My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

"Cause the same people that tried to blackball me Forgot about two things, my Black balls" - from Gorgeous Yeah well I never tried to blackball Ye, and yet here I am, having totally forgotten about his black balls. And I look forward to forgetting them again.

not sure his ego will handle 4 stars

Classic. Sadly, he’s crazy now

One of the modern classics. Kanye at his most self-aware, teetering on the edge of hedonism and trying not to fall into the void. Production is beyond incredible, features are fire, songwriting is incredible. If I had one criticism, its that Chris Rock's little skit goes on a tad long.

I really want to kate Kanye, I always have, and yet hes so fucking good at this stuff. I can hate him and love what he makes, right? This is almost perfect hip hop, as are all his albums, annoyingly. Just lovely stuff, beautifully produced, interesting, varied, entertaining, innovative, fun, it has it all. I'll just pretend it's not Kanye.

My God. After so many Gen X and Boomer nostalgia trips on this list there's FINALLY another Millennial one. It's been a while. As someone who personally dislikes Kanye West because I'm NOT a misogynistic psychopath, this is a great fucking album. don't get me started on all the pop culture drama (I was Team Taylor before it was cool, let's leave it at that), but in my opinion this was the last actually good album Kanye West put out there. And man, it made me realize how much I miss Kanye West making good music. Are there flaws in this album? Absolutely. The lyrics at times are inconsistent and clunky, there are like 14 writers on multiple songs, and at certain points West's fragile ego shatters the enjoyment of particular tracks. It's funny until it just becomes grating--the south Park Fish Dicks call-out was hilarious because holy shit you sensitive Trump voting snowflake, don't be so precious. But by the time he's bitching about a beef with SNL it's not funny anymore. But. BUT...the production here is incredible. The guest appearances are incredible. West HIMSELF admitted that Nicki Minaj had the best verse in Monster. Holy shit. Consider the source. And it's truly an album of powerhouse appearances: Jay Z with his signature gift for poetic inflection, Rick Ross with killer timbre and flow, even Kid Cudi with his trademark shredding backing tracks. And I say that as someone who fucking hates Kid Cudi as an artist and person (he's an abuser, Google it). John Legend was also there. Sorry, John, you got a little overshadowed. Besides being an album that I reluctantly love, MBDTF gets a strong five stars from me because POWER/All of the Lights/Monster is one of the best track sequences ever recorded. Pure audio perfection. And no track here is BAD, all are totally worth listening to more than once. I probably will. All of that said, I'm holding my nose to give this five stars. Fuck you, Kanye, for making such a good album before becoming a has-been. Fuck you for relentlessly, intentionally trying to destroy the career of a woman who has more songwriting talent in one finger than you do in your whole body. But look who has the last laugh. The culture hates you now and it's LONG overdue. Anyway, excellent album, garbage person. Would listen again, would rant again.

Fuck Kanye.

Here's another artist where I break from the pack. I do not like Kanye on the whole. I think he's an extremely overrated, egotistical, pampered artist that's been told he's a genius so long that he thinks he's a god. And all of that comes across in his work. His rhymes are decent (if self-indulgent) and his delivery has that lazy "I'ma get to it when I get to it" cadence which isn't my favorite. The production is, of course, off the charts good because it's a Kanye record. It's telling that the best moments on this record are the ones where the guest artists bring heat. The production really IS phenominal, though. And, when I stop and listen to THAT instead of trying to evaluate this record on Ye's bars (like I would any other rap artist), I like this album a lot more. I just can't with these lyrics though. So much shit. Giving it three stars because the production is huge.

Don’t believe the hype. Disappointed. Heard this was a modern classic, a piece of genius that has influence so many. Pretty average and garbage in places. Won’t be listening again. An embarrassment to hip hop

Kanye West is one of the most overhyped artists of the last 20 years. All the media celebrity paparazzi shit aside, he's just another average post-cool era (mid 80s-96 or so) rapper whose albums have that "rap goes stadium rock" feel and run too long, but for some reason we're throwing his name around like he deserves a place in rock history next to Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. "This is the NEW VIRTUOSITY, does that scare you?" hahaha no, but pls your ideology is showing. Anyway, Kanye's flow constantly falls short (like a lazy feel?), and it becomes really grating. The bits where he tried to actually sing were laughably bad. There were too many slower introspective numbers about whatever is keeping him down blah blah blah. The upbeat songs were mostly the same but with an angry bent. There's fuck all substance here - it tries so sell itself as "smart but from the streets" but nahhhh, it just sounds like high school poetry slam crap. On the plus side, the production is really good. If this was half the length and pretty much only All of the Lights, Monster and a couple of other upbeat songs I could give it a 3, but as it is it's going in the bin. 2/5.

This is a classic album that becomes more fun to listen to the more times you hear it. From coked-out RZA on one of the strangest posse cuts ever to "Yeezy reupholstered my pussy" to a four-minute vocoder solo, MBDTF is a hip-hop tour de force. The quirks and bumps along the way only serve to further the image of a beautiful and twisted modern fantasy, and it's not likely that we will ever get an album that sounds and feels like this again.

Kanye is a great producer and a terrible MC.

What else can be said about it?

In hindsight, probably Kanye's peak despite how good Yeezus and Life of Pablo were in parts.

A Hip Hop album that has imagination, heart, great samples and 13 tracks its impossible not to appreciate. Every drum beat, every chord meticulously crafted by an absolute fucking mentalist. This is how you do it lads. Genre spanning wizardry. Highlights- the whole fucking thing. 5/5

The best parts of this album are the artists Kanye invites on or lifts entire melodies from, with his own contributions bordering on cringeworthy (saw the 'black balls' line coming from a mile away, and not in a good way). Even the production can't save this one, the track lengths are way too gratuitous and often wear surprisingly minimal ideas down pretty quick. Hard to believe this is the LP that preceded the similarly tongue-in-cheek but way more hard-hitting and tighter 'Yeezus' that would follow three years later.

No one man should have all that power

-Monster is my absolute favorite so far on this album, although All of the Lights and POWER are of course powerhouse breakouts -All of the Lights Interlude is so tender and beautiful--I've never heard it before and now I want it playing as the background to my life - Lost In The Woods is also fantastic

Kanye and Coldplay I'll defend them both to death - possibly the most caucasian statement ever made but I stand by it. Yeezy is a genius. So many great moments - All of the Lights, Rick Ross' verse on Devil in a New Dress, every Pusha T verse, Chris Rock's skit at the end of Blame Game, Bon Ivor all over Lost in the World. Hell of a Life is my highlight though. YEEZY TAUGHT ME.

Out of all the people in the entire world, I believe Kanye West is one of the hardest people to take serious (on non-music topics). And not being a rap fan in general, this is the first time I ever consciously heard his music. But damn, this is actually really good, interesting and musically varied. The one big downside being any time West tries to do anything melodious with his voice. That sounds pretty bad and he should definitely stop doing that. Still, this is definitely the best rap album I've ever heard - which would put it at a 4 for me in terms of enjoyment. But I'll give it a 5 instead to show my appreciation for broadening my mind to what rap can sound like and how good it can be.

If you accept that an inflated sense of self-importance is a prerequisite for any rap/rock/pop/whatever star, then Kanye ultimately proved himself to be a decent bloke on his first two masterpieces through the generosity of his musical genius and his literary-comedic ability to conceptualise. That makes this—his third masterpiece—the odd one out. Despite the attempts of ‘Power’ or ‘Monster’, there’s nothing here to rival the social commentary of ‘We Don’t Care’, ‘All Falls Down’, ‘Heard ‘Em Say’ or ‘Gold Digger’. What you get instead is monstrously inward looking, an artist on the brink of being overrun by a megalomania previously under his control. To make up for the absence of brilliant storytelling—much harder to do when you’re mostly just bragging—he ups his rap game, throwing his name into the hat with legends (Raekwon) and legends-in-the making (Minaj). His lyrics are frequently brilliant: "And what's a Black Beatle anyway, a fuckin' roach? / I guess that's why they got me sitting in fuckin' coach”, “They say I was the abomination of Obama's nation / Well, that's a pretty bad way to start the conversation”, “Runaway slaves all on a chain gang / Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.” But however hard he works, he’ll never have a top-tier flow. And so, as ever, his saving grace is the music, which is a jaw-dropping and gag-worthy display of opulence—astonishing and appalling in equal measure. That internal tension is precisely the point. Kanye’s main theme has always been self-consciousness. In essence, that means calling out his own bullshit, and boy does he have a lot of it. He can’t resist decadence, but is repulsed by it. ‘Runaway’, for instance, is unutterably gorgeous despite overrunning by about five minutes, with Kanye plonking away at the same two piano keys and mumbling incomprehensibly through autotune. The Roald Dahl intro, Gil-Scott Heron outro, false finish to ‘Dark Fantasy’, Chris Rock diatribe on ‘Blame Game’—all excessive, yet all essential. But however many times he changes direction as he makes a break for paradise, then double-back and heads for damnation, he can’t escape those pounding drums. They’re soul-stirring and shit-scary. Way before the final track, where the African rhythms come to the foreground, they sound like they’re coming from the depths of the jungle. Bloody, visceral, and irrepressible, he can't outrun them. They're the beating of his heart of darkness.

This album is like a perfect encapsulation of what an unfortunate mess of an artist and person Kanye is. I listened to "College Dropout" and "Late Registration" back in the day, but I don't think I listened to any Kanye after that except for the hits and singles. And now its been so long that I wonder if those early albums are as deeply flawed or if his mental health brought both his personal life and his professional work down dramatically. Because unlike hellyeah, I do think there are flashes of brilliance on "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy." But the brilliance is absent from some songs, and when it is most brilliant it manages to squander said genius on the same track. "POWER" and "All of the Lights" have great foundations and hooks with the makings of all-time greats, but the execution just isn't there all the way through, with Kanye getting in his own way and messing up a good thing. Some of the other songs are just obnoxious from the outset, or overly long, or combination of the two. The album really seems just as bipolar as the man himself. And then I wondered if maybe that was the concept and it was all very intentional? But it turns out Kanye said "Dark Fantasy was my long, backhanded apology. You know how people give a backhanded compliment? It was a backhanded apology. It was like, all these raps, all these sonic acrobatics. I was like: 'Let me show you guys what I can do, and please accept me back. You want to have me on your shelves.'" An apology for being a jerk? An apology for veering away from his earlier sound on "808s?" Doesn't matter. I definitely didn't feel apologized to while listening. And an apology should maybe tone down the ego a bit? I know rap music is almost always going to have ego as an integral element, but the egomania was running wild from Kanye here. And as the "Yeezy taught me" segment with Chris Rock droned on and on, I was done. I wanted to give it 3 stars for a while to honor the brilliance that kept being squandered, but in the end I just can't.

I really want to kate Kanye, I always have, and yet hes so fucking good at this stuff. I can hate him and love what he makes, right? This is almost perfect hip hop, as are all his albums, annoyingly. Just lovely stuff, beautifully produced, interesting, varied, entertaining, innovative, fun, it has it all. I'll just pretend it's not Kanye.

Peak Kanye. Definitely miss the production and style of early 2010's Kanye.

Remember when Kanye was good?

Peeved I missed the reveal on this one! (Was stalled pouring over the classic Halo 3 soundtrack.) Re-listening for the generator: MBDTF is an absolute joy to listen to. Kanye and the boys, both on the tracks and in the all-star production team assembled in Hawaii for this masterpiece, are firing on all cylinders for 75 minutes. - The SNL line ages better and better as SNL gets less and less funny. - MJ GONE - All of the Lights bridge is an all-timer - Invariably think of the sarcophagus line whenever the word comes up - So Appalled always has me cruising around NY with the boys in slow motion, looking disdainfully at people and throwing money at shit - The day that you play me, would be the same day MTV play videos (another excellently aging line) - Moral victories is for minor league coaches, indeed Jay - Cyhi's "She found about April so she chose to march" section is in my personal pantheon of bars - Looking at my wrist, it turn your ass to stone - Runaway chorus put an excellent soundtrack to my state of mind dropping out of college back in 2014-15. Listened to it and MBDTF in general a lot back then. A decade of semi-conscious resentful alienation finally bubbled to the surface seeing how infuriatingly, heartbreakingly effortless normality and functionality were to my peers. A toast to the douchebags! - The goofy Chris Rock skit at the end of Blame Game grows on me as the years go by. - Lost In the World is one of the greatest closers ever, bar none, but its uplifting perfectly sets up the second phase of our close... - Endlessly fascinated with the compelling closer Who Will Survive In America. Beautifully ominous, Kanye, using the fiery poetry of Gil Scott-Heron, lobs a slow-fuse black bomb as the concluding statement of the album: a quick'n'dirty recap of the besieging of black America - bombs America has constructed and armed that are beginning to detonate again. What a profound accomplishment of an album. Take away all the great records he's made and Kanye would still be an American hero for the incident that led to the creation of MBDTF: interrupting Taylor Swift on stage accepting best music video award or whatever. Every song is single-worthy, and every song should be blared through the speakers. What's a black Beatle worth? A perfect score. 10/10

Taler for sig selv

4.5 some luster is gone from when it was released but still great

Never listened to a Kanye album all the way through, I get the hype more

It’s a classic!

Bop after bop after bop

The feature video that goes with the album is a must watch if you listen to this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg5wkZ-dJXA

Wow

Straight fire

This is one of the greatest albums of all time.

The best album of all time!

Like an 8 pack of Walls - stuffed full of bangerz

A modern-day masterpiece. An ambitious piece of “prog-rap” that is nearly unequaled to this day. STANDOUTS: -Dark Fantasy -POWER -All of the Lights -Monster -So Appalled -Devil in a New Dress -Runaway -Hell of a Life -Lost in the World

5.0 + As close to perfect as any album gets.

I had every reason to not like this album. Rap and hip-hop, while I've enjoyed most of what I've heard (and even gave Biggie's debut 5 stars), a lot of it hasn't resonated with me or left me floored. This, combined with the fact that Kanye West has proven himself to be a colossal idiot in almost everything but making music, has put on full display his mental instability, and has spouted hateful, Anti-semitic language and aligned himself with a now former president who has spewed some equally condemnable rhetoric and you have an artist who, despite the quality of his art, is incredibly easy to dislike. This review will assess the art, not the artist, and I have tried to put my personal feelings about Kanye aside here for the sake of the integrity of this project. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This album completely blew me away. I mean my god. The sheer amount of creative energy that just bursts at this album's seams. The lyrics alone require an immense amount of dissection. West moves through this album at the height of his powers, delivering his messages with a personal urgency, at times, that adds to the power of this album. "Power" in particular stands out as a masterpiece in production and writing, and if I had to guess serves as the album's thesis. Bringing together sample after sample and combining them to make something both incredibly personal and yet wide-reaching and relatable. The collaborators he brings in for this project were also excellently chosen and utilized. Jay-Z, Niki Minaj, Pusha T, and apparently Bon Iver, to name just a few. They all bring something more this album that it needed to be great. Now for some things to criticize here. For one, I don't understand the tone of the outro to "Blame Game." It really seems like the Chris Rock cameo is supposed to be funny. But the tone of the rest of the song is sad, depressing at times, and the juxtaposition doesn't work for me. I don't know what it was supposed to do but it falls flat completely. Like it was included because they knew they could get Chris Rock and needed something for him to do. I also do find some of the lyrics to be misogynistic in nature, which while I know that can be par for the course in hip hop and always has been, I just can't really get behind or relate to. Lastly, his ego just cannot help but take its place at the forefront of this album. It's in your face and obnoxious and becomes tiresome at times. And that's annoying and a little sad. He's great and knows it, he just can't be humble about it ever, at all. This album is undeniable. It's a masterpiece. It's a creative force. It's an achievement. I don't know what else to say. Five stars. Somewhat regrettably. But you can't deny the art. Standout tracks: Dark Fantasy, Power, All of the Lights, Monster, Runaway, Lost in the World

Boring

I dont get the hype. Lotta flash, no substance.

Not really into hip hop so it takes something special. And a..this wasn't it.

Kanye is ass.

Good production bad lyrics

Höre keine Musik von Trump Supportern

poo

Taylor Swift is the music industry

Sorry, not listening to this guy and would rip the page from the book if it didn't have someone actually deserving on the other side of the page.

0/10 shit album by a shit person. Best part was turning this crap off.

I do not support nazi sympathizers.

Hace un par de meses me dieron ganas de escuchar este disco de nueva cuenta después de varios años y lo escuche durante una semana completa. Ahora, en 24 horas lo he escuchado 5 veces completo. Kanye West es un genio musical, un genio musical con demasiados problemas mentales y que con el pasar de los años ha bajado tanto en calidad e interés artístico como en cordura; pero la cantidad de genio y talento que tiene no se puede negar y en este disco en particular está en su mayor momento. Todo el disco es musicalmente irrepetible, tiene una producción estúpidamente pulida y creativa. Las letras siento nunca han sido su fuerte pero incluso aquí hay atisbos muy interesantes tanto de su personalidad, lo que siente de la fama y, con retrospectiva de 20/20, una mirada a lo que en un futuro terminaría en cosas tan tristes como episodios psicóticos de paranoia a medio concierto. Un disco que mezcla invitados desde Jay Z hasta Elton John pasando por un skit de Chris Rock, con mezclas que incluyen pop de sonido africano, King Crimson, Black Sabbath y Aphex Twins. Es la mejor muestra de lo que era capaz de lograr cuando lograba canalizar sus obsesiones a algo productivo. Canciones como Power o Monster son básicamente perfectas y espesas en todas sus capas tan cuidadas. El único traspié, a mi gusto, es la letra de Blame Game, porque la verdad... hueva tu canción dirigida a tu ex con referencias que solo tu entiendes; pero incluso en ese caso musicalmente no tengo queja alguna, es especialmente oscura y meticulosa en su sonido. Es triste la persona en la que se ha convertido con el tiempo pero nadie puede negar que dentro de el siempre ha habido un artista con todas sus letras.

This was peak Kanye before he started his downward spiral. Killer hooks, samples, features. Feels like the best of this era of mainstream rap. Loved it when it came out, and it's still amazing the whole way through.

Obviously delicious

I love this album. Only weak links are Gorgeous and So Appalled. These aren’t bad tracks, but the rest of the album is so good that when these songs come on a bit of energy leaves the room.

amazing album. I got a leak before it came out and really prefer the rougher version to what he ultimately went with. Still a killer album with no duds.

I've listened to this album a few dozen times and love a lot of it. Power and Monster are incredible tracks

classic

Power" Released: July 1, 2010 "Runaway" Released: October 4, 2010 "Monster" Released: October 23, 2010 "All of the Lights" Released: January 18, 2011

Truly Visionary Work. This score would be deserved if only for Runaway, the rest is icing. And yeah, I know. Kanye is an ass. IDGAF.

undeniable 5 stars

Gotta be a 5 from me. This was my first time listening to it with nice headphones and it was crazy

Great album. Like someone else said, it is other other features and influences that make this album so great. Not sure if that just speaks to Kayne's ability as a producer or use his clout to get big names and upcoming stars on his record (or if they use his clout for their gain)

Obviously 5 stars. This is more than an album, this is one of the greatest experiences in life.

Awesome! One of the best rapalbums I ever heared. His reference to seventies prog in the songs shows that he looks further than his own genre. For me already a classic!

Briljante plaat met een geweldige mix aan stijlen; niet naar de teksten luisteren of aan die mafkees die het maakt denken, dan is het echt cool!

Amazing

Meisterwerk

potentially up there with the best albums released in any genre, period. MBDTF is a story of "bests" - every song and moment on the album feels like that kind of song/sound/music perfected. Dark Fantasy - arguably the best rap intro track of all time Gorgeous - Kanye's best verses of his career Power/All of the Lights - Two of the best rap songs ever released Devil in a New Dress - Best Rick Ross verse, best guitar solo in a rap song Monster - Best ever Nicki Minaj Verse Runaway - Best Kanye Song of all time 10/10

Back in 2010 one of the rare times I listened to a major album the day it was released, first to last track, no breaks, with friends, and it blew me away. Maximum ego. Maximum production. Huge hits. Exciting features (esp Minaj). Engrossing from start to finish. Self indulgant, funny, angry, exhausted, obsessed, juiced up Kanye. Over the top in the best ways. Perfect album. A+

Va más allá de lo pop. Son canciones de gran duración que no se hacen largas, que dan mil vueltas y homenajean con certeza a la vez que afirma la verdad y visión del señor West. Mi versión favorita de Kanye.

Almost forgot how amazing this album is, despite what Kanye has become. Falls into the concept album category I love so much. Transcends a category.

IMO this is a genuine modern masterpiece. Gets better everytime I listen to it, matures like a fine wine. Oozes with creativity, uniqueness, influence, soul and is chocked full of bangers and the most amazing set of featured artists (eg. All of the Lights). If this isn't a 5* album then nothing that we get from the 2010s should be.

Da hab ich ja was verpasst. Hab geschwankt zwischen 4 und 5. Ich bin kritisch, was Hip-Hop angeht, nichmehr bei so Ami Kram, der sich sehr ernst nimmt. Aber das hier ist irgendwie ein Gesamtkunstwerk, hier mag ich sogar Autotune (ohne Chair) und Rihanna. Geiles Album!

This album really is incredible start to finish. Kanye is at his best but honestly it's the featured artists and production that take this to the next level.

Good intro, "Runaway", "Devil In A New Dress", "Dark Fantasy", different sounds, great features, well-known bangers("All of the lights", "POWER"), 10/10

Easily my favorite Ye album (unless this list makes me rethink some others). Monster and So Appalled are BANGERS

10/10

Peak Kanye. Unfortunately it's all downhill from here (Yeezus is still good though)

I can go on and on about this album. It's great. It really is. I have heard this one before so I was prepared for another listen. Kanye West's somewhat magnum opus, and as I do enjoy stuff like TCD more, you have to admit that this is Kanye's most important album... not his best, but his most important in what its done. This somewhat mix of Graduation & 808s (especially present in songs likr Runaway or Lost In The World) is grand. Kanye takes on issues in songs likr Goregous, talking about how everyone views him as a black man and just as himself. Especially after the taylor swift drama. He brings on Cudi for a great hook and Raekwon for the last, killer verse. This album is also all sorts of bragadocious. In Monster & So Appalled, two very different posse cuts each verse is filled to the brim with less introspectivity and more lines about themselves, in a good light. And god some guest verses are just unforgettable. Pusha's in Runaway, CyHi in So Apalled, and even Rick Ross in Devil In A New Dress. What seems to be this soulful, personal song Kanye builds up is enlightened by this guitar solo followed by a killer Rick Ross verse. And also, Runaway. Runaway is up there in some of my favorite songs of all time. Kanye brings an emotional topic of basically "everyone should runaway from me, i suck" to simplify it. Some of Kanye's vocals are stellar and even the autotune at the end of this behemoth of a track, god. Even songs i highly disliked have grown on me. Hell Of A Life is a song i can appreciate for its lengths it goes to, and hey All Of The Lights is just a banger. One song i really can't see much in the light of is Blame Game. I love John Legend but his hook is just so lame. Kanye's storytelling is great but, i dom't know. The lyricism just kinda falls flat, especially with that long Chris Rock skit at the end kind of destroying that build up at the end. I still love the beat, its one of the best one of the albums, but god i just can't vibe with the lyricism and vocal effects. Overall a good song but not one of my favorites. Finally, Lost In The World. We're all expecting it. A big, final, closer to this record. A finale. But then we're greeted with autotuned Justin Vernon. As it builds up, all we can do is wait. The instrumental kicks in and there it is. The rest of the song definitely kicks off this great album to an end. 9/10 (As of July 8th, 2021) Best Tracks: Dark Fantasy, Goregous, POWER, All Of The Lights Interlude, All Of The Lights, Monster, So Appalled, Devil In A New Dress, Runaway, Hell Of A Life, Lost In The World, Who Will Survive In America Worst Track: Blame Game

Just a few albums ago, we got Kendrick's To Pimp a Butterfly, arguably the greatest hip hop album ever made. Why is it arguable? Because this album also exists. Sure enough, when I was tweeting about how great TPAB is, people ask if it's better than MBDTF. On that day? My answer was TPAB, but it's always a matter of recency bias. There are a handful of albums from the last decade (this one, TPAB, Yeezus, Channel Orange [which we also got recently!] and Blonde) that I hold in my highest regard, and it seems that whenever I listen to one of the five I'm convinced it's better than one or more of the others. Then I listen to another and they shuffle again. Back in the Target days, I would work backroom and could listen to music on my headphones while I worked. I had a tradition where, in the last hour of my work day, I would shift from whatever playlist I was listening to to a victory lap album. This was a frequent choice. It's almost exactly an hour long, and it's an intricate tapestry. Every track is cinematic; the strings throughout get that point across very well. Features are jam-packed, with some of the greatest names in hip hop. And damn, you know an album's good when Jay-Z is featured multiple times and his verses are some of the WORST on the project. Everyone (else) brought their A-game to this one. Unsurprising, given the lore: this album was recorded in Hawaii in a sort of retreat setting. Supposedly, artists were required to wear suits to the studio. Maybe I'm misremembering that, but it wouldn't shock me from Kanye. Kanye has become a real piece of work recently, and not in an artistic sense. He's spiraled into this bizarre realm of right-wing conspiracies and antisemitism that's disappointing at best. One of my favorite artists of all time, and I've been unable to listen to him lately, not because I'm not supposed to but because his voice just reminds me how awful he decided to become. This album's interesting, because it followed what I'm sure some of the world thought would be his biggest controversy we'd have to weather: interrupting notable white woman Taylor Swift during an award speech. The world at large and industry hated him, so he retreated to a (luxurious) island and emerged with this, one of the most impressive and bombastic concept albums of this century, if not ever. Plenty of people debate whether he could (or must) do that again to save himself this time, but I just don't think it can be done. Instead, hearing this today and knowing where he's put himself now, it feels appropriate. This is and was his "comeback" album from controversy, today as it was 13 years ago. His music has already become pervaded by his weirdo politics, so he can't do this again. But hearing MBDTF reminds you why we tolerated the madman in the first place. As for the music itself, it's phenomenal. Endless quotables, stunning and extravagant production, and a strong concept of a man struggling with his fame and the temptations surrounding him. What do you give the man who has it all? As of this year, apparently not a dreidel. This album was made by a mad scientist of a man, who years later became a Nazi sympathizer. Incredibly unfortunate and embarrassing for him, but if that's the road he chooses, we can find comfort in his old stuff and not engage with the man today. "I Miss the Old Kanye" has never been more relevant. Favorite tracks: All of 'em, but "Devil in a New Dress" is always my favorite. Album art: This one's fun because, first of all, the centered image that's blurred is an abstract painting of a naked angel straddling Kanye or his character that this album presents. But the artist made a number of different art pieces, and the vinyl release of this album came with prints that you could slot in and out to change your cover. I have mine set to my favorite, which is the image of Kanye's head impaled by a sword. He used that as his twitter avatar for many years, and it's striking. The bold red border is great too. Such a perfect, opulent cover art. 5/5

If we’re separating the art from the artist, this feels like an easy 5 stars. It’s definitely long, but it doesn’t feel long. This has always been my favorite Kanye album, but it also is the one I have spent the most time with. I anticipate seeing some of his earlier work on this list, so we’ll see if this remains the favorite.

I wish listening to MBDTF didn’t financially contribute to Ye with all the bullshit he spews on the daily, even if it is just fractions of a cent on streaming. Because this album really is amazing. Power and All Of The Lights will forever be unreal bangers. Runaway will still manage to make me cry 10 years from now. Lost in the World is beautiful, powerful and soulful. Ye and his collaborators (except maybe Jay-Z) did an excelllent job portraying the lows that they still face at the top of the world. The isolation, the lack of loyalty, the ridiculous expectations. The production is obviously stellar as well. If you can put aside your reservations about Kanye West the man, you’ll find that Kanye West the artist’s greatest work is one of the best albums of the 21st century.

I loved this album when it came out, and I still love it. It goes without saying that Kanye is a controversial figure. But this album is an all-timer, and the first six tracks might be the most re-playable album leadoff in history. I was surprised at how the production sounded tinnier than I remember (not sure if that was lower fidelity streaming, or maybe it's just like rewatching a classic movie after years of HDR). This album is great, and as they say, I miss the old Kanye.

I will just always love this album. From start to finish a gambit of the fullest extents of kanye’s mind and emotion. Heartfelt, powerful, masterful production and killer verses. Its a masterpiece

I knew this divisive one was coming. I listened to it thinking of how Kanye was at the time, not perfect but with more substantive and impactful things to say. Honestly, the sequencing of this album is phenomenal. Dark fantasy is one of the best opening tracks that comes to mind, and Lost in the World into Who Will Survive in America are a near-perfect pair of closing tracks. Every other song on the album is distinct and unique, with almost all being standouts. My biggest complaint with this album is that almost all of the tracks are 1-3 mins longer than they need to be. If the extra bloat was removed this album would be near perfect. That is except for the song "So Appalled", which is an incredibly boring and unnecessary track. All things considered, this is a strong album and deserving of a very positive score. 4.5/5 -> 5/5.

i think objectively this is the best kanye west album. it’s not my personal favorite(shoutout TLOP) but i can’t deny how spectacular this album is. this is the album where kanye perfects the formula of bringing in a bunch of people to form more of a collaborative voice instead of just kanye. an endlessly iconic album too, it’s not close to perfect at all there’s at least one flaw or critique with each track, yet the amount of show stopping and iconic moments within each track makes up for it. every single person involved in this album(even chris rock!!) brings their A-game. the most kanye kanye west album and it’s the best because of it. 5/5

I hate Kanye West, he's awesome.

Stephen Railton, one of the world’s foremost Faulkner scholars, asked me one day, as we were talking about some of the Faulkner speeches I spent the previous five hours digitizing as part of the archival research I was doing for him my fourth year at UVa, “Do you have to be as fucked up as he was to make the kind of art that he did?” My 21-year-old self twisted that question into a kind of advice or excuse for the headlong self-destruction I pursued over the ensuing decade, but it still rings in my head today as an open question. And no one epitomizes it more fully than Ye. This album is insanely brilliant, and it’s a sad swing of the pendulum but today I really do feel like maybe you don’t need to be insane to be brilliant, but if you are, you’ll be just that much more brilliant. Maybe the next album will swing my mind again!

Rating: 10/10 My favorite hip-hop album of all time and one of the greatest albums of all time. Everything about this album is superb: the production, rapping, lyrics, and features are all incredible. This might be the best produced hip-hop album of all time and the production continues to be mind-blowing every single listen. Kanye is rapping mostly about his fame and fortune but does so in a creative way. The features are the best I have ever heard on any hip-hop album, everyone is absolutely fantastic. A timeless classic.

The perfect summation of Kanye West's career to this point. It really sucks that it all goes wildly downhill from here

Hip hop is my lowest rated genre, but holy smokes this is great! More progressive rap please — and some mental health care for Kanye, while you're at it.

Whilst some of his opinions and world views are a little..... Unorthodox, this for me is one of the greatest albums ever made. The production is insane, the storytelling and imagery he creates with his wordplay is sublime. The album dips a little in the middle after monster but recovers from runway onwards...(Except that "Yeezy taught me" nonsense). Just an incredible album.

Ridiculously good album. Kanye is king of the assholes, but the album rules.

I didn’t want to rate this a 5 going into it because I don’t think this is the best album we’ve had and, if I rated it a 5, it would surely steal that spot. However, I’ve been swayed. This thing is awesome. Combining the fast beat and rap vocals with really dramatic backing vocals and other instruments worked really well. Runaway is a classic as well obviously

Kayne’s masterpiece, the one album I can forgive how much of a dickhead he is and just enjoy. I honestly believe this is Hip Hop’s equivalent of Dark Side of the Moon, just a shame Kayne is a bigger twat than Roger Waters.

Picked this up on the strength of "Runaway" and a Pitchfork 10/10 (hey, it was the Obama days). Overcome by a braggadocious wall of noise, I didn't give it a second listen. But today, with hindsight: wow, this is absolutely *too much* in just the right way, and I finally understand why pre-Nazi Kanye was so highly feted. Incredible production, witty and funny lyrics (if frequently reflecting obvious insecurities), populated by a wealth of talent all throwing high quality shit at the wall. Only low point is the piss-weak warbling of Justin Vernon (dreading "For Emma..." if it shows up here). Strongest parts have their roots deep in prog (goddam, "Dark Fantasy": where did he hear the original?!), potentially inspiring me to dig into the Gentle Giant back catalog and make my fortune. Watch this space.. I really didn't want to give this top marks, but I've been impulsively listening to it all weekend, and even sat through some of the rest of his output (Yeezus is the closest, the earlier stuff is awful). Uneasy 5*

“Ain’t no question if I want it, I need it” and by “it” I mean the old Kanye

Kanye West: 👎 My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy: 👍👍

Some brilliance from Kanye West, back before he was a full-on nut job. Just a semi nut job.