And though he’s no Freddy Mercury or Whitney Houston, his vocals here are devastatingly potent. Instead, he simply sings “Baby, I got a plan, run away as fast as you can.” This is Kanye at his all-time most vulnerable moment. “Runaway” proves to be Kanye’s apology song (to Taylor Swift and basically everyone else in his life) without actually being an apology song.

It is masterful.īut just when you think the album is at its peak, it soars to an even higher level: “Runaway.” The song begins with a harrowing reverse piano tune. Composed in b flat minor using a common time drum pattern and a steady groove, “All of the Lights” quickly descends into madness: a frantic beat, blaring horns, elaborate percussion, bass, piano, Rihanna’s lead vocals, Kanye’s rapping, and a host of 14 different background vocalists (including Alicia Keys, Drake, Kid Cudi, Elton John, and La Roux). “All of the Lights” embodies the image of musical maximalism. And yet, this is essentially what Kanye does. You can’t play every single instrument and every sound at the same time. What I mean by this is that conventional knowledge suggests that there is a finiteness to the beauty of music. What follows, in perfect Kanye fashion, is a massive song that successfully defies one of the most undefeated premises of music. This slows the album down for a minute and showcases Kanye’s vision for classical music. The next two songs are “All of the Lights (Interlude)” and “All of the Lights.” The interlude is a beautiful, moving orchestral piece of a cello and a piano. While the first three songs are certainly momentous, the album blossoms into an exponentially greater work from this point onward.

Somehow finding order within the chaos, the song results in a stadium-booming mega-hit that pumps every person up. “Gorgeous” is followed by the hit single, “Power.” The hit’s production centers on song samples from English progressive rock band King Crimson, French disco act Continent Number 6, and American funk band Cold Grits. But his third verse-which shines in the lines “They rewrite history, I don’t believe in yesterday, and what’s a black Beatle anyway, a f***ing roach? I guess that’s why they got me sitting in f***ing coach”-takes things to another level. Kanye’s second verse-which begins with “Is hip-hop just a euphemism for a new religion? The soul music of the slaves that the youth is missing?” and continues as he proclaims that “This pimp is at the top of Mount Olympus”-is certainly one of his more memorable ones. Kanye follows “Dark Fantasy” with “Gorgeous,” a groovy song that alternates verses between Kanye, who ponders everything from his exile in Hawaii to the ugly nature of racial injustice in America, and Kid Cudi. Then the beat kicks in as Kanye opens his first verse. The album begins triumphantly with the song “Dark Fantasy.” Following a clever little Nicki Minaj intro, Teyana Taylor and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon sing “Can we get much higher?”-then the brass instruments kick in, and then a crescendo of horns and choirs overwhelms you. Let’s dive into this album as we celebrate its 10th birthday. And this could not be more evident than it is in MBDTF. However, he is one of the best producers ever. He is far from one of the best rappers or singers. Kanye found a way to blend almost every genre of music, successfully. Kanye won all of those awards-he revolutionized music forever and built the greatest hip-hop discography-because he achieved what no other artist had even dared to attempt. Kanye did not win 260 awards, including a record-smashing 21 Grammys, by being a great rapper. And then he topped it off by directing a full-length film for the album. He recruited young visionaries who would become famous upon its release. He brought in an array of proven talents to help him build this opus. Kanye enlisted the help of other top producers. Soon, they spent thousands of hours in that studio. Kanye required the men to wear suits at all times in the studio. But Kanye wasn’t trying to make HIS best album this time he was trying to make THE best album ever. He sentenced himself to a “self-imposed” exile in Hawaii, where he spent a lot of time thinking about his mistakes. The entire trajectory of Kanye’s career-and his life-changed. This was coupled with the fact that Kanye’s mother, whom he was extremely close to, passed away. His crazy moment, understandably, led to a lot of backlash. After Kanye (who has bipolar disorder) crashed the VMA’s and ruined Taylor Swift’s night, he slipped into a dark time. But before we dive into this masterpiece, let me tell you a story. No album embodies the word “great” more than My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

Kanye west dark fantasy piano cover