Here we are, at the homestretch. My five favorite albums of 2010. These actually were relatively easy to pick, and most of them arrived as complete surprises to me.
05. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
I am not sure what else I could say about this album that has not been said already by hundreds of other people who get paid to do this. Okay, that is not entirely true, but it is a better-sounding excuse than me whining about having writing fatigue.
There was not much compelling me to listen to this album when it was announced. My previous exposure to West's music had been limited and lukewarm. I got mighty sick of "Stronger" after hearing it at every party I went to during sophomore year, when I rather would have had them just play "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" and cut out the middle-man entirely. I really liked "RoboCop" from the first time I heard it, though, which prompted me to check out the rest of 808s & Heartbreak and be largely unimpressed by it. In fact, I think the only reason I gave this album a spin was the cover art by George Condo.
MBDTF shocked me on my first listen. I had not heard any of Kanye's G.O.O.D. Friday tracks, so these songs were all completely new to me, and I was impressed by each one. The production, the beats, and the rapping meshed together beautifully into this grand and wonderfully ugly mess of an album. I could not stop listening to it. It turned me into a Kanye West fan.
And, perhaps more so than the music contained within, I appreciate this album for prompting me to look into Kanye's past work, particularly Late Registration, which I currently like even better than MBDTF. But, as a standalone entity, this album is a vastly impressive piece of work, and I think it has warranted the near-unanimous praise it has been receiving. You should listen to it. That's all I got.
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