My 180 Dark Twisted Fantasy

I have a confession.  I downloaded Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy almost immediately when it came out in the fall of 2010, and I hated it.  I downloaded the whole thing because I liked “Power” so much.  “Power” was on my workout, running, and party playlists.  I vividly remember running to “Power” on the National Mall, looking at the Capitol, and thinking that this whole city, that building, all these people, are seeking the power that Kanye is rapping about.  The people of our nation’s capital are fueled by it.  Needless to say, I was thrilled to listen to the WHOLE album.  My first listen was on a long walk I had to the grocery store.  I started with “Dark Fantasy” and quickly started skipping to search for “Power.”  Listened to it.  Awesome.  Then I ran into “All of the Lights”  — damn that track was tight.  Then, um, I hated every other song.  I remember getting impatient and skipping after only hearing a few seconds of a few songs.  Then, and I can’t really remember why I did this, I decided that I was extremely disappointed and hated the whole album.  I never even gave it a second chance.  Well, until I did.  But only after inexplicably hating the album for over a year, making fun of Kanye for being a jerk and crazy, really disliking Watch the Throne (which I still do), and agreeing with our President when he said this.  What finally pushed me to give it another shot was not the 2,456 Grammies Kanye won, or the fact that “All of the Lights” had replaced “Power” on multiple playlists; but it was my fiance hearing “Dark Fantasy” and “kind of liking it,” and my sister’s boyfriend (music producer) telling me over and over again how good the album was.  Fine.  I’ll listen to it again.  Here is what happened over the past several months, song by song.  And maybe the other dope boy will finally give this album its first real listen.

Ten Songs for Different Valentine’s Days

Happy Valentime’s Day, everyone!  Unfortunately, this year is one when I couldn’t take advantage of the great offers for roses from the vendors on the street corners.  I didn’t buy a heart-shaped box of candy and I’m not headed out to dinner with a sweetie.  But there’s no reason not to celebrate love.  Love is an amazing thing and, in fact, I think we should all celebrate St. Valentine every day.  So here are ten great songs for a wide range of different Valentine’s Days.*