Can We Get Much Higher? — A Round Table on Kanye West’s “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” (Sach O Reply)

 Well allow Sach O to retort. So it’s officially Kanyemania out there today. Pitchfork gave the album a 10.0, Slate’s got it as album of the year and the mainstream press seems...
By    November 23, 2010

 Well allow Sach O to retort.

So it’s officially Kanyemania out there today. Pitchfork gave the album a 10.0, Slate’s got it as album of the year and the mainstream press seems officially content to anoint Kanye as the superstar demigod he wants to be perceived as. On one hand, there’s an alarming conservatism here: boomer/late Gen-X run publications incapable of taking rap on its own terms going gaga over this big rockist statement. On the other, like I said this is a strong record. Since the discussion about MBDTF has officially transcended the music and has gone into the realm of its overall pop-culture impact, I wonder what kind of numbers this thing’ll do? Power wasn’t nearly as big a single as Yeezy’s previous anthems and it’s hard to measure what kind of impact the G.O.O.D Friday series had outside of the Nahright crowd: an impact on radio sure, but I see nothing that’ll stick around like Stronger or The Good Life on here.

To be honest, I find myself enjoying and listening to the record which is more than what I can say about most rap music these days but the zeitgeist is a little overbearing. Did y’all know that Curren$y’s Pilot Talk 2 leaked last weekend? Yeah, it’s pretty awesome. Also, I dunno who decided Nicki Minaj’s album should drop today but that guy should expect a Christmas layoff: probably not the best idea ever to drop a debut pop-rap album the same day that the world’s biggest pop rapper unveils his “Songs in Key of Life” moment. Anyhow, it’s been fun tearing through this thing with you guys but I think I’ll go back to lurking amongst the shadows of sub-pop culture: all of the lights are hurting my eyes.

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