It's long been common knowledge that Kanye West is part genius, part raving loon. With the release of his fifth studio album the balance has shifted toward the former as musically 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy' is near perfect, yet the rapper's egomaniacal eccentricities are more tangible than ever.
With possibly the most impressive list of guest collaborators ever, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is nothing if not epic. Though obviously still making broad use of sampling, rather than simply ripping a major riff or chorus line as many artists do, Kanye interweaves contrasting excerpts, filling them out with extra vocal and instrumental layers until they're barely recognisable. Marrying the beautifully sombre piano of Aphex Twin's 'Avril 14' with John Legend's soulful vocal creates one of this record's few tender moments on 'Blame Game', while Kanye utterly transforms Bon Iver's 'The Woods' with primal rhythms and deep buzzing bass for 'Lost In The World'.
True, Rihanna's vocal shines, but it's not its impressive cast list (Fergie, Elton John, John Legend, La Roux's Ellie Jackson, Alicia Keys, Charlie Wilson and Kid Cudi among others) that makes 'All Of The Lights' not only this album's pièce de resistance but the most exhilarating five minutes you'll hear all year. Rather, its bulldozing beats, brazen brass and many textured vocals get into the blood, at once spewing angst, hostilty and narcissism, but most importantly a club-friendly vibe and penetrating melody. Though her dodgy British accent mars opener 'Dark Fantasy' Nicki Minaj owns 'Monster', stealing the limelight not only from Kanye, but also Jay-Z and Rick Ross, to prove just why she's one of the hottest names in hip hop this year.
Though he spends most of his time aggressively relegating woman to positions as sex objects and gold-diggers (cue regular hip hop related rant), Kanye's lyricism occasionally reveal his more human side, in particular the telling 'Runaway' line "I don't know what it is with females, but I'm not too good at that sh*t". On the one hand, West's unyielding insistence on offending at every turn is part of what makes him morbidly fascinating, yet far from uncovering any kind of revelatory truth (as the all-knowing tone might have you believe), the incessant expletive-ridden high-and-mighty tirades often leaves you screaming for him to cut the bulls**t, even when it comes via the mouths of Chris Rock and Gil Scott-Heron.
Yet crucially, at his most outrageous, Kanye has crafted an album that constantly leaves you guessing what on earth will happen next.
