To some extent, the album seems to suffused with this same sense of regret: it works as a kind of meditation on the consequences of one's bad choices, a particularly appropriate topic after Kanye's last couple of years. Oh yeah, it also features a reprise that sees him fantasizing about jumping out of a window. To pull a few quotes: " I'm an asshole" " I embody every characteristic of the egotistic" " I was the abomination of Obama's nation". 'Power', the lead single, makes this absolutely clear. However, the Kanye we have here, whilst still supremely assured of the greatness of his abilities, no longer appears to think of himself as a god guy. Previously, despite his occasional lack of confidence, he always seemed to cut himself some slack. MBDTF, however, signals a shift in the way West appears to view himself. His music has always oscillated between grandiosity and self-recrimination-see 'All Falls Down' or 'Diamonds are Forever - Remix' for instance. On the other hand, for a chap who seems to be so enamoured with what he's able to do, he still comes across as a person with a whole lot of self-doubt. On the one hand he's a remarkably self-confident man, assured of his own brilliance and validated by a decade of remarkable success. Despite an unembellished background free of criminality or street hyperbole, West is, in my mind at least, a more engaging character than any number of Gambino clones due to the conflict in his personality. West has always been a person uncomfortable in his own skin, which to a large extent has formed the cornerstone of his likeability. However, listening to My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, one gets the sense that, once again, Kanye has not escaped unscathed. Fortunately for the listener, West has always excelled at turning personal adversity into excellent art (as 'Through the Wire' so perfectly illustrated). Add in a mullet and some over-the-top outfits, and these last couple years have been a confusing time for our protagonist. His proclivity for awards-show interruptions came to a gruesome head at the 2009 MTV awards, culminating in the President of the United States publically referring to him as a jackass and his being made the brunt of a particularly memorable episode of South Park (ouch). Since mid-2008 or so, West's life seems to have taken a turn away from the heart-rending and into the realm of the surreal. While 808s and Heartbreak may have helped West publically exorcise the pain of these tragedies from his life, the years between its release and his latest have been, if not as tragic, far from smooth. Prior to beginning work on his latest album, the man suffered two awful life traumas (the unexpected death of his mother and the breakup of his engagement), events which wrought themselves in caps all over the angst-laden auto-croon of his last work. Times have been tough for Kanye West of late.
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