West on this album is telling the listener a story, whether the subject he is rapping about is Racism in America on “Gorgeous” or explaining to us why no one man should have all the power he has it is all a part of his Twisted Fantasy. Kanye starts the story with the opening track “Dark Fantasy” where Nicki Minaj does the intro to the song and album and prefaces the story. Minaj informs us that we don’t really know what happens behind the scenes, but that if we want to know then we should zip it and listen. The story continues on racism and how it affects Kanye and other black men in America. However, he definitely would never give up, because to him that is way harder than trying and he has the power to do whatever he could possibly want and he shapes his life with the flowing ideas that he has. The media always portrays him like an enemy, like a monster, where he just wants to be who he is without judgment, so he lives with being portrayed as a Monster and that they should just stop the gossip. He is constantly blaming others for his mistakes because it is what he is “good at.” West is known for his crazy life of insane events happening in it, whether it is one of his fashion shows, his messy album release plans, or him making others famous while stealing away their moments in the spotlight. He feels lost at times with the things happening in the world and in his own life and he doesn’t know who will survive truly survive in America.
“Can we get much higher?” Teyana Taylor sings after the intro, meaning that Kanye is at the top musically and popularity-wise and there is no way he can top this best. On the second track, “Gorgeous” Kanye raps about racial injustice in America and how it ironically makes America gorgeous. The Racial inequality that West informs us of is explained to us as we are told to “Face it” and that we know that Jerome, a stereotypical black man’s name, would serve more time than Brandon, a stereotypical white man’s name, and how the media doesn’t like West when he is who he is, but they like him when he is wearing his Polo shirts and they think that they “got him.” West also informs us about how school homogenizes American society and steals our dreams and creativity. On “Power”, Kanye does it better than anybody we have ever seen do it, no surprise there as he is the self-proclaimed most influential person of the 21st century.
“All of the Light (Interlude)” segues us into the 5th track, “All of the lights” while adding some extra emotion and feeling into the song, which is already about being famous and dealing with the “lights.” Next is a song that is about incredibly successful hits while being a hit itself, “Monster” gives us some of Kanye’s best lyrics and flow with an absolutely amazing verse by Nicki Minaj. West shows us that he is truly ahead of the game in many ways when he spits the lyrics, “I’m living in the future so the present is my past my presence is a present, kiss my ass.” Some things in life are ridiculous, and life sometimes is too. Kanye, Jay-Z, Pusha T, and Cyhi are offended and present us why on “So Appalled”. All those beginners that Jay-Z raps about are just making dance tracks while they are innovating, pushing, and trying new things. The next track on this album “Devil in a New Dress” starts with a beautiful opening instrumental that has a soothing soulful sound that has Kanye saying “I love it though.” “Devil in a New Dress” features the rapper Rick Ross where he delivers his best bars of all time on the track’s outro while rapping about outsiders trying to call him out and the luxuries of being as rich and famous as he is. Next, we visit the undoubtedly magnificent track “Runaway”, a song that is around 9 minutes and features a melancholy piano solo to a beautifully distorted Kanye singing the outro where he emotionally sings the hook. Kanye knows he is a pessimist, so in this song, he wants to have a toast to all the negative things that he could be seen as. West just wants for others to run away if they can’t handle him because he isn’t going to change who he is, which is seen as him being a “douchebag”, “asshole”, “scumbag”, or “jerk-off”. Pusha T also has a verse on “Runaway” where he admits what he has done and how you have to make choices in life, but he isn’t going to give up money and women and that he is just, “young, rich, and tasteless.” Getting married in the bathroom, having honeymoons on the dancefloor, and still having a divorce on the same night is a normal thing in Kanye’s crazy life. He expands further on this on the track “Hell of a Life’ where he falls in love with a porn star and he realizes he no longer needs drugs, because “pussy and religion is all I need.” Kanye continues to blame others on the song “Blame Game”, Kanye and his girl argue and call each other names, but he would still rather argue with her than find a new girl. His girl at the time wasn’t perfect, but Kanye says that she made his life worth it. Kanye ends “Blame Game” reciting a poem about no longer loving each other and a skit where he hears his girl cheating on him through the phone by accident, however, she still mentions that she learned how to treat people nicely from Kanye, as she recites multiple times “Yeezy taught me.”
The Story begins to tie all together on the second to last track ‘Lost in the World” as he starts his verse with a love poem written for his now-wife, Kim Kardashian. Kanye is lost because of the crazy events in his hell of a life and he wants to run from the “lights” and be free to do what he wants, such as make his music without constant media presence. Who will survive in America? Kanye wonders on the last track of the album that features Gil Scott-Heron, but Kanye actually has no lyrics on this track. “Who Will Survive in America” is the name of the final track on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, was everything Kanye has gone through worth the fame, his dark fantasy ends now, as he knows what he has done and how life is unfair, especially to African Americans. Kanye still ends the story clueless and wondering who will survive in America?