“My Presence Is A Present, Kiss My Ass.” – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy By Kanye West Album Review
Rap is dying. Let’s just face it. People are too caught up in shitty mainstream rap music to see good artists, like Atmosphere, Saul Williams, and (even though he is more well known…) Lupe Fiasco. When I heard Kanye West was going back to rapping on his new album, at the time called Good Ass Job, I was waiting for something that was only entertaining because it was drowning in its own ego, like most West albums. I listened to West every now and then, but I never thought he was anything more than a decently good rapper from the shitstream of popular rap. Though, when I started hearing the rave reviews of his new album, now titled My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, I will admit, it struck me as surprising. I mean, even Pitchfork gave him a 10/10 and they only give scores like that to The Cure! Being the curious man I am, I got the album and started listening to it. What hit me was one of the biggest surprises I have ever had while listening to a rap album. I mean, in a year where mostly nothing but shit came out, the one album that is coming from the biggest douche-bag in music (right next to Axl Rose and Metallica) today is the one you would expect to be the worst, right? Well, I nominate this album for “Biggest Shock of 2010″, because My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy ended up being one of the greatest albums I have heard all year.
You see, this would be the point where I say “LINKIN PARK IS BACK!” but this isn’t Linkin Park. And for the first time, I feel that’s for the best. Let’s admit it: Minutes To Midnight was an attempt to distance themselves from a sound, not an attempt to make a great record. It was okay, but it was overall throwaway. Mike, Chester, Joe, Phoenix, Brad and Rob are still trying to distance themselves from the dead (or what should be dead) genre of nu-metal after becoming the pinnacle of it, but it looks like this time they are trying to do something more than just run away from the past. But the almighty question(s) is this: Is this better than what they have done before? Has Linkin Park finally proved they can make music that has the same energy, emotion and awesomeness as Hybrid Theory and Meteora? Have they finally been able to make themselves a band instead of just a snapshot of the music industry in the early 2000′s? When am I going to stop asking questions and start answering them? Right about now, actually..jpg "La Album Cover")
It’s been a long time guys. The rock/rap/nu-metal/pop/whatever (and UK!) band Lostprophets are back after a few years and a disappointing album. James Oliver, the band’s live keyboardist, stated that this new album, titled The Betrayed, had “the bite that Start Something (their second album, it was the heaviest of the three) had, with the song-ability of Liberation Transmission (their third album, which was very poppy and disappointing) but personality of Thefakesoundofprogress (their first album, which was an odd mix of metal, rock, and nu-metal… which turned out amazing).” Any Lostprophets fan would be excited as all hell for this album then! That just described awesomeness! Hell, I actually had hope that they would be able to redeem themselves. Now, notice how earlier I said that they are back. I really… REALLY wanted to say “and better than ever” but that, sadly, is just not the case.
Okay, so as you have heard, Metallica’s new album, Death Magnetic, has been released. Everyone is freaking out saying “It’s old, good Metallica!” But I don’t know, I’m not that much into Metallica. BUT, I am now pissed at them. They released torrents of their new album on the internet. Now, with them being 100% against downloading, the 6th track has a virus, but not just any virus, this virus won’t mess up your computer, it will mess up your life. What it does is when the 6th track in imported into a music library, the virus scans all the other songs in that library and sends all the information to Sony BMG, allowing them to have evidence and be able to charge you with stealing. So, by all means, DO NOT DOWNLOAD IT. Oh, and Metallica… WTF?