Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Egomaniac Kanye West has made a career out of thinking outside the box.
He shot to fame as a self-styled, college-educated hip-hop artist, subverting the prevailing trend of biatches and bling, then abandoned his own innovative rap ’n’ sample ’n’ paste shtick for a stint of singing and synth-pop on the 808s & Heartbreak.
And there’s no sign that Kanye is out of ideas just yet. This veritable ‘hip-hopera’ mashes rap and rock while drawing on a dizzying array of samples and guest artists.
There are some truly inspired moments. Monster and So Appalled reunite Kanye with his old collaborator Jay-Z but his best songs delve deep into his own male angst or lament the dire state of postmodern love on the sad, spiky Runaway and the dirty fuzz-ridden Hell Of A Life. One hell of an album.
4/5
– Alison Grinter
