The opinion around Kanye West has never been unanimous. The number of people who love him is equal to the number of people who despise him for one reason or another. Kanye’s personality as a celebrity has often been under scrutiny for his controversial opinions, misled political aspirations, or candid rants as a form of self-expression.
However, one thing that remains uncontested is his identity as a musician. Everyone in the music industry respects Kanye and the manifestation of his genius through his music. His biggest and brightest album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, is the best of the best. Here’s why this album stands above all of his seminal work.
Rich emotional background
One of the reasons behind what makes MBDTF so good, is its deep emotional connection to Kanye’s life and mental state during its composition. Kanye had received hate from all sides after he tried to upstage Taylor Swift at the VMAs, and it led the artist to run away from the public light, and allowed him to be alone with his own thoughts.
As Kanye admits, he worked on this album as if his entire life and career depended on its success. He was going through a hard time, and he was coming from the high of 3 successful albums where the last one explored themes of self-belief and family. He fell from that pedestal to the very ground, and MBDTF, as an album, explores the inside of Kanye’s memories, fears, regrets, and insecurities better than any other work.
Unfathomable influence
When we talk about My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’s influence, we cannot forget its impact on Kanye’s professional life. Its success and widespread critical acclaim turned heads, and even his haters started to develop a soft spot for him, because the songs were so catchy that they had no other choice but to revere them.
Secondly, it is the most influential rap album of the 21st century, and one of the best music albums of all time. Its production paved the way for artists like Travis Scott, Juice WRLD, and many more. As a matter of fact, most of these artists talk about Kanye’s influence and admit that he’s redefined the entire genre of rap more than anyone else.
It stands the test of time
The timelessness of his production, in itself, is yet another testament to the album’s brilliance. Be it the music or the lyrics, all of them stay relevant, fresh, and do not feel overdone. Many old albums feel overdone because a lot of succeeding music tries to copy it, and eventually bores down on the original work.
However, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’s sound signature and lyrical depth are so unique that nobody has even tried to reproduce or copy it. A lot of today’s rap musicians hope to do today what Kanye perfected 10 years ago with this album. Its lyrics go into detail about themes of religion, attachment, and loss in such a beautiful way that musicians realized that showing their softer side and pouring their true selves into their art, is the only way to connect to their respective listeners.
