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Critic Reviews
"There is no question that this album is a game changer. It's Kanye West's greatest work."
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"My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is genuinely a great record. [Feb. 2011, p. 108]"
"Like Picasso, he acknowledges that the chief enemy of creativity is good taste--which is just as well, since it's not a quality with which he seems over-burdened on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. For which we should all be thankful."
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"Comparing him to other rappers is pointless: there are other guys with much more technically-sound flows (although Ye is as wickedly funny as he's ever been), but nobody else possesses the combination of hubris, imagination, neuroticism, and drive it takes to make a record like this."
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"Cataloguing the perks of power he sounds as geeky as Mark Zuckerberg, and because grandiosity doesn't suit him deep down, the sonic luxuries of this world-beating return to form have no shot at the grace of The Collede Dropout or Late Registration. But because he's shrewd and large, he knows how to use his profits profits to induce Jay-Z, Pusha T, the RZA, Swizz Beats, and his boy Prince CyHi to admit and indeed complain that the whole deal is "f***in' ridiculous.""
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"The end result is a body of work that pushes hip-hop in a bold new direction and puts Mr,. West back at the forefront of the culture once again."
"He celebrates his contradictions with such musical flair, it's a thrilling listen from beginning to end."
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"He samples atmospheric noodling from Aphex Twin and bombastic nuggets from Black Sabbath and King Crimson, and he gets help from some of the biggest names in pop, rap, and indie rock. West crafts these influences into a fever dream with a crescendo around every corner - the Beautiful Fantasy of the album's title."
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"My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is his most maniacally inspired music yet, coasting on heroic levels of dementia, pimping on top of Mount Olympus."
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"Fantasy is the sound of an artist who is so far from shunning the spotlight that the firepower of the wattage pointed at him is a full-on supernova. "
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"The effort to canonize My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy as one of hip-hop's all-time high points is already underway, and I'm confident that Kanye's new album can weather the backlash that all potential classics must confront."
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"With his music and persona both marked by a flawed honesty, Kanye's man-myth dichotomy is at once modern and truly classic."
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"Six years later, Kanye is undoubtedly the most openly self-aware MC. And the music world should be grateful to have him. I know I am. "
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"With My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye West transgresses paradigms and defies the limitations of genre, thusly granting himself the highest compliment payable to an artist."
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"My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is exactly as advertised: it's a journey through West's deepest thoughts, showcasing all the facets to his persona (from his bravado to his insecurities) over a pristine collection of all his signature sounds."
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"Dark Twisted Fantasy is an album full off melodic ideas, copious guest features, winding songs, unexpected twists, and improbable pairings."
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"Needless to say, West has proved once again that he is most on point in the face of adversity."
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"On Dark Twisted Fantasy, West surrounds himself with gruff collaborators like Pusha T of Clipse and Raekwon of Wu-Tang Clan."
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"He's the kind of libertine who needs to live on the knife's edge just to feel alive, and Fantasy is gloriously alive."
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"From nine-minute douchebag manifestos, to enlisting an A-list Grammy ensemble to piece-mealing his album out to the masses every Friday, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy defies logic and it ignores convention."
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"Like many of Kanye's brainstorms, it's a crazy idea -- and like many of Kanye's crazy ideas, it works."
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"Sonically, the joy comes from the triumphant, painstaking arrangement that undoubtedly went into the production of tracks like "Power," the aforementioned "All Of The Lights," and the album closing "Lost In The World." "
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"In fact, this record's only flaw is that its scale is so awe-inspiring it tends to paper over any weaker cracks."
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"It's totally different from everything he's done while still being perfectly, irrevocably Kanye."
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"Fantasy's production is loud and proud, but also poignant and gripping, always hinting at some looming danger."
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"Kanye is rapping and singing better and with more tenacity than he ever has on Fantasy, but also less often, wisely allowing others to speak for him-every single guest artist on this album senses the moment and rises to the occasion. "
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"Kanye West had to do him; and lo and behold, he has. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is the most cohesive and assured record in mainstream hip-hop since Jay-Z sketched his Blueprint (2001)."
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"Maybe it's not surprising that My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is so seamlessly his personal best."
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"The past few years have shown West first-hand what happens when the populace turns against its demagogues, and with Fantasy, he's letting us know that he's ready for our scorn and adulation."
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"He's had it rough (or as rough as can be for one with his level of talent and success anyway), but once again he's managed to take his adversity and turn it into perhaps the album of the year."
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"This is not just West's best album, it's a keen contender for the most ambitious LP in hip-hop history. West side story!"
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"It's the best thing he's done since his game-changing debut, and heartening evidence to suggest the self-professed Louis Vuitton don is in a good place right now."
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"After the celebri-beef and ALL CAPS blog posts fade away, Fantasy will stand as an album that dare to push the entire medium of recorded music forward, for better or worse."
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"Through thick and thin, Kanye West proves the ultimate curator and host, the master of his domain."
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"Much of the album has that feel, a collision of grandeur and emptiness, a meditation on the disconnect between the artist's intent and the public's perception."
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"West is far from rap's deftest lyricist but his neurotic grandstanding is compelling and often pretty funny to boot. [Feb 2011, p.84]"
"It's certainly good to have West's unique talent back in music, but this ambitious behemoth may be easier to admire than to listen to. "
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"As a whole, the record is a brilliant display of Kanye's range and influences, an opus of dirty hip-hop laid over haunting classically-inspired melodies."
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"Taking things to the next level is one of hip-hop's great cliches, an achievement that West can comfortably claim."
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"Musically, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is a nice blend of Kanye's older and newer styles."
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"As fatiguing as it is invigorating, as cold-blooded as it is heart-rending, as haphazardly splattered as it is meticulously sculpted, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is an extraordinarily complex 70-minute set of songs."
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"Whether or not this is the best Kanye West album, this may be the one he's remembered most for, the one that may finally trump the version of him we cringe at on the red carpet. "
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"Kanye's ...Dark Twisted Fantasy is also the densely-produced work of a clearly erratic soul."
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"This album offers beats that retread past glories, and an emotional palette narrowed to a range roughly as wide as West's navel."
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