Despite an unembellished background free of criminality or street hyperbole, West is, in my mind at least, a more engaging character than any number of Gambino clones due to the conflict in his personality. West has always been a person uncomfortable in his own skin, which to a large extent has formed the cornerstone of his likeability. However, listening to My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, one gets the sense that, once again, Kanye has not escaped unscathed. Fortunately for the listener, West has always excelled at turning personal adversity into excellent art (as 'Through the Wire' so perfectly illustrated). Add in a mullet and some over-the-top outfits, and these last couple years have been a confusing time for our protagonist. His proclivity for awards-show interruptions came to a gruesome head at the 2009 MTV awards, culminating in the President of the United States publically referring to him as a jackass and his being made the brunt of a particularly memorable episode of South Park (ouch). Since mid-2008 or so, West's life seems to have taken a turn away from the heart-rending and into the realm of the surreal. While 808s and Heartbreak may have helped West publically exorcise the pain of these tragedies from his life, the years between its release and his latest have been, if not as tragic, far from smooth. Prior to beginning work on his latest album, the man suffered two awful life traumas (the unexpected death of his mother and the breakup of his engagement), events which wrought themselves in caps all over the angst-laden auto-croon of his last work.
Times have been tough for Kanye West of late.