A Good Review I Read
Lots of people have been asking for intelligent reasons why this album is so good. I think this is one of the biggest pitfalls for hip-hop fans to fall into, and to be fair it’s understandable. Although it has come a long way, hip-hop still has skeptical (at best) credibility amongst many music aficionados. I think it stems from several reasons…a general misunderstanding of the genre, the fact that critiques of other genres are not easily transferable to hip-hop, underlying racist thoughts, underlying elitism and also the fact that many of the genres most heralded ARE undereducated and unsophisticated. I think hip-hop fans are hyper-aware of these misunderstandings and prejudices (however subtle) against a genre that they are so head over heels in love with and therefore are always trying to find educated and intellectual reasons to back up why they are so affected by the music.
Point blank, however…just like any other genre of music, at the end of the day if it manages to encapsulate a profound emotional response from you, then it’s good music. Period.
By those standards, Kanye’s album has affected me more so than any other release this year. For an album that is so outlandishly larger than life, many of my favorite moments are decidedly subtle (when the beat is tweaked slightly on the second verse of Dark Fantasy and manages to turn from filthy to epically beautifully, when the piano comes in towards the end of Power, making this bravado based track suddenly vulnerable, etc). Blame Game (Chris Rock rant and all) is another favorite of mine because despite the swearing and the sexual content, it manages to be this subtly beautiful and tender song. It is chock full of self-reflection. And my personal choice for the piece de resistance of the album has to be Lost in The World/Who Will Survive in America…I think it is mind-numbingly beautiful in its simplicity and I cannot think of a more moving end to a hip-hop album.
Lyrically? First, my biggest pet peeve is when people insist that lyrics have to be nothing short of literary genius for a rap song to be considered worthwhile. What other genre is this true of? Can we really say that this is the gold standard for the rest of the music industry? Certainly not. At the end of the day, most tend to judge the lyrics by the emotional intensity and authenticity that lie behind them. What comes down to it is that Kanye’s lyrics are hit or miss, but more importantly you are seeing the true picture of how his internal monologue works. Kanye is clearly full of both ego and insecurity, and on top of that is painfully self-aware of both. Through his lyrics on this album I think we are getting an authentic view into how his mind works, and (to me at least) it is nothing short of fascinating.
In terms of the guest artists, for somebody who is so egotistical, what I have always appreciated about Kanye is his ability to let others shine and, in some cases, steal the show. +%%*, I’m in love with him solely for the fact that he has elevated Pusha T to a more mainstream audience. The fact that he has generic pop-stars like Rihanna, FERGIE (!?!), Rick Ross and Nicki Minaj (although I find her quirkily endearing on just about everything she does, I admit I’m in the minority here) sounding fresh and relevant is a feat unto itself. Like many of hip-hop’s best albums, it is a beautiful collaboration of so many different voices and individuals, and I think the album’s success in combining all these different personalities so seamlessly takes it to an epic level.
At the end of the day, while listening to this CD I went through such a dizzying range of emotions. Blame Game and Lost in the World took me to vulnerable and self-reflective places, So Appalled was a fantastic outlet for frustrations I have in my life, and quite frankly Power and My Dark Fantasy took me to these places of ego mixed with self-reflection and a feeling of being in an epic moment that I can’t really even begin to describe it with words.
As much as I think Kanye is a frustrating human being, this album blew me away sonically and emotionally. Why do we need to be able to deconstruct each song and give you the intellectual reasons why we love it? At the end of the day, it worked for me like few other hip-hop albums ever have. Your mileage may vary on all these points of course.
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