Kanye West defined the new era of rap in the 2000’s since his debut with College Dropout in 2004, and effortlessly capped off the decade with his magnum opus, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in late 2010. Coming out of rough times in 2009, including the infamous Taylor Swift incident at the VMAs where he jumped on stage and proclaimed that Beyoncé deserved the award more, Kanye came out on top in 2010 with this hip-hop masterpiece no one saw coming. Produced by the man himself and going Platinum in the United States and Australia, the thirteen-track album conceived on his self-imposed exile in Hawaii was a critical success that cemented his legacy as one of the greatest rappers of all time.

MBDTF is artfully crafted and contains themes such as celebrity excess, consumer culture, race, and The American Dream. With a myriad of features including Kid Cudi, Rihanna, Jay Z, Nicki Minaj, John Legend, and others, and  including a variety of expertly-produced samples from various different musical muses and eras, the album is a pure Kanye work that contains all of his best musical attributes: writing, lyrics, production, sampling, rapping, and guest stars. Standout tracks such as the strong yet dreamy opening. “Dark Fantasy”, the hard-hitting “Power”, the popular “All of the Lights”, and the feature-packed “Monster” are just a few of the reasons this album stole 2010. Lesser-known tracks such as my personal favorite, “Runaway”, are beautifully-produced and a wonderful listen if you want to spend nine minutes listening to an interesting rap and R&B jewel.

MBDTF is a highly acclaimed and successful album, as well as symbolizing a successful recovery for Kanye. It also defined a decade and brought us into the start of a new one for rap and hip-hop, as well as solidify Kanye West as not only one of the greatest rappers, but one of the greatest artists to ever grace our ears. While he’s been going through another rough time at the end of 2016 and his music released after 2010 considered a mixed bag, history repeats itself, and Kanye is sure to heal and come back atop the musical game with his innovative and video game-inspired anticipated release, Turbo Grafx 16. But for now, we can always look back on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy as one of many critics’ greatest albums of all time, and in my opinion, the best album 2010 had to offer.