Kanye West
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

In a remote era, Rap and Hip Hop were born. Two music genres centered on fierce protest against social inequalities, racism, the unfair distribution of wealth and money (and, therefore, valid economic opportunities) in the United States population. Hypocrisy and falseness were condemned, and the ethics of the ghetto and ramshackle suburbs were preached. It was the sound of the "black" component of society, the Afro-Americans, the immigrants, those who did not intend to passively tolerate their exclusion from the upper life, or in any case, from that society that preached well and practiced badly.

The rapid spread of "black" music (and thus the entry into the world of the music business of these innovative performers) led to the predictable "commercialization" of the same: from the real sincerity of those who, rapping over pulsating and "dirty" beats, dramatically illustrated the degradation of the ghetto, also using a "bastardized" and slang language, it moved to a less convincing spontaneity of those who, unfortunately, took advantage of the positive trend of Gangsta sounds to stash away some easy money. Today there are a plethora of real and fake rappers, and merely wearing big medallions and/or extra-large T-shirts is enough to be consecrated and praised as a prestigious Hip/Hop - Rap representative.

Kanye West represents one of the more recent and appreciated faces of the Black American world (and beyond). His musical offerings mostly succeed in their intent, which is to achieve respectable sales and positive reviews. Undoubtedly, this artist puts a lot of effort into his work and proposes, unlike others, works that aim to worthily embrace the described sounds without being lost in absurdity, especially if related to club music. He also manages to enrich the Hip-Hop landscape with further sonic elements (electronics, ethnic/tribal music, rock, jazz/lounge) while ensuring they do not distort the essential dominance of the main sound.

Meanwhile, the eccentricity of the artist impresses, particularly when considering some inexplicable attitudes (primarily the dispute - initiated by himself - with Taylor Swift at the MTV Video Music Awards of last year). But even by observing the cover of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy , some perplexity arises: interesting is the artistic expression of his beautiful, dark, and twisted fantasy...

Indeed, the album title suggests in advance the prevailing atmosphere, dark, mysterious, obscure, and perverse, extolling sex, the degradation of the Metropolis, and the contradictions of the White man. Musically speaking, West has endeavored greatly to enrich his usual Hip-Hop with a nice bunch of alternative sounds: the tribal/ethnic music predominates alongside a not particularly chaotic electronic/psychedelia, bursts of melodic rock, and some Jazz/Lounge contamination. It is also noteworthy the widespread use of the vocoder and a large number of collaborations, even more than two features per song.

The first tracks turn out to be more "soft" and "sunny" compared to the remaining ones: the entry-track Dark Fantasy mixes light Hip-Hop surrounded by a pseudo-ethnic inspired gospel choir; Power is based on a rock/tribal background, at times psychedelic, pulsating, and "confusing" yet compelling, All Of The Lights (featuring Rihanna) reprises the tribal/ethnic sounds with heavy percussion and haunting trumpet background.

The darker side, precisely dark, is lost in the second sequence of tracks, all involving famous personalities of "black music", from friend Jay-Z to the debutant but already acclaimed Nicki Minaj, to John Legend. Dirty sounds and disgusted and angry vocal tones represent the soul of Monster, So Appalled, Hell Of A Life (distinguished by heavy electric guitar solos) and Runaway, where Lounge and Chill Out influences also alternate. A mix of distorted acapella vocal tones with auto-tune introduces and subsequently enriches the (almost) concluding Lost In The World, an energetic track where Urban, Hip-Hop, and ethnic-tribal drums wonderfully merge, a mix that gives a vibe similar to the well-known Love Lockdown.

A rich, heterogeneous album, integrating a multitude of inspirations, music genres, and sounds worthy of being validly and coherently mixed. Recommended to all Hip-Hop lovers and "gangsta" sounds fans, however, this proposal can also be extended to anyone looking for something diversified, elaborate, and sophisticated.