It has only been three days since the release of Kanye West fifth studio album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and the world’s critics and music writers are already at each others throats. The second Pitchfork doled out their first 10.00/10.00 score for a new recording since Radiohead’s Kid A the entire music world appeared sit up and take notice.
The Guardian reacted stronger than most throwing out two blogs in two days both decrying, not West’s album as such, but Pitchfork and Drowned in Sound's overwhelming positive reaction to it. Dorian Lynskey’s Guardian Music Blog really kicked the debate into the next gear when he told the world “it’s always worth pausing for breath when hyperbolic music spawns hyperbolic prose.” The reaction was predictably furious. Over two blogs and one review Kanye has already racked up a remarkable 500 comments with every expert The Guardian has to offer, from dupstep and grime lover Rosie Swash to indie Neanderthal Tim Jonze, throwing in their own two cents.
But while this largely facile debate about whether Kanye’s ...Dark Fantasy is a 10 out of 10 or a 4/5 continues, something truly special has been going on in the background. People of all persuasions, of all genres, have begun debating on and off line. From the hipster forums and pop gossip sites to your local bus stop; the arguments have been intense, underlined by great passion. What makes these debates and arguments so special is that for the first time, in what feels like an eternity, people are arguing about music on serious intellectual and emotional level.
Rather than talking about Gaga’s latest outfit or the latest in a seemingly endless array of top 100 lists, people are engaging in serious musical discussions and critical dissections. In the last week alone I’ve had huge arguments about everything from production credits to the proper use of Auto-tune. The latter, rather than being dismissed as a pop gimmick used by hated artists, is being discussed seriously. Questions have come thick and fast; when, where and how should it be used? Is Kanye just playing around with a new toy for the sake of it or is he creating a rich nightmarish landscape or his egotistic ramblings? Should he auto tune a voice choir or let their voices soar naturally? Is Auto-tune unduly hated? Is it not as credible and revolutionary to vocals as distortion, effects and sustain pedals were to guitar playing?
Elsewhere hip hop purists are waging war on seemingly everyone.; decrying Kanye’s lack of values. He raps about himself, his ego, his cars, his bitches. They argue hip hop should be about having a positive message, that it should be about storytelling and strife, and that his ridiculous self indulgence is just the latest horrid mutation in hip hop’s depressing devolution. While others, myself included, have argued that My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is a grandiose look into a world of excess; a glimpse into the mind of a paranoid egomaniac who despite his fame still struggles with the most basic emotions of dejection and jealously.
This is just a mere grain of sand in the Sarah Desert of a debate that this album has stirred. As, despite what Kanye’s hip hop critics may want to believe, Kanye West has transcended that genre; he sits alongside Lady Gaga as one of the world’s two biggest pop stars. And in making an album so shamelessly self centred and so shamelessly ambitious he has unified every corner of the musical spectrum in discussion on a deep level. Beyond “Ooooh...look at what she’s wearing”, or ugh...what did that dick head just say? Kanye has forced the world to listen to his record, even if their only reaction was to say; “so this is what all the fuss was about?”
For the past eleven years we’ve lived in the post-Kid A world; where creativity and innovation has flourished on fringe. Each genre has retreated into a variety of niches, where those unifying generation defining moments have been few and far between. The Arctic Monkeys briefly captured the UK’s imagination but they were too hopelessly colloquial to conqueror on the world stage. 2010 saw Arcade Fire shoot to the top of the charts with the gorgeously cathartic The Suburbs, but try starting a conversation about Win Butler and co. down you local pub and see what happens. Now Lady Gaga has had no trouble getting the world talking, and in The Fame Monster she created an album worth getting excited about, but she’s too pop, it’s not her fault of course, but try getting an Animal Collective or Gojira fan to pick up a copy, they just won’t, it’s sad, but it’s true. That’s just where we are in 2010.
Kanye West however, had no such problem. He’s been a magnet for controversy (Taylor Swift and George Bush know this better than most) and while he may be begrudged by many, few dispute that he’s unleashed four highly stylized and exciting records. Plus, deserved or not, hip hop has more credibility than pop and provokes less backlash than indie; so the audience was always ready and waiting. This is where the ambition comes in; by creating a mammoth multi-layered album, full of star studded guest spots, slick production and relatable human emotion, Kanye made something that could excite both the music critics and the world at last.
Then of course there was the hype. Dating back to the Taylor Swift incident Kanye has bombarded the world with his relentless hard sell. A one minute teaser for the King Crimson sampling “Power”, a thirty minute mini-movie proceeding the brilliant “Runaway”, the arrival of his strangely captivating twitter account and of course the GOOD Friday give aways. Kanye whipped up hype in spades, and ...Dark Fantasy delivered.
Whether My Beautiful Twisted Dark Fantasy is a five star masterpiece or a flawed but impressive effort hardly matters. By sacrificing himself and his ludicrous ego for ridicule and by laying all his eccentricities out their in one grandiose sixty eight minute slab; Kanye taught the music world to talk again. And most importantly he taught us all to talk to each other once more. So who cares if in ten years time Kanye’s ...Dark Fantasy isn’t our generations Dark Side Of The Moon, at this specific moment in time, he’s given the world the unifying moment we’ve been lacking for what seems like an eternity.
