Kanye West - Dark Twisted Fantasy

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/entertainment/When+more+becomes+much/3869323/story.html

Here's my review of this, published today.

"Slow Jamz" was always on the advances of College Dropout; Twista's label realized it was a hit and pushed it and got his album out first, but it still stayed on Kanye's album.

i think "Monster" has peaked at like #18 so far, yeah, might've mentioned it upthread. it's the only one of these songs i've heard a lot on the radio, and it says something when the big shapeless posse cut is outperforming the predestined "pop" single.

― some dude, Tuesday, November 23, 2010 3:08 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

idk about 'shapeless' -- do u just mean 'lacks a chorus'?? its the most immediate for sure

not sure any singles off this are gonna do well outside the US - Power only just made the top 40 here, Runaway a new entry this week at 56 - really no idea if that will climb higher or sink at this point

"Slow Jamz" was always on the advances of College Dropout; Twista's label realized it was a hit and pushed it and got his album out first, but it still stayed on Kanye's album.

notice how this contradicts exactly nothing in my post

i realllly dont get the critical hosannahs for 'power' -- that song's appeal entirely alludes me

doh, eludes

well i just mean oddly structured -- weird intro that sounds nothing like the rest of a song, one verse that goes 4 bars and another that goes 32 bars, long outro that a lot of DJs cut off, etc. all i was saying is that "Monster" is probably the most well liked song on the record and it's not a top 40 hit in the "Gold Digger" mold.

xp apparently, it sounds like other, better kanye songs

Where's nabisco's piece, btw?

don't think u got a mention in it dogg

was a time when only hitting the lower reaches of the top 20 would have signaled the dimming of a once bright star, not the crowning of the new king of pop

don't think u got a mention in it dogg

― BIG MUFFIN (gbx), Tuesday, November 23, 2010 2:15 PM (46 seconds ago) Bookmark

I have no idea what you're talking about if you're referring to me.

"Slow Jamz" was always on the advances of College Dropout; Twista's label realized it was a hit and pushed it and got his album out first, but it still stayed on Kanye's album.

notice how this contradicts exactly nothing in my post

― ali-baba-boob-job-bomb.jpg (DJP), Tuesday, November 23, 2010 4:13 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i was clarifying because your "it came out after the song hit" makes it sound like they just threw it on as a bonus track because it had been big on another artist's album earlier

OTM:

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/11/filthy_rich_kanye_wests_royal.html

I was actually just pointing out why I missed "Slow Jamz", ie Billboard counts it as a Twiasta song and also I hate it

ha no, rennavate, it was an ~awesome~ joke about kanye alluding to deej on the track

who think of him as the great artist of our time, our Dylan or our MJ or our Stevie. seriously.

― some dude, Tuesday, November 23, 2010 2:22 PM (31 minutes ago) Bookmark

he's not?

the crowning of a new king of long rap songs

you know who is the true visionary of our time, is that guy from Owl City

ha no, rennavate, it was an ~awesome~ joke about kanye alluding to deej on the track

― BIG MUFFIN (gbx), Tuesday, November 23, 2010 2:18 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

hahaha kk that's what i get for showing up in these things are random times without catching up

also CAD is right this album is his least pop -- the chart numbers are a bit deceiving cuz they're almost totally based on itunes sales -- none of the songs climbed the charts at all, they were just kinda flares based -- none of these songs are getting major radio play, definitely not compared to his other albums

and this isn't gonna sell that much more than nicki's album apparently, & not even half as much as taylor swift

Kanye is gonna run into Billboard and yell at them for denying him and Nicki the top spots

really liked that nabisco piece, unsurprisingly

i don't mind kanye, but mj/stevie comparisons make me hate him.

It’s not simply Kanye’s ego that puts me in mind of crusty aristocrats: It’s also the drums, samples, melodies, and synths on this album. Crisp, graceful sounds keep bumping up against muddy, sweaty ones. Elegant minor-key melodies keep bumping up against rawness and ego. Opulence bumps up against grit, until the music begins to sound a little decayed, tragic, and under threat.

love this

was a time when only hitting the lower reaches of the top 20 would have signaled the dimming of a once bright star, not the crowning of the new king of pop

― phish in your sleazebag (contenderizer), Tuesday, 23 November 2010 21:15 (5 minutes ago) Permalink

except hes totally pushing this as an 'album art' type deal, not a comp of hot singles

right, so he's not a pop star, he's a fuckin album rock artist

which is pretty much the problem with this album

well, no

he's certainly a pop star

i don't mind kanye, but mj/stevie comparisons make me hate him.

and they make no sense. he just hasn't been a hitmaker on that level. he's come close, but no more so than a number of other artists over the past decade. not even sure i buy that he's been a culture shaper on a similar level. i see him more as a very clear and available mirror.

xp no not completely but there is something abt the proceedings here that scream big-ass rock album to me

Yes, I think with this album there is definitely "something about the proceedings here that scream big-ass rock album," and I think that's partially why the album's received so much praise, for better or worse.

yeah i mean bubba sparxx was a much better bubba sparxx idg why he needed that persona -- even from a marketing standpoint it feels redundent

doh rong thread

haha i was having a lot of trouble parsing that

and this isn't gonna sell that much more than nicki's album apparently, & not even half as much as taylor swift

― J0rdan S., Tuesday, November 23, 2010 4:21 PM (7 minutes ago)

I thought he'd do at least as well as Taylor! Yikes!

he is a pop star, but what seems to make him relevant is that he manages to bridge the gap between the last decade or so of "reality" stars who generate nothing more than they own brand identities and our received ideas of what pop stardom is supposed to be ("important" in the dylan/mj sense).

and yes, this is definitely an aor-style "big rock album," just like the love below was. probably why i like them both so much. tusk!

and yes, this is definitely an aor-style "big rock album," just like the love below was. probably why i like them both so much. tusk!

― phish in your sleazebag (contenderizer), Tuesday, November 23, 2010 2:32 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

If you talk to a rock critic, they'll always say they like The Love Below more; rap critics will say they like Speakerboxxx more. I think that speaks volumes.

(And of course I'm generalizing here.)

oh for the love of god don't mention 'the love below'

Flying Lotus
flyinglotus Flying Lotus
kanye is so good at being just good enough.

you could maybe argue that the rush to embrace this album represents a retreat to a kind of aesthetic morality (important! visionary! risky! real! progressive!) in response to a pop culture that's become a bit too satisfied with pop artifice and superficiality. hence n's fascination with the grime beneath the polish.

not "hence" so much as "for example"

wtf hence, anyway? what kind of word is that? it doesn't even look right. hence.

and this isn't gonna sell that much more than nicki's album apparently, & not even half as much as taylor swift

Jumping back to this here (and maybe this has been discussed since, busy at work and can't really keep up with this thread), but didn't 808s get off to a slow sales start?

I thought he'd do at least as well as Taylor! Yikes!

― markers, Tuesday, November 23, 2010 3:30 PM (22 minutes ago) Bookmark

didnt she outsell the entire top 49 combined the week she went number 1?

ill be honestly surprised if he does worse than nicki. maybe a gender gap in downloading lps manifests here?

somehow I am not at all surprised that it looks like the black egomaniac is going to be outsold by the wholesome white girl he shamed on national television

well to be fair she was selling more than he ever has even before the vmas thing

yeah markers is trippin -- 'speak now''s first week numbers are the highest since carter III & will probably be the most for another few years or so