] Scott-Heron's original speech, which criticized the 1960s Revolutionary Youth Movement for failing to recognize the more basic needs of the African-American community, is edited to a reduced version on the track that, according to music writer Greg Kot, "retains its essence, that of an African-American male who feels cut off from his country and culture".[44] In contrast, Sean Fennessey interprets it as "a too-serious denouement for an album that is more about the self’s little nightmares than some aching societal rejection".[33]

Release and promotion

On October 4, 2010, the album's release date was announced as November 22, 2010.[9][57] Prior to its release, West initiated the free music program G.O.O.D. Fridays through his website on August 20, 2010, offering a free download of previously unreleased songs each Friday of the week, a portion of which were included on the album.[58][59] Titled after his imprint label G.O.O.D. Music, the program generated considerable publicity in the months leading up to the album's release.[58] Online marketing coordinator Karen Civil said of the program in retrospect, "It's a genius idea. He did something no one had ever done before, and at a point when he was the most hated person in music, he brought excitement back with his Friday releases".[58] G.O.O.D. Fridays was originally intended to continue through December, but was extended by West through January 2011.[60] The album was released as a digital download on Amazon.com at a list price of $3.99,[61] which coincided with the site's $3 discount promotional offer on MP3 purchases made valid through the album's release week.[62][63] West has revealed he will go on tour in promotion of the album, naming possible guest performers as Nicki Minaj, Rick Ross, Kid Cudi, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, and Drake.[64]

Singles

On May 28, 2010, an unfinished version of a speculative first single titled "Power" was leaked onto the Internet. It features additional vocals by Dwele and was co-produced by Kanye West and S1.[10][65] The official remix, featuring Jay-Z and Swizz Beatz, was premiered on August 20, 2010 on Hot 97 by DJ Kayslay.[66] The single spent eight weeks and peaked at number 22 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.[67] The song was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance, presented at the 53rd Grammy Awards in 2011.[68] On September 12, 2010, West performed "Runaway" at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards.[69] Three weeks later on October 2, West performed the song on Saturday Night Live, along with "Power". "Runaway" was officially released to the iTunes Store on October 4, 2010.[9][70] It spent 12 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 12 on the chart.[67] Rolling Stone named it the best single of 2010 in its year-end list.[71] A 35-minute short film of the same name, directed by West and containing the song's official music video, was released on October 23, 2010.[72] Filmed in Prague over a period of four days during Summer 2010,[73] the film stars West and model Selita Ebanks and features the script written by Hype Williams with the story written by West.[74] West described the video as an "overall representation of what [he dreams]" and a parallel to his music career.[73][75]

The third single "Monster" was sent out to radio on September 21,[76] and it was released to the iTunes Store on October 23, 2010.[77] The song was originally released on August 27, 2010 as part of West's music program G.O.O.D. Friday.[78] It spent five weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 18 on the chart.[67] Rolling Stone ranked it number 10 on its list of the Best Singles of 2010.[71] The song was performed at Jay-Z's and Eminem's "Home and Home" concert on September 14, 2010, along with Nicki Minaj.[79] West announced through his Twitter account that "All of the Lights" will be the album's next single.[80] Following the album's release, the song debuted at number 92 on the Billboard Hot 100,[81] and album track "Dark Fantasy" entered the chart at number 60 the same week.[82] "All of the Lights" was released as a single on January 18, 2011 in the US and on February 21, 2011 in the UK.[83][84] It reached number 18 and has spent 18 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100.[85] During his performance at the The Big Chill music festival, West announced "Lost in the World" as the album's fifth single.[86][87][88]

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.[89][90] The artwork (a portrait by George Condo) shows West being straddled by an armless winged female (a phoenix).[91] Both characters are depicted nude, and one nipple of the phoenix's breasts and her buttocks are visible. The artist later said that Kanye wanted a cover image that would be banned.[92] The painting is centered with a thin yellow border on a red background. The artwork follows along the apparent theme of the album, as well as West's music film Runaway.[93] This is one of five album covers; all of them were included with its purchase.[91] A second cover, with a painting of a ballerina by Condo, was posted on the Amazon.com pre-order page.[94] It was intended to be the original artwork for "Runaway," but West used a photograph of a ballerina instead.[94]

George Condo and Kanye West met up for several hours where they listened to tapes of his music, and over the next few days Condo made eight or nine paintings for the album. Two of them were portraits of West, one in extreme closeup, with mismatched eyes and four sets of teeth. Another showed his head, crowned and decapitated, placed sideways on a white slab, impaled by a sword. There was also a painting of a dyspeptic ballerina in a black tutu, a painting of the crown and the sword by themselves in a grassy landscape, and a lurid scene of a naked black man on a bed, straddled by a naked white female creature with fearsome features, wings, no arms, and a long, spotted tail, the last one being the original album cover.[92] According to New York, a new painting for the album, entitled "The Priest", was completed by Condo, who described it as an attempt to bring depictions of religious figures into the modern world.[95]

Reception

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 496,000 copies in the United States.[96] It is West's fourth consecutive US number-one album, and its debut week serves as the fourth-best sales week of 2010,[96] while its first-week digital sales of 224,000 copies serve as the fourth-highest sales week for a digitally-downloaded album.[97] The album also entered at number one on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums,[98] Rap Albums,[99] and Digital Albums charts.[100] On January 11, 2011, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for shipments of one million copies in the US.[101] It has spent 34 weeks on the Billboard 200,[102] and as of October 2011, has sold 1,212,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[103]

In Canada, it entered at number one on the Top 100 Albums chart, with first-week sales of 29,000 copies.[104] In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at number 16 on the Top 100 Albums chart,[105] on which it spent six weeks.[106] On December 10, 2010, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry, for shipments of 60,000 copies in the UK.[107] In Australia, it entered at number six on the ARIA Top 50 Albums and at number two on the Top 40 Urban Albums chart.[108][109] On March 21, 2011, the album was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association, for shipments of 70,000 copies in Australia.[110] In New Zealand, the album debuted at number 10 on the RIANZ's Top 40 Albums chart.[111] It also charted at number four in Denmark,[112] at number 18 in Ireland,[113] at number 11 in Norway,[114] at number 10 in Switzerland,[115] at number 21 in Belgium,[116] at number 19 in Germany,[117] at number 39 in Greece,[118] at number 19 in Sweden,[119] at number 28 in France,[120] at number 87 in Mexico,[121] at number 42 in Finland,[122] at number 97 in Spain,[123] and at number 17 in the Netherlands.[124]

Critical response

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 4/5 stars[30]
Robert Christgau (A)[37]
Entertainment Weekly (A)[31]
The Guardian 4/5 stars[125]
The New York Times (favorable)[126]
Pitchfork Media (10.0/10)[32]
Rolling Stone 5/5 stars[127]
Slant Magazine 5/5 stars[40]
Spin (9/10)[41]
The Village Voice (favorable)[33]

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy received general acclaim from music critics.[128] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 94, based on 43 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim".[128] 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".[129] Entertainment Weekly's Simon Vozick-Levinson commended 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".[31] Los Angeles Times writer Ann Powers called its music "Picasso-like, fulfilling the Cubist mandate of rearranging form, texture, color and space to suggest new ways of viewing things".[38] 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".[51] David Browne of Time dubbed it West's "most extravagant work [...] congested, constantly bustling", writing that it "reasserts the fact that few combine disparate elements as smoothly as West".[130] The Washington Post's Chris Richards called it his "masterpiece [...] pure pop bravura, with hip-hop's biggest ego torquing self-obsession into unapologetic new shapes".[131] Dan Vidal of URB stated "Kanye (much like Miles Davis) has the ability to bring out the strengths of his collaborators — squeezing out the essence of their artistic persona as highlights for the music that he creates".[132]

Kitty Empire of The Guardian criticized its lyrics regarding "women as ruthless money-grabbers", but called the album "herculean [...] a flawed near-masterpiece".[125] Despite noting an inconsistency in West's rapping, Allmusic editor Andy Kellman described the album as "a deeply fascinating accomplishment" 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. [...] As the ego and ambition swells, so does the appeal, the repulsiveness, and – most importantly – the ingenuity".[30] Rolling Stone writer Rob Sheffield gave it five out of five stars, citing 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".[127] Giving the album four-and-a-half out of five stars, Sputnikmusic's Channing Freeman noted "a zest for life in these songs that is really quite beautiful" and viewed it 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".[133] Jon Caramanica of The New York Times described it as "a startlingly maximalist take on East Coast rap traditionalism" and called West "a better rapper than he’s ever been".[126] The Village Voice's Sean Fennessey commented that "Kanye is rapping and singing better and with more tenacity than he ever has on Fantasy", while calling 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".[33]

Anslem Samuel of XXL gave the album a maximum rating of "XXL" and praised it "Sonically and lyrically [...] intricately constructed tracks framing his heartfelt outbursts and honest inner reflections".[134] Alex Denney of NME called it "an utterly dazzling portrait of a 21st-century schizoid man".[43] 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".[41] Chicago Sun-Times writer Thomas Conner gave it four out of four stars and commented that West's "difficulty in communicating" is "pretty compelling on record".[49] 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".[44] 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".[135] 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".[40] Pitchfork Media's Ryan Dombal called it "a hedonistic exploration into a rich and famous American id".[32] Giving it a 10 out of 10 rating, David Amidon of PopMatters complimented West's dichotomous themes and noted "there are few more human albums in hip-hop".[39]

Accolades

The album appeared on numerous music critics' and publications' end-of-year albums lists.[136] Chicago Tribune writer Greg Kot included it at number seven on his list of the year's top albums, writing that it "turns contradictions into strengths, a mix of classical opulence, grimy beats, boldness and vulnerability".[137] PopMatters named it the year's fourth best album in its year-end list, calling it "Kanye West’s self-portrait, in Cubism: complex, petulant, somewhat paranoid, but bursting with ideas and never boring".[138] Chris Yuscavage of Vibe ranked it number one on his list of the 10 Best Albums of 2010.[139] Paste named it the fourth best album of 2010, and the publication's M.T. Richards called it "a nuanced, intimately personal record wherein even ostensibly boastful tracks are tangled with insecurities, both personal and professional [...] perhaps this century’s definitive portrait of torment, vanity, self-delusion, and pathos".[140] Nitsuh Abebe of New York named it the eighth best album of the year.[141] The Guardian included it at number two on its list of 2010's top 40 albums and commented that West "remains, on record, one of the most compelling artists of our time".[142] NME ranked the album number 34 on its list of 75 Best Albums of 2010.[143]

Many critics and publications named it the best album of the year.[136] Spin placed the album at number one on its 40 Best Albums list for 2010.[144] In naming it the album of the year, the publication's Charles Aaron wrote that it "is 2010's album of the year because Kanye dramatizes... with a budget-averse musical imagination that's ominous, symphonic, heartsick, riff-ravaged, and driven by the most technically legit rapping he's ever managed".[144] Billboard, Time, Slant Magazine, Pitchfork Media, and Rolling Stone also named it the best album of 2010 in their year-end lists.[145][146][147][148][149] Both Chris Richards and Allison Stewart of The Washington Post named the album the best of 2010.[150][151] The New York Times' Jon Caramanica, Nate Chinen, and Jon Pareles all included the album in their individual top-10 albums lists.[152][153][154] The A.V. Club ranked the album at the top of its year-end list and commented on its significance, stating "Fantasy is an idiot-savant smash, an example of a musician overreaching, yet triumphing through dumb bravado and an imagination gloriously unfettered by logic. Kanye actually set out to make the album of the year when nobody listens to albums anymore".[155] My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was voted best album in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics' poll for 2010,[156] winning by the largest margin in the poll's history.[157] The singles "Power", "Runaway", and "Monster" were voted in the top-10 of the Pazz & Jop's singles list.[157]

Track listing

No. Title Writer(s) Producer(s) Length
1. "Dark Fantasy"   Kanye West, Robert Diggs, Ernest Wilson, Jeff Bhasker, Mike Dean, Malik Jones The RZA, Kanye West, No I.D., Jeff Bhasker (add.), Mike Dean (add.) 4:40
2. "Gorgeous" (featuring Kid Cudi & Raekwon) West, Wilson, Dean, Jones, Che Smith, Corey Woods, Scott Mescudi Kanye West, No I.D., Mike Dean 5:57
3. "Power"   West, Larry Griffin Jr., Dean, Bhasker, Andwele Gardner, Ken Lewis S1, Kanye West, Jeff Bhasker (add.), Mike Dean (add.), Andrew Dawson (add.) 4:52
4. "All of the Lights" (Interlude)     1:02
5. "All of the Lights"   West, Bhasker, Jones, Warren Trotter Kanye West, Jeff Bhasker (co.) 4:59
6. "Monster" (featuring Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj & Bon Iver) West, Shawn Carter, Patrick Reynolds, Dean, William Roberts, Onika Maraj, Justin Vernon, Bhasker Kanye West, Mike Dean (add), Plain Pat (add) 6:18
7. "So Appalled" (featuring Jay-Z, Pusha T, Prynce Cy Hi, Swizz Beatz & The RZA) West, Wilson, Dean, Carter, Terrence Thornton, Cydell Young, Kaseem Dean, Diggs Kanye West, No I.D., Mike Dean (co.) 6:38
8. "Devil in a New Dress" (featuring Rick Ross) West, Roosevelt Harrell, Dean, Roberts, Jones Bink!, Mike Dean (co.) 5:52
9. "Runaway" (featuring Pusha T) West, Emile Haynie, Thornton, Bhasker, Dean, Jones Kanye West, Emile (co.), Jeff Bhasker (co.), Mike Dean (co.) 9:08
10. "Hell of a Life"   West, Mike Caren, Wilson, Dean Kanye West, Mike Caren (co.), No I.D. (co.), Mike Dean (co.) 5:27
11. "Blame Game" (featuring John Legend) West, Justin Franks, Khloe Mitchell, Dean, John Stephens Kanye West, DJ Frank E, Mike Dean (add.) 7:49
12. "Lost in the World" (featuring Bon Iver) West, Bhasker, Vernon Kanye West, Jeff Bhasker (co.) 4:16
13. "Who Will Survive in America"   West, Bhasker, Gil Scott-Heron Kanye West, Jeff Bhasker (co.) 1:38

 • (co.) Co-producer
 • (add.) Additional production

Sample credits
  • "Dark Fantasy" contains samples of "In High Places" by Mike Oldfield.
  • "Gorgeous" contains portions and elements of the composition "You Showed Me", written by Gene Clark and Roger McGuinn.
  • "Power" contains elements from "It's Your Thing" by Cold Grits, contains elements of "Afromerica" by Continent Number 6, and contains material sampled from "21st Century Schizoid Man" performed by King Crimson.
  • "So Appalled" contains samples of "You Are – I Am" by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band.
  • "Devil in a New Dress" contains samples of "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" as performed by Smokey Robinson.
  • "Runaway" contains a sample of "Expo 83" performed by Backyard Heavies, and contains excerpts of from "Rick James ‘Live at Long Beach, CA’ 1981".
  • "Hell of a Life" contains samples of "She’s My Baby" by The Mojo Men, contains samples of "Stud-Spider" by Tony Joe White, and contains portions of "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath.
  • "Blame Game" contains elements of "Avril 14th" by Richard James.
  • "Lost in the World" contains portions of "Soul Makossa", written by Manu Dibango, contains a sample of "Think (About It)" as performed by Lyn Collins, contains samples of "Woods" as performed by Bon Iver, and contains samples of "Comment No. 1" performed by Gil Scott-Heron.
  • "Who Will Survive In America" contains samples of "Comment No. 1" performed by Gil Scott-Heron.

Personnel

Credits for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy adapted from Allmusic.[158]

Musicians

  • Ian Allen – handclapping
  • Tim Anderson – French horn
  • Richard Ashton – French horn
  • Chris "Hitchcock" Chorney – cello, cello arrangement
  • Wilson Christopher – handclapping
  • Rosie Danvers – cello, conductor, orchestration
  • Uri Djemal – handclapping
  • Drake – vocals
  • The-Dream – vocals
  • Dwele – vocals
  • Fergie – vocals
  • Alvin Fields – chant, vocals
  • Simon Finch – trumpet
  • Danny Flam – brass, woodwind
  • Kay Fox – vocals
  • Mark Frost – trombone
  • Andrew Gathercole – trumpet
  • Tony Gorruso – Brass, woodwind
  • Elly Jackson "La Roux" – vocals
  • Elton John – piano, vocals
  • Philip Judge – trombone
  • Salma Kenas – vocals
  • Alicia Keys – vocals
  • Kid Cudi – vocals
  • Ken Lewis – bass, brass, chant, drum programming, engineer, guitar, horn arrangements, organ, vocals, woodwind
  • John Legend – vocals
  • Ryan Leslie – vocals
  • Mike Lovatt – trumpet
  • Nicki Minaj – vocals
  • Khloe Mitchell – poetry
  • Rihanna – vocals
  • Rachel Robson – viola
  • Chris Rock – vocals
  • Amber Rose – vocals
  • Tom Rumsby – French horn
  • Jenny Sacha – violin
  • Kotono Sato – violin
  • Gil Scott-Heron – vocals
  • Chris Soper – handclapping
  • Teyana Taylor – vocals
  • Justin "Bon Iver" Vernon – vocals, background vocals
  • Chloe Vincent – flute
  • Tony Williams – vocals, background vocals
  • Charlie Wilson – vocals

Production

  • Virgil Abloh – art direction
  • Chris Atlas – marketing
  • Jeff Bhasker – additional production, cello arrangement, keyboards, piano, producer
  • Peter Bischoff – assistant, assistant engineer, engineer
  • Al Branch – marketing
  • Leesa D. Brunson – A&R
  • Don C. – A&R
  • Mike Caren – producer
  • Shawn Carter – executive producer
  • Cary Clark – mixing assistant
  • George Condo – artwork, paintings
  • Andrew Dawson – additional production, engineer, mixing
  • Mike Dean – additional production, bass, cello arrangement, engineer, guitar, keyboards, mixing, piano, producer, soloist
  • DJ Frank E – producer
  • Emile – producer
  • Ryan Gilligan – engineer
  • Noah Goldstein – engineer
  • Alex Graupera – assistant
  • Gaylord Holomalia – assistant
  • Phil Joly – assistant, assistant engineer, engineer
  • Terese Joseph – A&R
  • Kyambo "Hip Hop" Joshua – executive producer
  • Doug Joswick – package production
  • JP Robinson – art coordinator
  • Anthony Kilhoffer – drum programming, engineer, mixing
  • Brent Kolatalo – drum programming, engineer, keyboards
  • Erik Madrid – mixing assistant
  • Manny Marroquin – mixing
  • Vlado Meller – mastering
  • Christian Mochizuki – assistant, assistant engineer, engineer
  • Fabien Montique – photography
  • No I.D. – producer
  • Plain Pat – additional production
  • Christian Plata – mixing assistant
  • Antonio "L.A." Reid – executive producer
  • Patrick "Plain Pat" Reynolds – A&R
  • Gee Roberson – executive producer
  • Todd Russell – art coordinator
  • The RZA – producer
  • S1 – producer
  • Tommy D. – producer
  • Marcos Tovar – vocal engineer
  • Tracey Waples – marketing
  • Eric Weissman – sample clearance
  • Kanye West – art direction, executive producer, producer
  • Kristen Yiengst – art coordinator

Charts and certifications

Chart positions

Chart (2010) Peak
position
Australian Albums Chart[108] 6
Australian Urban Albums Chart[159] 2
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[116] 21
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[116] 43
Canadian Albums Chart[104] 1
Czech Republic Albums Chart[160] 30
Danish Albums Chart[112] 4
Dutch Albums Chart[124] 17
European Top 100 Albums[161] 19
Finnish Albums Chart[122] 42
French Albums Chart[120] 28
German Albums Chart[117] 19
Greek Albums Chart[118] 19
Irish Albums Chart[113] 18
Japanese Albums Chart[162] 15
Mexican Albums Chart[121] 87
New Zealand Albums Chart[111] 10
Norwegian Albums Chart[114] 11
Scottish Albums Chart[163] 24
South Korean Albums Chart[164] 2
Spanish Albums Chart[123] 97
Swedish Albums Chart[119] 19
Swiss Albums Chart[115] 10
UK Albums Chart[105] 16
UK Download Chart[165] 3
US Billboard 200[96] 1
US Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums[98] 1
US Billboard Top Rap Albums[99] 1

Certifications

Country Provider Certification
Australia ARIA Platinum[110]
Denmark IFPI Gold[166]
United Kingdom BPI Silver[107]
United States RIAA Platinum[101]

Chart precession and succession

Preceded by
Loud by Rihanna		 Canadian Albums Chart number-one album[104][167]
December 11–18, 2010		 Succeeded by
The Gift by Susan Boyle
Preceded by
The Gift by Susan Boyle		 US Billboard 200 number-one album[96][168]
December 11–18, 2010		 Succeeded by
The Gift by Susan Boyle
Preceded by
Loud by Rihanna		 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums number-one album[169][170]
December 11–25, 2010		 Succeeded by
No Mercy by T.I.
Preceded by
5.0 by Nelly		 US Rap Albums number-one album[171][172]
December 11–25, 2010		 Succeeded by
No Mercy by T.I.

See also

References

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External links

v · d · eKanye West
Discography · Production discography · Awards and nominations
Studio albums
The College Dropout · Late Registration · Graduation · 808s & Heartbreak · My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Collaborations
Watch the Throne (with Jay-Z)
Live albums
Late Orchestration · VH1 Storytellers
Mixtapes
Freshmen Adjustment · Freshmen Adjustment 2 · Freshmen Adjustment 3 · Can't Tell Me Nothing
DVDs
Films
We Were Once a Fairytale · Runaway
Tours
School Spirit Tour (2006) · Touch The Sky Tour (2007) · Glow in the Dark Tour (2008) · Fame Kills: Starring Kanye West and Lady Gaga (2009) · Watch the Throne Tour (2011)
Books
Glow in the Dark
Related articles
Wikipedia book Book  · Category Category  · Portal Portal
v · Power" · "Runaway" · "Monster" · "All of the Lights" · "Lost in the World"
Non-single tracks
"Dark Fantasy" · "Gorgeous" · "So Appalled" · "Devil in a New Dress" · "Hell of a Life" · "Blame Game" · "Who Will Survive in America"
See also
G.O.O.D. Fridays · Runaway · Kanye West
The College Dropout · Late Registration · Graduation · 808s & Heartbreak · Watch the Throne

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