Retreating to a self-imposed exile in Hawaii after a period of controversy in 2009 following hisinterruption of Taylor Swift at theMTV Video Music Awards, West recorded at Honolulu's Avex Recording Studio in a communal environment with numerous musicians. Additional recording took place at Glenwood Place Studios inBurbank, California, andElectric Lady and Platinum Sound in New York City. Critics noted themaximalist aesthetic and opulent production with elements from West's previous work, includingsoul,pop,baroque,electro, andsymphonic, withprogressive rock influences. Lyrically, it explores West's celebrity status,consumer culture, self-aggrandizement, and the idealism of theAmerican Dream.
Alongside several free songs released through the weeklyGOOD Fridays series, West supportedMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy with four USBillboard Hot 100 top-40 singles, "Power", "Runaway", "Monster", and "All of the Lights". West also released an accompanyingmusical short film,Runaway (2010).My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy received acclaim from critics, who considered it a return to form for West and praised the maximalist approach, production, themes, and variety. Many publications listed it as the best album of 2010, and it wonBest Rap Album at the54th Annual Grammy Awards and CD of the Year at the2011 BET Hip Hop Awards.
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy debuted at number one on the USBillboard 200 and theCanadian Albums Chart, while reaching the top 10 in six other countries. It wascertified triple platinum in the United States, and received sales certifications in a few other territories. In retrospect,My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy has been regarded as West'smagnum opus; several publications, includingPitchfork andRolling Stone, have ranked it as the best album of the 2010s and among the greatest of all time.
Dark Fantasy was my long, backhanded apology. You know how people give abackhanded compliment? It was a backhanded apology. It was like, all these raps, all these sonic acrobatics. I was like: "Let me show you guys what I can do, and please accept me back. You want to have me on your shelves."
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy evolved fromGood Ass Job, whichKanye West had planned as the conclusion of a college-themedtetralogy that began withThe College Dropout (2004). He adhered to the plan withLate Registration (2005) andGraduation (2007), but after the death of his motherDonda West and his breakup with his fiancée Alexis Phifer, he pivoted to theelectropop project808s & Heartbreak (2008).[2] While industry publications and collaborators reported that West would follow808s & Heartbreak withGood Ass Job, in private, West had lost interest in continuing the plan.[2][3] He explained toMTV News in October 2010 that he "didn't want to... have to stick to theskits" and other conventions of his previous albums.[3]
West conceivedMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy at Avex Recording Studio during his self-imposed exile inOahu, Hawaii, in 2009, following a period of public-image controversy.[4][5] West said that fatigue from overworking led to his controversialoutburst at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) when the singerTaylor Swift was awardedBest Female Video at the ceremony. West then went on stage, stole the mic from Swift who was 19 at the time, and said "Yo Taylor, I'm really happy for you, I'ma let you finish, but, Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time!" West then shrugged and gave the mic back to Swift. He was disgusted with the media response, which led to a brief hiatus from recording.[4] He observed at the time ofMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy's release that Swift never defended him in any interviews, saying she continuously "rode the waves" from the controversy.[6] West had held recording sessions at the same studio as808s & Heartbreak.[4]
In response to the backlash, West's scheduled tourFame Kills: Starring Kanye West and Lady Gaga with the singerLady Gaga to promote808s & Heartbreak was cancelled on October 1, 2009.[7] In 2010, he explained toEllen DeGeneres the incident served as motivation for his works because he felt like "a soldier of culture", realizing no one wants this to be his role and admitted he will continuously "feel convicted about things that really meant stuff to culture that constantly get denied for years".[8] In 2013, West said thatMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy served as a backhanded apology after his VMAs outburst, detailing that he used the music to become accepted again. He elaborated that a minimum of 80 percent was genuine, with the remainder "fulfilling a perception" for the public.[1] West insisted that he was not criticizingMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and instead failed to reach satisfaction, then openly revealed his idea of the truth.[1]
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was recorded at Avex inHonolulu, Hawaii. Additional recording took place at Glenwood Place Studios inBurbank, California, and atElectric Lady Studios and Platinum Sound Recording Studios in New York City.[9] It was reported that West spent around $3 million provided by his record labelDef Jam to record the album, making it one of themost expensive albums ever made.[10][11] He explained the initial recording process to Noah Callahan-Bever, the editor-in-chief ofComplex and West's then-confidant, telling him he had resided in Hawaii accompanied by his favorite producers and artists to work onMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and provide inspiration.[4] Various contributors engaged in sessions with West for the album, includingKid Cudi,Elton John,Rick Ross,Pusha T, andJustin Vernon.[12][13][14] Vocals were also recorded byM.I.A.,Mos Def,Santigold, andSeal.[13][14] Producers who contributed in the sessions includedQ-Tip,RZA,Pete Rock,[15]Madlib,[16]Statik Selektah,[17] andDJ Premier.[18] Madlib said he made five beats forMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,[16] while DJ Premier revealed his work did not make the final cut.[18]
West block-booked the three session rooms of Avex simultaneously for 24 hours a day to work onMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, until he felt it was complete. According to Callahan-Bever, when West "hits a creative wall", he changes to another studio room to work on a different song.[19] Sheets of paper were posted on one side of the studio with what were known as "Kanye Commandments", such as "NoTweeting" and "No Pictures".[4] West never slept a full night there, opting instead to takepower naps on a studio chair or couch in 90-minute intervals when working during the night. Engineers worked a similar schedule, remaining active 24 hours a day. The heavy work ethic led to West and his crew having multi-course breakfasts each morning at hisDiamond Head residence, cooked by in-house chefs.[20] Later in the mornings after breakfast, West and most of the crew played games of21 against locals at the HonoluluYMCA for leisure. Kid Cudi smokedmarijuana in preparation and worked out on a treadmill, while RZA exercised in theweight room.[19][21]
Control room (top) andtracking room (bottom) of Avex Recording Studio in Honolulu, where the album was recorded
Throughout the album's development, West enlisted other producers and musicians for opinions. At the studio, they went through various conversations and contributions.[4][12][20] Observing these discussions during a visit, Callahan-Bever noted that despite the presence of prominent musicians, "the egos rarely clash; talks are sprawling, enlightening, and productive" around the future, present, and past.[20] Q-Tip described the process as "music by committee" and elaborated on its significance to the sessions and West's work ethic:
He'll go, 'Check this out, tell me what you think.' Which speaks volumes about who he is and how he sees and views people. Every person has a voice and an idea, so he's sincerely looking to hear what you have to say—good, bad, or whatever ... When he has his beats or his rhymes, he offers them to the committee and we're all invited to dissect, strip, or add on to what he's already started. By the end of the sessions, you see how he integrates and transforms everyone's contributions, so the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. He's a real wizard at it. What he does is alchemy, really.[22]
The rapper Pusha T characterizedMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy as "a collage of sounds" and found West's recording methods unorthodox.[23] He explained that when the team thought they were focused on a song, West would hear the work of a record producer such asJeff Bhasker and his attention would be captured as he went through "his mentalRolodex" to the most suitable point for it on the album.[23] Expressing a similar sentiment, the rapperMalik Yusef said that he was mocked for his vision of incorporating collaborators from genres outsidehip-hop like John.[12] DJ Premier recalled that West insisted to him during the production for noelectro, describing him as "that crazy dude he's always been" and pointing out his focus on the album's rawness.[24]
West ensured that the recording sessions were secretive, placing paper sheets in the studio reading "no tweeting, no talking, no e-mailing", and also prohibiting speaking with people outside of the location.[25] Pusha T recalled West's attitude in an interview forRolling Stone, saying that following a leak he remembered his strictness, "Fuck this! We're not going to ever work there again!"[25] In October 2010, West tweeted that the recording ofMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy had been finished.[26]
The music was described asmaximalist hip-hop[27][28] by numerous publications, incorporatingEast Coast rap,[29]boom bap,[30]R&B ballads,electronic music, andprogressive rock samples.[31][32][33] Various writers also noticed elements from West's previous four albums.[a]The Village Voice's Sean Fennessey thought that West had adopted the skills of his collaborators from the five years beforeMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, which he sometimes uses to an increased level. West incorporates lushsoul fromThe College Dropout, orchestration fromLate Registration, a rich atmosphere fromGraduation, and emotionally tired electro from808s & Heartbreak.[35][36]Pitchfork's Ryan Dombal andAllMusic's Andy Kellman wroteMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy seamlessly combines elements from West's earlier albums; Kellman felt that "All of the Lights" denotes its varied elements and "maniacal extravagance".[27][34] David Amidon ofPopMatters observed the pop sound ofGraduation and808s & Heartbreak.[37]
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was described as aprogressive rap record by Carl Williott ofIdolator andRolling Stone's Christopher R. Weingarten, with the latter noting that it came at the time oflower album budgets.[38][39] The album draws elements from varied genres like progressive rock, soul, and old-school rap, moving towards a new sound.[40][41]My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy follows a dense, wide scope of styles;[42][43] Al Horner fromNME called it arap opera.[44] The author Kirk Walker Graves thinks West became a collagist, who makes a bold and vulnerable work of art from "scattered pop shards and indelible beats".[45]
West's lyrics explore themes of excess,[46] celebrity,[42][47][48] grandiosity,[49] self-aggrandizement, self-doubt,[50][51] romance,[27]escapism,[52] decadence,[37][53] and sex.[40][54]My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy also openly acknowledges alcohol and drug usage more than West's previous albums.[55] West places an introspective focus on fame, detailing the perks of power that he links toneoliberalism.[8][50][48] He addresses deep personal insecurities,[50][56] although philosopher Julius Bailey writes that he embraced his narcissism in contrast to thechipmunk soul onThe College Dropout.[45] West displays varied emotions,[57][58] which range from lows to highs of his mental state.[48] He conveys feelings of despair with his public image since808s & Heartbreak, depicting his out-of-control world.[56][59] According to author Bernadette Marie Calafell, West usedMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy to celebrate monstrosity after his troubled year.[6]
West ventures into theid of his own ego onMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, showing his perspective as a celebrity.[27][45][51] He poses a risk of self-destruction with the id,[51] while perusing any goal or girl he can and driven by the buzz ofconsumer culture, despite ultimately being unsatisfied.[40]Ann Powers of theLos Angeles Times depicted the songs as "pornographic boasts, romantic disaster stories, devil-haunted dark nights of the soul" and perceived West as not welcome nor sure about the purpose of his presence due to the discussion ofrace.[40] Powers felt that rather than an issue for West, it is the inherent curse of authorMichael Eric Dyson's theory of "the exceptional black man" whose talents are welcomed, but he is excluded for his skin color.[40] According toRolling Stone'sRob Sheffield, the album serves as "arock-star manifesto" in a world where expectations have generally lowered.[31]
The album begins with "Dark Fantasy", opened by rapperNicki Minaj narrating a rework ofRoald Dahl's 1982 poemCinderella,[40] followed by a chorus includingAuto-Tuned "oohs" and "ah-ah-ah-aahs", as well as backing accents.[45][33] The song introduces the themes of decadence and hedonism,[57] with West musing how it had been planned to drink to release pain, "But what's worse, the pain or the hangover?"[60] The track's lyrics contain musical and popular culture references, including fellow rapperNas, the 1820 short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", British singerLeona Lewis, and the song "Sex on Fire" by Tennessee rock bandKings of Leon.[61] "Gorgeous" is an upliftingblues-styled track,[47] relying on a guitar riff juxtaposed with melodic piano.[45] The track is seen by Graves as West's "scattershot mission statement" and it sees him tackling racial injustices, including comparing himself to black rights activistMalcolm X with the title "Malcolm West".[45][47][62] "Power" features a dark production that relies on a sample ofKing Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man" (1969), which Fennessey found to be "apocalyptic" and it is accompanied by chants loosely resembling a choir.[36][33] West delves into escapism on the song, mentioning his struggles with the public and narrating his vision of a career suicide.[57][28]
"All of the Lights" incorporatesdrum 'n' bass breaks, energeticpercussion, and horn instruments.[60][63] The opening lines mention thedeath of Michael Jackson and present the narrative of a man who goes through multiple issues including abusing his lover and serving prison time.[63] West enlisted 11 guest vocalists for the song, includingAlicia Keys,John Legend,Tony Williams, andElly Jackson; Rihanna sings thehook.[64] In an interview withMTV, Jackson said that West designated her to layer up the vocal arrangement with other people as he simply used his favorite vocalists worldwide "to create this really unique vocal texture on his record, but it's not the kind of thing where you can pick it out".[65] "Monster" is aposse cut,[36][53] which featuresstaccato strings that invoke paranoia and it was described by Calafell as addressing critics through exploration of their "monstrous construction" of West.[6][31] West rap about using inappropriate methods to drown his pain and Nicki Minaj asserts her queen status on the song.[50][60] The fellow posse cut "So Appalled" is built around piano and strings,[41][53] with the performers delivering their odes to success and affirming that "this shit is/fucking ridiculous".[45][66][67]
"Devil in a New Dress" is built on a sample ofSmokey Robinson's "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" (1960).[9][53] The lyrics range from self-criticism to warning and lust to heartache,[6][53] with its sexual and religious imagery described by one critic as "part bedroom allure, part angelic prayer".[69] The song is the only track without production by West, yet features his characteristic style of manipulating the pitch and tempo of classic soul samples.[9][53][68] "Runaway" contains a piano-basedmotif comprising a series of uninterrupted descendinghalf andwhole notes,[70] with acoda that incorporates cello at first, before a violin section and West'svocoder-singing,[53] which isdistortion that covers the final three minutes.[45] West uses the song's lyrics to address public opinion and his character issues, proclaiming a toast to all with those flaws.[67][71] Fennessey cited "Runaway" as the point inMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy where "self-laceration overtakes chest-beating", while Graves is taken aback by how the song contains all of its contradictions; "self-mythologizing, rife with hubris, [and] assertively 'artistic' to the point of unintentional parody".[36][45]
Inspired by West's two-year relationship with modelAmber Rose, "Hell of a Life" samplesthe Mojo Men's "She's My Baby" (1966) and follows a narrative of marrying a porn star that Graves calls "pornographic anxiety".[9][27][45] According to Dombal, the song "attempts to bend its centralcredo—'no more drugs for me, pussy and religion is all I need'—into a noble pursuit".[27] He wrote that it crosses the lines of "fantasy and reality, sex and romance, love and religion, until no lines exist at all".[27] "Blame Game" is a low-key track that is built around a sample ofRichard D. James's piano composition "Avril 14th" (2001),[72][73] and features additional vocals from Legend.[9] The song focuses on a painful domestic dispute where West and a woman go back and forth aggressively,[72][74] and contains a profane skit by comedianChris Rock.[75]
"Lost in the World" features tribal drums and prominent samples from theindie folk bandBon Iver's "Woods" (2009), with West applying the sample "as the centerpiece of a catchy, communal reverie".[53][76] West enthusiastically told Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon when listening to the song, "Fuck, this is going to be the festival closer."[6] It features several musical changes, beginning with Vernon's faint vocals,[9][55] followed by4/4 drums, agospel chorus,[76] and increased tempo, and a finalmeasured tempo.[77] "Lost in the World" transitions into the closing track "Who Will Survive in America".[37] It serves as the album's coda and samplesjazz poetGil Scott-Heron's "Comment No. 1" (1970),[9][60] a surrealist piece delivered by him inspoken word about theAfrican American experience and the fated idealism of the American dream.[40][51][78] Scott-Heron's original speech is edited to an excerpt that, according to Kot, "retains its essence, that of an African-American male" feeling isolated from the US and his culture.[57] By contrast, Fennessey wrote that the seriousness of thedenouement does not suit "an album that is more about the self's little nightmares than some aching societal rejection".[36]
Good Ass Job remainedMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy's provisional title until July 28, 2010,[2] when West announced on his newly registeredTwitter account that it had been scrapped and he had been considering "a couple of titles".[79] Music journalists reported thatDark Twisted Fantasy was among the titles under consideration.[26][80][81] West expressed uncertainty about the title in September, tweeting: "I can't decide on my album title [...] uuuugh!!!!"[26] He announced the final title,My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, on October 5, 2010.[82]
The album's artwork, designed byGeorge Condo, shows West being straddled on a couch by an armless winged female, who has fearsome features and a long, spotted tail. Both are nude, with West shown holding a beer.[83][84][85] Bailey sees Condo's style for the cover as pop surrealist andCubist and portraying "various aspects of West's album themes".[8] He also asserts that its royal red colour is "symbolic of passion, love, anger, and, of course, blood", marked by the starkness.[8] According toVulture writer Dan Kois, the mythological figure straddling West is "a kind offragment, between asphinx, aphoenix, ahaunting ghost, aharpy".[85] The artwork was done at Condo's studio, after West visited for several hours and they listened to tapes of his music. Over the next few days, the painter designed eight or nine paintings for the album. Two of them were portraits of West: an extreme closeup, with mismatched eyes and four sets of teeth; a portrait showing his head, crowned and decapitated, placed sideways on a white slab, pierced by a sword. Condo also did a painting of adyspeptic ballerina in a black tutu and one of the crown alongside the sword in a grassy landscape.[84] He made five covers in total, which were all included with the purchase ofMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.[83] A second cover that contains a painting of a ballerina was posted on theAmazon.com pre-order page.[86] The image was originally intended to be the cover art for "Runaway", but West used a photograph of a ballerina instead.[86] Another painting,The Priest, was completed for the album by Condo, who described it as an attempt to bring depictions of religious figures into the modern world.[87]
West told Condo that he wanted a phoenix painting. After Condo produced with the artwork, West expressed his admiration for how they both "express ourselves with our truest vision".[83] According to Condo, West requested the original cover image to be provocative enough to be banned by retailers, as apublicity stunt.[88] In October 2010, a month before the album's release, West tweeted: "Yoooo they banned my album cover!!!!! Banned in the USA!!! They don't want me chilling on the couch with my Phoenix!"[88] He also suggestedWalmart had rejected the cover and cited the case of rock bandNirvana's 1991 albumNevermind, which featured a photo of a naked baby. West questioned why the band are allowed to have someone nude on their cover, but he "can't have a PAINTING of a monster with no arms and a polka dot tail and wings".[88] In response, Walmart denied the suggestion in a statement declaring the company's excitement aboutMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and its arrival in stores.[88] Certain retailers did not carry the original cover, with West substituting it with Condo's ballerina artwork, while some shipped copies used a pixelated version of the original.[89][90]
In 2015,Billboard named the album's artwork as the 30th best of all time. The magazine wrote that West "matched the widescreen brilliance of the album's music with boundary-cracking art", including a demonic image of him "being straddled by a nude angel".[91] In 2017,NME listed the cover as the seventh best album artwork of the 21st century so far.[92]
Before the release ofMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, West initiated the music programGOOD Fridays through his website beginning August 20, 2010, offering a free download of a new song for each Friday.[93][94] West tweeted that he was aware his fans needed new music, "so I'm dropping 1 new song every weekend until Xmas" and he explained a release could be a song by him, Jay-Z, or another artist.[94] Titled after his imprint labelGOOD Music, the program generated considerable publicity ahead of the release ofMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.Young Money Entertainment online marketing coordinator Karen Civil retrospectively called the program genius, detailing that West undertook a program not previously attempted and "at a point when he was the most hated person in music, he brought excitement back with his Friday releases".[93] GOOD Fridays was intended to run until December 2010, but West extended it through to January 2011.[93][95]
On September 12, 2010, West premiered "Runaway" with a live performance at the2010 MTV Video Music Awards.[96] Three weeks later, on October 2, he performed the song a second time onSaturday Night Live, along with "Power".[97] On October 4, 2010, West announced the album's release date of November 22,[82][98] after he had previously tweeted that he was "contemplating my album date".[26] He also announced that certain songs from GOOD Fridays would be included on it.[82]My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was released by Def Jam andRoc-A-Fella on November 22, 2010, being made available fordigital download on Amazon at a list price of $3.99.[51][99] The deal was only offered by Amazon, while the album was simultaneously made available oniTunes and West's website linked to this release.[100] Four singles were released from it and all reached the top 40 of the USBillboard Hot 100, with thelead single "Power" released on July 1, 2010, charting at number 22.[101][102][103] "Runaway" was released on October 4,[82] and reached number 12, while "Monster" and "All of the Lights" were released on October 23, 2010, and January 18, 2011, respectively;[104][105] they both charted at number 18.[103]
A 35-minute film entitledRunaway, featuring the titular song's officialmusic video, was directed by West and released on October 23, 2010.[106][107] Filmed inPrague over a period of four days in the summer of 2010,[106] the film stars West and modelSelita Ebanks, with the script penned byHype Williams and the story written by West.[108] West described the video as an overall representation of his dreams and a reflection of feelings throughout his life, including a parallel of the situation from 2009 to 2010.[106][109] He explained that it is "the story of a phoenix fallen to Earth", whom he makes his girlfriend, though she faces discrimination and eventually "has to burn herself alive and go back to her world".[110] West elaborated how he had been deeply considering the idea of a phoenix for a while and this could be parallel to his career that he "threw aMolotov cocktail" at in 2009, then felt the need to make acomeback "as a better person".[110] At aRunaway screening in Paris, he broke down into tears. After another screening in Los Angeles, West said that the affect his music and art has on people people inspires him to continue in his career.[111] The film was included on a bonus DVD for the deluxe edition ofMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.[112]
In its first week of release,My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy debuted at number one on the USBillboard 200, selling 496,000 copies. The entry blocked Nicki Minaj's debut albumPink Friday from the top spot with 375,000 sales; the week marked the first time in two years that the chart had two albums bow with over 300,000 units. It also gave West his fourth consecutive US number-one album and surpassed the 450,000 first-week sales of808s & Heartbreak, with the debut becoming the fourth-best sales week of 2010.[119] The album's first-week digital sales of 224,000 units accounted for 45% of the total and stood as the fourth-highest digital copies for an album in a week.[120]
In its second week on theBillboard 200,My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy descended six places to number seven with 108,000 copies sold, marking a 78% sales decline, while remaining abovePink Friday by one place.[121] As of July 2013, it had sold 1,300,000 copies in the United States, as reported byNielsen SoundScan.[122] By June 2011, the album had sold 483,000 digital copies, ranking as the second best-selling digital rap album ever.[123] On November 23, 2020,My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was certified triple platinum by theRecording Industry Association of America for pushing 3,000,000 certified units in the US.[124] According toBillboard, as of 2022,My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is one of the 15 best-performing 21st-century albums without any of its singles being chart-toppers on the Hot 100.[125]
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy became West's fourth number one album on theCanadian Albums Chart.[126] It reached number four on theDanish Albums chart,[127] and in March 2021, was certified double platinum byIFPI Danmark for shipments of 40,000.[128]My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy opened at number six on theARIA Albums chart and on September 10, 2021, it was awarded a double platinum certification from theAustralian Recording Industry Association for over 140,000 copies shipped in Australia.[129][130] The album charted within the top 10 in Norway,[131] South Korea,[132] New Zealand,[133] and Switzerland.[134] On January 22, 2021, it received a platinum certification from theBritish Phonographic Industry for selling 300,000 units in the United Kingdom.[135] By 2018,My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy had registered a billion streams onSpotify.[5]
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was met with widespread critical acclaim.[138] AtMetacritic, which assigns anormalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received anaverage score of 94, based on 45 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[137] The aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 8.8 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.[136]
Numerous reviewers highlighted West's move towards maximalism. Andy Gill ofThe Independent praised the album as "one of pop's gaudiest, most grandiose efforts of recent years, a no holds-barred musical extravaganza" that forgoes the concept of good taste from the beginning.[67] Powers, writing for theLos Angeles Times, found West's artistry comparable toPablo Picasso, reaching "the Cubist mandate of rearranging form, texture, color and space" for suggesting newer viewpoints.[40] The album was called a work of art and West's most lavish record in a review byTime magazine'sDavid Browne, who said it proved again that few other artists shared his ability to adeptly mix diverse elements.[41] Steve Jones ofUSA Today was impressed by West's display "of sonic flavors — old school hip-hop, progressive rock, R&B, classical music" for how he combines and matches these genres, concluding his only predictability is a consistent drive to make every project his best.[32]
Critics often looked at the album as being among West's best work.Rolling Stone's Sheffield saidMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy marked West's best and most wildly inspired album, asserting that no other act was recording music as dark or maximalist; he added that he transgresses the conventions he had established himself for rap and pop music in the past five years.[31] James Reed ofThe Boston Globe said that the album is "seamlessly his personal best" as West becomes self-involved in the varied styles and universal themes, standing as the most original hip-hop record of 2010, through his efforts to push the genre's boundaries.[139] Christgau, inMSN Music, hailed it as a "world-beating return to form" for West.[50] Michael Denslow ofConsequence wrote thatMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy features "nine-minute rap epics" which break the traditionalverse–chorus form and West manages to convey an attempt at the greatest album of all time, executing this well using "all the swagger and hype with an album that may actually bethat good".[140]The Village Voice's Sean Fennessey observed that while the album cannot be perfect as listeners "will reach to call [it]", West's point from the album is imperfection.[55] He also noted the skillful engineering and sequencing, through the way each song transitions over like "some long night out into the hazy morning after".[55]Pitchfork awarded the album a 10/10, the firstperfect score the publication had given to a new release sinceWilco'sYankee Hotel Foxtrot in 2002. Dombal from the publication highlighted West's "blast of surreal pop excess" that the majority of artists would not even try to create.[27][141]
A few reviewers were more qualified in their praise, mostly focusing on West's rapping. ForThe Guardian,Kitty Empire was critical of his lyrics calling women "ruthless money-grabbers" on an otherwise "herculean [...] flawed near-masterpiece".[66]AllMusic writer Andy Kellman found West's rapping inconsistent on "a deeply fascinating accomplishment" in his catalogue and one of complicated merit that is "as fatiguing as it is invigorating, as cold-blooded as it is heart-rending, as haphazardly splattered as it is meticulously sculpted", and maintains complexity across 70 minutes.[34] David Amidon fromPopMatters desired for West to utilize his rap skills fromThe College Dropout and that the songs may be good yet he misses "the opportunity to provide us with answers", in spite of the lush production on one of hip-hop's "most bloated, egotistical, fantastical, flat-out amazing release[s]" for a while.[37]
Numerous critics and publications includedMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy on their year-end top albums lists. Many named it the best album of 2010,[142] includingBillboard,[143]Time,[144]Slant Magazine,[145]Pitchfork,[146]Rolling Stone,[147] andSpin.[148]My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was voted best album inThe Village Voice'sPazz & Jop critics' poll for 2010, winning by the largest margin in the poll's history with 3,250 points.[149][150] "Power", "Runaway", and "Monster" were voted in the top-10 of the Pazz & Jop singles list.[151] Metacritic, which collates reviews of music albums, identified it as the best-reviewed album of 2010.[152] The album stood as the first rap release to achieve this sinceOutkast's 2000 albumStankonia and the sixth-highest ranking of albums released in the 2010s to have at least 15 professional reviews.[152][153]
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy appeared on decade-end best albums lists. In 2012,Complex included it on their list of "25 Rap Albums From the Past Decade That Deserve Classic Status".[154] In October 2013, the magazine ranked the album as the best hip-hop album of the last five years.[155] In 2014,Pitchfork named it the best album of the 2010s so far, with Ian Cohen writing, "West broke the ground upon which the new decade's most brilliant architects built their masterworks;Bon Iver,Take Care,Channel Orange, andGood Kid, M.A.A.D City don't exist without the blueprint ofMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy."[156] It was later ranked as the top album of the 2010s byThe A.V. Club,[157]Billboard,[158] andRolling Stone.[159] Christgau namedMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy as the decade's eighth-best album, saying it remains "perversely superb".[160]
In 2014,Spin namedMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy as the eighth best album of the past 30 years, with Dan Weiss noting it is a world combining samples,interpolations, and vocalists; he expressed that West does not believe "one man should have all that power" of God, yet he "lives one hell of a life".[161] Six years later, Marc Hogan fromPitchfork considered it among the greatart pop albums of the last 20 years to "have filled the void of full-length statements with both artistic seriousness and mass appeal that was formerly largely occupied by [rock] guitar bands".[162] In 2017, the staff ofHipHopDX wrote the album is "widely considered [West's] magnum opus" and the release that made the public's perception of him positive again.[163]EW pickedMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy as the eighth greatest album of all time in 2016, while it was ranked 21st and 17th on the lists byNME andRolling Stone in 2013 and 2020, respectively.[164][165][166] The album was also included in the book1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[167]
Select rankings ofMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
For the54th Annual Grammy Awards in 2012,My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was awardedBest Rap Album, while "All of the Lights" was nominated forSong of the Year,Best Rap Song, andBest Rap/Sung Collaboration, winning in the latter two categories.[181] However,The Recording Academy's decision not to nominateMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy forAlbum of the Year was viewed by many media outlets as a snub,[182][183] along with the rejection of West and Jay-Z's 2011 effortWatch the Throne in the category.[184][185][186] For theLos Angeles Times, Randall Roberts pinpointed the exclusion ofMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy – "the most critically acclaimed album of the year, a career-defining record" – as a snub in favor of nominating less substantial albums.[187]Time journalistTouré deemed West's nominations in minor Grammy categories asbooby prizes and stated that the album was easily "the best reviewed album in many years", being lauded by critics "like nothing sinceRadiohead's zenith", while achieving success with over 1,200,000 sales.[188] Touré explored possible reasons for the academy to snub West, including split votes betweenMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy andWatch the Throne and concerns over his past controversies, but ultimately perceived "a lack of respect for hip hop and its complexity" from those who are into music, yet lack knowledge of this genre.[188]
Having expressed that he thought he was snubbed for major awards in the past, West responded to the Grammy nominees onstage during a concert on theWatch the Throne Tour in December 2011. West believed the snub was due to releasingWatch the Throne andMy Beautiful Dark Fantasy within a year of each other, feeling he "should've just spaced it out, just a little bit more".[184][185] On the 10th anniversary ofMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Will Lavin ofNME recalled that despite winning Best Rap Album, "it was snubbed for Best Album without so much as a nomination".[5] Two years later,Vibe listed the record as one of 10 rap albums snubbed of Album of the Year, with Preezy Brown mentioning this was "a Grammy snub that's one of the more egregious in recent memory".[189]
"Runaway" features background vocals by Tony Williams and additional vocals by The-Dream
"Hell of a Life" features additional vocals by Teyana Taylor and The-Dream
"Blame Game" features additional vocals byChris Rock and Salma Kenas
"Lost in the World" and "Who Will Survive in America" feature additional vocals by Charlie Wilson, Kaye Fox, Tony Williams, Alicia Keys and Elly Jackson of La Roux
"Runaway" contains a sample of "Expo 83", written by J. Branch, and performed by Backyard Heavies; and excerpts fromRick James Live at Long Beach, CA, 1981.
^Cormier, Ryan (December 5, 2010)."Of note".The News Journal. p. 86.Archived from the original on July 16, 2024. RetrievedJuly 16, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
^Christgau, Robert (December 20, 2019)."Dean's List: The 2010s".And It Don't Stop.Archived from the original on December 21, 2019. RetrievedDecember 21, 2019.
^"Czech Albums – Top 100".ČNS IFPI.Note: On the chart page, select06.Týden 2011 on the field besides the words "CZ – ALBUMS – TOP 100" to retrieve the correct chart. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
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