Music

21st Century Schizoid Man: How Kanye Changed Rap by Making a 70s Prog Album in 2010

For the month of November, Noisey will be remembering the buildup to Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy with a weekly series of G.O.O.D. Friday posts. Welcome to Noisey G.O.O.D. Fridays.

Last month, in an interview with SHOWStudio, Kanye West said that he felt like My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was a safe bet, a “bouquet” of all the aspects of his music he knew fans loved, presented and received with an enthusiasm that he played like an orchestra. It’s not the first time West has expressed this opinion; he said during the Yeezus promo run that he could make an album like MBDTF any time he wants to, but he’d rather push himself out of his comfort zone. There’s nothing wrong with an artist looking to move forward, obviously, but West’s characterization of his album’s sound as safe is baffling, since it was an unprecedented retreat by a hip-hop artist into the weird world of progressive rock.

Videos by VICE

theme music from The Exorcist, LARPing Blinded by the Lights
Genieve Figgis MBDTF’ Live Fast Die Young Eyez Closed MBDTF’
MBDTF’ We Are Young Rodeo

Who’s gonna head up the movement that tears this one down? Stars like Fetty Wap and Chief Keef have been made pairing trap music with quick and dirty recording methods and access to social media, like the punk rock movement combatting the record label bloat and excess of the mid-70s with a lean, DIY ethos. Ironically, the figurehead could be ‘Ye himself if he has anything to say about it. Yeezus was a self-conscious attempt at (expensive) raggedness, and the infinite rollout for SWISH is similarly “laissez-faire,” though this time it’s likely a byproduct of West placing music third after family and fashion rather than a statement of intent. Try as he might, though, this self-styled god can’t erase the impact of the gnarled monolith that is My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, the greatest rock album by our generation’s greatest rock star.

Phil Witmer makes music and writes in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter.