Kanye West - Dark Twisted Fantasy

if only there was a site that reviewed pitchfork reviews

Okay, for reference:

02. Kanye West [ft. Pusha T]
"Runaway"
[Def Jam / Roc-A-Fella]

Of all the arresting moments on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy-- Nicki Minaj mauling the competition on "Monster", the King Crimson call-and-response of "POWER"-- none is more striking than that instant when the head-spinning, hallucinatory soul of "Devil in a New Dress" dissolves into the sobering piano-tapped intro to "Runaway". It's the sound of Kanye's entire over-Tweeted, Lanvin-lavished, Dubya-dissing universe reduced to one single, lonely chord.

On an album situated perilously on the faultline between ego and insecurity, "Runaway" puts Kanye's contradictory impulses on full display like they're some immaculate museum exhibit. At nine minutes, it is My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy's longest song, but also its simplest and most emotionally direct. It's a sensitive piano ballad inspired by a moment of dick-pic exhibitionism. It's a chronicle of post-breakup depression and regret that, by the time we hit that ubiquitous chorus, has been reframed as a celebration-- and the more Kanye venerates his most loathsome qualities, the more humble and sympathetic a character he becomes. As his recent Tweet-athons about Matt Lauer and Taylor Swift suggest, Kanye tends to get defensive when his dubious behavior is called into question. "Runaway" marks the rare moment where Kanye sides with his detractors-- if the whole world thinks he's a douchebag, well, this one time he's inclined to agree. --Stuart Berman

The big problems in the first paragraph are the incorrect usage of the term "call-and-response" and using "chord" instead of "note". I have minor aesthetic issues with the head-spinning, hallucinatory soul of "Devil in a New Dress" but that's just because I think that song can eat a bag of vomit; I wouldn't change that line if that's his honest opinion.

The second paragraph is a gigantic mess. He is attempting to set up Kanye's aggrandizement as a humanizing tactic but it doesn't work because the chosen verbiage is wholly illogical, culminating in the wholly contradictory sentence the more Kanye venerates his most loathsome qualities, the more humble and sympathetic a character he becomes; the follow-up material leads you to the conclusion that he actually didn't know what "venerate" meant in order for anything to make sense. This isn't even touching on some atrocious singular/collective noun groupings ("Runaway" puts Kanye's contradictory impulses on full display like they're some immaculate museum exhibit).

If I was editing him, I would send this back and tell him to rewrite the entire second half, or I would change it to this:

Of all the arresting moments on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy-- Nicki Minaj mauling the competition on "Monster", the King Crimson sing-along of "POWER"-- none is more striking than that instant when the head-spinning, hallucinatory soul of "Devil in a New Dress" dissolves into the sobering piano-tapped intro to "Runaway". It's the sound of Kanye's entire over-Tweeted, Lanvin-lavished, Dubya-dissing universe reduced to one single, lonely note.

On an album situated perilously on the faultline between ego and insecurity, "Runaway" distills all of Kanye's contradictory impulses into a compelling package and puts it out on display. At nine minutes, it is My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy's longest song, but also its simplest and most emotionally direct. It's a sensitive piano ballad inspired by a moment of dick-pic exhibitionism. It's a chronicle of post-breakup depression and regret that, by the time we hit that ubiquitous chorus, has been reframed as a sarcastic celebration of douchebags and assholes-- and the louder Kanye toasts his most loathsome qualities, the more he reveals the insecurity behind his bravado. As his recent Tweet-athons about Matt Lauer and Taylor Swift suggest, Kanye tends to get defensive when his dubious behavior is called into question. "Runaway" marks the rare moment where Kanye sides with his detractors-- if the whole world thinks he's a douchebag, well, this time he's inclined to agree.

that song can eat a bag of vomit

disturbingly descriptive.

If I was editing him, I would send this back and tell him to rewrite the entire second half stop commissioning him

that's a possibility but let's assume there's a deadline and you need to work with the copy you're given

but he does seem to be teetering on some kind of psycho-emotional/aesthetic precipice at the moment. and i honestly don't see how much more "drama" dude can withstand in both his life and career. but that's just me being me, so grain meet salt, etc.

― You're Twistin' My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Man! (Ioannis), Wednesday, December 15, 2010 4:57 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

hey loannis, you've been one of the most vocal defenders of the album on this thread - just wondering if you could explain why it's inherently interesting that he's on this edge atm, any more interesting than, say, lindsey lohan trying not to fall off the wagon or britney or w/e. is it just extra-music information that informs your listening to the album, adding some kind of warm patina to the whole thing, or does kanye actually address this stuff in an interesting way on the songs?

he uses (and always has used) humour which can definitely be an interesting way of dealing with emotional problems thru your art

lindsey lohan's lyrics use humor too, just unintentionally.

dan can you edit my thesis for me next spring y/n

Ha, chat with me in February; i don't know I'll have time.

hahaha j/k no way am i writing a damn thesis, just pullin yr leg :D

liked yr edits tho!

"but he does seem to be teetering on some kind of psycho-emotional/aesthetic precipice at the moment. and i honestly don't see how much more "drama" dude can withstand in both his life and career. but that's just me being me, so grain meet salt, etc."

But the thing is that I don't get this from MBDTF. And its not like hip-hop doesn't have a precedent for the psycho-emotional/aesthetic precipice record. All I get it I <3 PORNSTARS, I'VE WRITTEN ANOTHER SONG ABOUT LIGHTS BECAUSE ITS AN EASY METAPHOR FOR CELEBRITY, 'well thats a pretty bad way to start the conversation' without actually participating in it, Runaway's 'ok maybe i'm a bit of a nob' etc.

Any generic writing class will tell you 'show don't tell' is the most important thing you'll ever need to know. Kanye used to show us his life and even if he wasn't a terrific writer, he certainly was an engaging one. Now he is too busy telling us 'I <3 PORNSTARS' to show us the continued enigma that is Kanye.

I'm really puzzled that at this stage anyone could be wowed by the concept that Kanye's arrogance stems from insecurity. You'd think he'd never brought it up before. I find that ploy played out and phony now - self-disgust is still self-obsession and if forced to choose he'll always claim he's more sinned against than sinning.

^^yeah, and it's a bit of a cliché w/r/t artists generally too. which isn't to say it can't lead to good art but as sam says, telling isn't sufficient for this, you have to show.

yeah, but you're insecure, and you make a dickhead/tough-guy shell to keep the insecurity at bay, and you're aware (paranoid) that the shell betrays the sad & wriggling worm inside, so you amp up the cold hard dick moves, but you still know that everybody knows you know (you know?), so you make the fact that you know that they know that you know -- and you don't care -- the essence of the persona, but even that seems transparent, somehow, so you try to retreat from all the incriminating layers self awareness you've built up to the simple-ass asshole you think you used to be, but that doesn't work anymore cuz you know that everybody else knows that you know better by now, so where the fuck do you go next?

TO DISNEYLAND, draped in rotting furs

Great post. Good stage direction too.

is it just extra-music information that informs your listening to the album, adding some kind of warm patina to the whole thing, or does kanye actually address this stuff in an interesting way on the songs?

tbh, i've rarely been aware of any extra-musical goings-on in dudes life--except for the few times his escapades became clearly inescapable (i.e. the Taylor Swift debacle; his post-Katrina Bush diss; etc.). so that would be a definite no to that question.

what's interesting about Ye here--as opposed to Lohan, Britney et al--are the aesthetic choices he consciously makes time and again: Crimson sample on one track, say; "Echoes" derived piano tinkling on another; guests galore stinking up the joint just so; you name it. as i see it, he's the ringmaster, the album is his big top, and the guests his freaks/performers. of course, he's also the star attraction, which is where things get kinda weird. and for me that's where all the talk re: persona an' shit comes in. but, yeah, if you want, there's nothing inherently more daring this or cutting edge that going on on any specific piece of music here either. it's the whole shebang in toto, rather, that's really captivating (hey, just like in an good prog-rock record. well, waddya know?). and i loved Britney's Blackout-era weirdness, too, btw.

*any

xp

plus i neglected to mention that i hardly ever pay attention to his lyrics (except when i feel like having a laugh, i guess). pretty much, i don't give a rat's ass about what he says, only how he says it.

how he says it ain't that great either

but yeah he was going "i can use my arrogance as a STEAM to power my DREAMS" on his first album and "why you think me and Dame cool? we assholes!" even before that, don't know why people are treating "Runaway" as this brash zeitgeist grabbing statement and not just the same thing he's been saying for almost a decade.

Because those first two examples, at least out of context, appear to be celebratory and "Runaway" is not?

And I'm not saying he's never put himself down before, just that criticizing the song for self-aggrandizement when everyone else is digging it for self-chastisement seems wrong.

and even if it is self-aggrandizement
maybe some things need to be continuously re-said

"conditions of production must be re-produced"

"let's have a toast to the douchebags" seems pretty celebratory to me?

(i actually really like that idea for a chorus and also the melody - i just don't like the way he semi-sings it/the arrangement/the verses/so many underwritten lines/the length on the album)

^^yeah, and it's a bit of a cliché w/r/t artists generally too. which isn't to say it can't lead to good art but as sam says, telling isn't sufficient for this, you have to show.

so what's to tell? (old WB cartoon j/k)

honestly, tho, i can't think of any other major musical figure on the horizon that's more "show" than Ye. some of you guys really need to get that rockist, lyrics-prioritizing monkey off yr backs, methinks.

yeah but so does kanye

(I get what yr saying tho, and as a half-defender of this album I half-agree)

what's "rockist" (another word that we need a moratorium on) about thinking lyrics are important?

it does explain a lot when defenders of this album are all "oh i don't care about lyrics" though

lex...

"let's have a toast to the douchebags" seems pretty celebratory to me?

(i actually really like that idea for a chorus and also the melody - i just don't like the way he semi-sings it/the arrangement/the verses/so many underwritten lines/the length on the album)

― lex diamonds (lex pretend), Wednesday, December 15, 2010 9:33 AM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

ditto both parts of this post

"let's have a toast to the douchebags" seems pretty celebratory to me?

Try listening to the entire chorus sometime; it ends with "Baby I got a plan/Run away fast as you can", which casts the entire rest of the chorus in a much more sarcastic light.

Seriously, it's a little difficult to take the hatred seriously if you don't actually understand what the not-very-complex song is saying.

Ioannis, we're not talking about some album with long guitar jams and like 20 words per song, rap albums and particularly this one basically have the word count of a short novel

everything Kanye's said about "Runaway" makes me feel like the celebratory aspect is at least as much sincere as it is ironic and self-deprecating

what's "rockist" (another word that we need a moratorium on) about thinking lyrics are important?

lady, if you have to ask...

"to get that rockist, lyrics-prioritizing monkey off yr backs, methinks."

this is fucking hip-hop.

hip-hopist ^^^

i never received that particular memo, Al. must put a call in to hip-hop HQ, quick like.

what's "rockist" (another word that we need a moratorium on) about thinking lyrics are important?

it's not just "thinking lyrics are important", it's the things ppl are saying about the lyrics ("show don't tell!" "he's saying the same things he's said before!") — what's "rockist" about all this is that it repeats a common gesture — which goes beyond rock/pop, following the high culture/mass culture distinction wherever it rears its head, re: genre fiction or metal or whatever — that sets (a very narrowly-conceived notion of) artistic 'originality' over and against conventionality/craft, with the latter not seen as basically empty, neutral, and valueless

"if I wanted to hear about (corpses/dancing/kanye) and whatever I could listen to a thousand other (metal bands/pop songs/kanye albums) instead of this one"

tbf that is not Lex's argument, and I don't think it's the one some dude is really standing behind even if his rhetoric veers in that direction occasionally

it may not be Lex's argument but I don't think it's asking too much of him to figure out what "rockist, lyrics-prioritizing monkey" refers to

oh wow that looks pretty bad out of context

xpost But the point is that his craft isn't very good this time either - the rhymes themselves are sloppy. It's not like he's a consistently solid MC who doesn't get his due - quite the opposite. Isn't artistic 'originality' Kanye's whole goal here? If anyone's encouraging a rockist reading of this record it's him.

lol snowy

I can't tell if the "jerkoffs/work off" part is just there to rhyme, if he genuinely believes he needs to cut down on his perfectionism (which could explain the amateurish vocal) or if he's passive-aggresively suggesting he's one of those oliver stone heroes who treats his wife badly because he's too busy doing his goddamn, world-important job.

oh, he totally is. and he's likewise totally full of shit in that respect.

xps

haha--fast thread moving to fastly.

i can't work out what ioannis and snowy think lyrics exist for

also, it's obvious that i'm not insisting that lyrics have to be full of ~meaning~ or that generic and good are mutually exclusive (one of my favourite hip-hop tracks of 2010 is diamond's "lotta money" for heaven's sake, but they have to work on some level, and imo kanye's don't for the majority of MBDTF.