S2E16 – Season Finale: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Welcome to DICECT, long-form musical analysis broken into short, digestible episodes. I'm your host, Cole Kushner. Hit me! When the four corners of this cocoon collide, you'll slip through the cracks so that you'll survive.

Gather your way, take a deep look inside. Are you really who they are the lies? Put your pimp a butterfly. On season one of DICECT, we examined Kendrick Lamar's 2015 album, The Pimp a Butterfly.

Centered up to the album was Kendrick's acclimation to fame, and the pressures of success after his debut album, Good Kid Mad City, propelled him from the streets of Compton, the critically acclaimed rapper and celebrity. Adapting to his new life wasn't easy. Throughout The Pimp a Butterfly, Kendrick expressed the depression and insecurities he felt during this adjustment period. The sentiment was articulated most acutely on the song You, an emotional rock bottom that finds Kendrick contemplating suicide.

As the album progresses, Kendrick takes a pivotal trip to South Africa. It's here that his worldview grows larger, and after a transformative encounter with God at a gas station, he's able to reconcile his internal conflictions, and embrace the responsibilities of being a role model. This personal harmonization is expressed in the album's penultimate song I, where we find Kendrick coming full circle, performing to his hometown of Compton, an anthem of self-pride and self-worth. Rather than ending on the euphoria and optimism of I, Kendrick instead concludes the album with Mortal Man.

It's a prophetic song, one that acknowledges the seemingly inevitable decline of our icons and celebrities. Mortal Man challenges us listeners, fans, and followers to question our relationship and loyalty we have with our so-called idols. He asks, When shit hits a fan, are you still a fan? It would seem that Kendrick is all too aware of the decline of his idols and heroes, all too aware of the flimsiness and fickleness of public support.

So Pippa Butterfly ends in fantasy, as Kendrick converses with and seeks advice from the spirit of Tupac Shakur. Kendrick asks Pac directly how to maintain sanity amidst success and celebrity. And through your different avenues of success, how would you say you managed to keep a level of sanity? By my faith in God, by my faith in the game, and by my faith in all good things come to those that stay true.

You know what I'm saying? And it was happening to me for a reason. You know what I'm saying? I was noticing shit.

I was punching the right buttons and it was happening. So it's no problem. Ultimately, Kendrick's fate is shrouded in a mystery as the Pippa Butterfly ends with Tupac failing to respond to Kendrick's final question. A metaphor for an icon taken from us too soon.

While Kendrick found esteem and confidence on I, ready to accept his role as celebrity and role model, Mortal Man forces us to wonder about Kendrick's fate as celebrity, knowing that he can only control so much, knowing that one wrong move could sway public perception. And like so many before him, the success and fame and celebrity he's accrued could very easily come crumbling down. Yo Taylor, I'm really happy for you. I'm going to let you finish.

But Beyonce has one of the best videos of all time. One of the best videos of all time. On September 13th, 2009, Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift at the MTV Video Music Awards. And well, you know the story.

Kanye was deemed America's villain overnight. And the success and fame and celebrity he accrued was instantly put in jeopardy. It was a shit hits the fan moment Kendrick Forza on Mortal Man. And while To Pimp a Butterfly documents the struggle of acclimating to fame and influence, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye's first album post-BMAs, documents the struggles when fame and influence reveal their dark side, when the hero turns villain, when shit hits the fan.

As we noted many times this season, the aftermath of the BMAs sent Kanye on a self-imposed exile, first to Japan, then Rome. When he finally returned to the States, it was to Hawaii where he began working on what would become My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The stakes of the album couldn't have been higher in Kanye's head. Because I really put myself in a zone that I felt like my life was dependent on the success of this album.

You know, and with that being the case, I said, you know what? No matter what anybody says about me, they won't, I can write something that can make someone that hates me the most have to really respect the love of the song. Throughout the season, we discussed the structure of Twisted Fantasy in three acts. These three acts loosely resemble what's called the Hero's Journey, an extremely prevalent narrative structure used in many films you watch every year.

Act 1 is known as the Exposition, provides environmental context, introduces the main character or protagonist, and establishes their motivations and desires. In Act 1 of Twisted Fantasy, comprised of the song's dark fantasy, gorgeous and power, we're introduced to the album's main character, Kanye West, or at least some version of Kanye West. The album opener Dark Fantasy begins with a prelude, the reimagining of Roald Dahl's Cinderella performed by Nicki Minaj. It's a synopsis of the album To Come, where fame is likened to Cinderella's story, one that finds her living in a dream world, that ends when the clock strikes midnight.

In Twisted Fantasy, fame is likened to Cinderella's fantastical trip to the Royal Ball, and Kanye's VMA incident is the clock striking midnight, the moment in which the fantasy is over, and the ugly dark side of fame reveals itself. Kanye enters Dark Fantasy saying, I used to fantasize about this back in Chicago. It establishes a protagonist, where he's from, while also alluding to the fantasy that is fame he dreamed of when he was a boy. The next lines flash forward to the present tense, mercy mercy me, that mercy a lago, that's me the first year that I blow.

Kanye is now rich and famous, driving foreign sports car after finding success in celebrity through music. The song's hook asks, can we get much higher? A reinforcement of our character's position in the world. He's rich and famous, living the high life.

With the song gorgeous, we have more character development, as Kanye adds dynamics to his position in the world as a man overcoming the racial obstacles people of color face in America. It sheds light on how Kanye found success through his indomitable will and determination. The song power expresses at once the pinnacle of Kanye's rise, as well as his inevitable demise. Kanye parades himself as a powerful, influential agent of the 21st century, while also cautioning against power's destructive force.

Ultimately, the fame and power is too much for Kanye. He imagines his own suicide, and leaves us with a question. You got the power to let power go? You got the power to let power go?

Is this question and Kanye's imagined suicide that sets Kanye on a path of self-discovery. He'll enter a fantasy world, a construct and representation of his own psyche. Here, he'll attempt to gain a clear picture of who he is, and relinquish the power he's accrued. The power and fame that post the amaze, has revealed itself to be farcical and circumstantial, and void of true loyalty.

In the three-act structure of the hero's journey, the first act concludes with the protagonist leaving his or her ordinary world, to begin a journey into the unknown. On Twisted Fantasy, this bridge into the unknown is represented by All the Lights interlude, which we noted sounds a lot like funeral music following the suicide on power. The song All the Lights is an introduction to Kanye's fantasy, the unknown. We enter a fantastical world of bright lights, and find Kanye imagining himself as an abusive ex-con trying to win back his daughter.

We interpreted this as a dreamlike metaphor for Kanye's own situation, with Taylor Swift being the slapped girl, and the daughter being his pure creativity and authentic identity he's trying to win back. In a typical three-act structure, Act II finds the protagonist traversing the unknown world, running into a series of challenges and obstacles that prevent him or her from easily achieving their goals. In Twisted Fantasy, Kanye traverses the unknown world that is his own psyche, exploring and challenged by the different facets of his own persona. On Monster, he plays the heartless villain, the role bestowed on him post via maze.

On So Appalled, he plays the jaded rock star who realizes the ridiculousness of his lavish lifestyle. With Devil in a new dress and Runaway, we enter the romantic section of the album, as Kanye tries his hand at love. Here, we gain a deeper understanding of Kanye and his limitations through his frail relationship with the unnamed woman, which we can also view as a metaphor for fame itself. We learn that Kanye's flaws, inadequacies and ego prevent him from being able to truly love or be loved.

It all leads to the album's moment of grand catharsis, Runaway's second half, an outpouring of human emotion. In the three-act structure, there's typically a final conflict or climax in which the protagonist battles the antagonist. Runaway's second half, in terms of a plot point, could be viewed as his climax, with Kanye of course being both the hero and the villain, his own worst enemy, and he's attempting to reconcile this duality. The story's climax is followed by act three, which typically contains what's called falling action, the ends in resolution and the hero returning home, a changed man or woman.

This is where Kanye's journey bears from the traditional three-act narrative structure. After the cathartic release of Runaway, we fall deeper into the rabbit hole that is Kanye's psyche, and Kanye becomes more and more isolated and alone. Hell of a life begins with an energetic stab of explicit fantasy, but it ultimately deteriorates until Kanye is found alone in front of a computer screen masturbating. In Blame Game, Kanye tries to find a guilty party for his unraveled relationship, and after a scatterbrained and emotionally schizophrenic attempt at a persecution, the song concludes with perhaps the lowest, loneliest moment of the album.

The album's quote-unquote resolution comes by way of the album's penultimate track Lost in the World. Kanye embraces the chaos of his life and solidifies his intent moving forward. He no longer desires fame, rather he wishes to abandon the plastic life of celebrity in exchange for something more authentic, like love, like a wife and children. On Lost in the World, Kanye is letting a part of himself die in order to be reborn.

He's yielding to chaos to find order. He admits he's lost in the world so he may find his path. It's the reconciliation of the duality and internal confliction presented throughout the album. The answer to the question posed at the end of power, you've got the power to let power go.

But it seemed Kanye's going to give it his best shot. Lost in the World is a statement of intent, the first step forward to the actualization of a better future. But ultimately, like to pip a butterfly, twisted fantasies end becomes shrouded in mystery, as who will survive in America casts an ominous shadow over Kanye's new path. The grim portrait of America provided by Gil Scott-Heron forces us to question whether Kanye will be able to actualize his new path in the face of the heartlessness and false promises of the American dream.

Who will survive in America? Who will survive in America? Who will survive in America? Who will survive in America?

After one hour and eight minutes of ambitious, grandiose, heavenward-reaching musical material that is my beautiful dark twisted fantasy, the album concludes with a half-hearted, flimsy round of applause. It's a lackluster end to an album of this magnitude, and of course, a calculated decision. We first think of the line No one wants to hear the preacher spill or spiel, stated by Heron in the opening of Who will survive in America. The preacher is representative of God, of eternal truth.

In the context of Heron's peace, both the preacher line and the flimsy applause imply the unwillingness of Americans to hear or acknowledge the true, unjust conditions of their seemingly directionless, dare we say God of this country. We suspect Kanye uses the applause to convey a similar message, but likely one more personal. Twisted Fantasy was Kanye's magnus opus, his grand offering to the public as, and this is Kanye's word, a quote-unquote apology for his behavior, an attempt to win back the world. As a public figure with an enormous voice, Kanye found himself post-VMAs at the risk of losing that voice for good.

The applause found at the end of Twisted Fantasy could be interpreted as his grand gesture falling on deaf ears, that his public perception and villainization restrain his voice, that his artistry and creative talent go unnoticed, because the concept and consequences of celebrity, that despite being a household name around the world, Kanye is ultimately alone. The applause also play into the fantasy aspect of the album. As we mentioned throughout our analysis, much of Twisted Fantasy takes place in Kanye's head, the dreamlike interpretations of his circumstances, persona, and emotions he was dealing with in the aftermath of the VMAs. Of course, our fantasies are often exaggerated versions of real events or scenarios, which explains the album's larger-than-life maximalist approach.

And while the album's enormous sound would have us believe it would be more likely followed by a standing ovation, the likeless applause bring us back to reality, that my beautiful dark Twisted Fantasy is just that, a grand fantasy taking place in someone's head, perhaps symptomatic of someone spending too much time alone. We're left to wonder if the new path he paved for himself on Lost in the World would materialize, left to question whether or not he'll survive an American landscape that worships their idols one day, only to crucify them the next. In the case of Kanye West, the question of whether or not he'll survive is sadly a question we're still wondering about to this day. You might think you've played the scene.

You haven't. The real one's fighting me. The watered-down one, the one you know, was made up centuries ago. It made the sound door whack and horny.

This season, we spent nearly 10 hours together discussing a single album. And it's hard to calculate for sure, but I can safely say I spent nearly 400 hours researching, listening to, and writing about Twisted Fantasy this year. Similar to last season, for today's finale, I'm going to loosen my tie a bit and speak about my beautiful dark Twisted Fantasy less objectively, and talk more personally about my thoughts and takeaways from the album. The first thing I would like to address directly is the concept of fame.

It's of course the central theme of Twisted Fantasy, the album's underlying antagonist. It was also a major player in Kendrick Lamar's Pippa Butterfly. Despite the many cautionary tales we've heard about fame, despite the countless artists, musicians, actors, and athletes who have struggled with it, leading many to drug and alcohol addictions, mental breakdowns, and even suicide and untimely deaths. Despite all of that, fame is still generally viewed as something to be desired in our culture.

And it's no surprise why. In the face of the existential dread of a meaningless existence, fame is a confirmation of self-worth, a validation of one's importance, a chance at immortality. It's a tempting proposition. But why then do so many who have tamed fame struggle so much with it?

I think it's because in exchange for fame, you lose part of your humanity. Because the fame is seen larger than life, we assume a certain invincibility. And with that perceived invincibility comes an inherit dehumanization. I recently saw a video every single one of them with their camera phones out, filming and taking pictures of the two.

Imagine this for a moment. Famous or not, imagine walking with a child with a group of strangers following you around and filming you without your permission. You become something other than human at that point. You're an exhibit.

That's the way we treat animals at the zoo. That's what we do when we visit the Eiffel Tower or the Statue of Liberty. Think of the dehumanizing effects of being treated this way. Aside from the obvious discomfort and awkwardness, I believe it does two things simultaneously.

It both amplifies your ego and leaves you incredibly self-conscious and insecure. The scrutiny and attention make you feel superhuman and less than human at the same time. That's an incredibly confusing, that despite his bombast, his success, his celebrity, his money, his talent, his wife, his ego, his reputation, his controversy, Kanye West first and foremost is a human being because there's no escaping the human experience. Despite our cultural assumptions about success and celebrity, there's still no escaping hurt, sorrow, joy, pain, heartbreak, stress, confusion, and all the other complexities of navigating blindly through this life.

There's no Louis bag, Lamborghini, magazine cover that can change that. Arthur Schopenhauer, that German philosopher we spoke about earlier this season, once said, Wealth is like seawater. The more you drink, the thirstier you become. The same is true of fame.

And it's true. Fame and materialism are cut from the same cloth. We often yearn for a new car, bigger house, dice or clothes, whatever it may be. They become trophies representative of success, a way to validate your worth to yourself and others.

And when we get those things, sure, it feels good in the moment. But soon enough, we find ourselves desiring the next thing, and the next thing, and the next thing, until we realize it's an unquenchable thirst, a perpetual hamster wheel. It's only till we can step off that wheel, examine and reconcile who we are void of material things, void of fame or outside confirmation, that we find true harmony, true contentment and peace. This was a revelation found in both to Pimp a Butterfly and my beautiful dark twisted fantasy.

Internal harmony and contentment has to come from within. It can't come from outside validation. Can't come from material things. It comes from within.

Frederick Nietzsche, other german philosopher we referenced earlier this season once said quote i found strength where one does not look for it in simple mild and pleasant people without the least desire to rule conversely the desire to rule has often appeared to me a sign of inward weakness they fear their own slave soul and shroud it in a royal cloak in the end they still become the slaves of their followers and their fame unquote isn't this essentially the story of my beautiful dark twisted fantasy since a young age connie craved success and stardom which he eventually attained at the highest level overnight that success was put in jeopardy twisted fantasy was connie's deliberate attempt to win back the public because it was made with intentions other than pure creative expression connie now often speaks somewhat negatively of the album as if it's tainted in some way as if like nietzsche suggests it was an act of slavery to his followers and fame you know people extend their brand for a long time there's true moments of genius and then there's just moments of um kind of looking through the archives and placing shit together like people so many people rate you know dark fantasy is like one of the best albums and yeezus and 808s are so much better and stronger uh dark fantasy is me almost like an apology record like power was the least progressive song that i ever had as a first single and it was like this me going back and spending six you know months dedicated months it was over two years it took the least album but six dedicated months and kind of piecing together what people liked about me to make an entire bouquet that they loved that was the most listenable that was the least challenging that was that and people want to talk about how much they loved that like it was thanksgiving dinner and you know how long has thanksgiving dinner been cooked for with all due respect to kanye i disagree about his thoughts on power if you listen to the power episode you understand why but what i think this interview reveals is that kanye's feelings about twisted fantasy are tainted by its intentions it wasn't created from a place of absolute purity it was partly a means of validation from the outside world something he realizes now is ultimately a fruitless endeavor he feels 808s and yeezus were stronger because they were made from a place of purity their untainted creative expressions of his emotions without regard for the outside world like nietzsche said the famous become slaves through their fans and followers twisted fantasy as unintuitive as it might sound is a constrained artistic expression it's partly the reason why kanye's next solo album yeezus is so abrasive the reason why in the song i am a god kanye says as soon as people like you make them unlike you kissing people's asses so unlike you having regained the public's admiration through good fridays twisted fantasy cruel summer and watch the throne kanye seems done with the fickleness and circumstantial loyalty of the public with yeezus kanye was taking back control of his creativity if twisted fantasy was an apology to the public an act of slavery it would seem yeezus was a giant fuck you an act of liberation and rebellion yeezus is at least in part the expression of frustration with the flimsiness of public loyalty the same public loyalty kindred the more question on mortal man mortal man is a song that forces us to examine the way we all personally view celebrities and artists that's a question you may consider asking yourself if you haven't already how do we all individually contribute to this concept of fame a concept that seems to destroy or at least severely complicate so many of the lives it attaches itself to this fame give us the right to follow someone around at a theme park putting a camera in their face so we may selfishly post it on social media or could it be that the greatest gift the most selfless act the biggest thank you we can grant the people we admire is a sense of normalcy to idolize cherish admire their work but respect and forever remember their human beings another thing i thought about a lot this season was the seemingly contradictory notion of kanye west how can someone so famous so larger than life remain somehow extremely relatable to so many of us it's a thing that you'll notice comes up again and again in the audio montage of dissect listeners at the end of today's episode i think the reasons why kanye west is relatable despite his public perception and fame he says some really important fundamental things about art in general specifically i want to talk about great art's ability to inspire action one of the most important aspects about kanye west the thing that sets his music apart from so many others is that his art inspires action it has the potential to change the way you live your life it can directly influence the choices you make it inspires so many of us that believe in ourselves and because of that belief we take chances we perhaps not normally take this i think is the reason kanye west and his music are so meaningful to so many of us he takes the very specific and makes it universal if you listen to the first few episodes this season you know that kanye west only became the kanye west we know today because of his hard work determination and blind persistence on his path to self-actualization kanye had hundreds of reasons not to continue not to pursue his dreams there was the onslaught of naysayers the constant rejection from record labels the marginalization of a producer the car crash that threatened his life and ability to speak and in the face of the myriad reasons to give up there's just one reason for kanye west to continue a belief in himself that's it kanye felt something inside of himself that no one else could see and without this belief in determination we not have the privilege of experiencing his art art that has dramatically shifted contemporary culture and it's that same belief in determination that gave him the ability to overcome his suicidal thoughts after his mother's death and the torrential vma backlash it's that same belief in self that makes kanye west both inspiring and relatable he shares with us this very specific personal story but when we strip his story of its specifics we're left with something very fundamental very human he's simply a man who's attempting to overcome his personal circumstances and challenges attempting to grow and mature as a person attempting to find contentment and happiness and this stripping away the specifics of someone's story in order to find their intent is something i personally do as much as possible it's an exercise routine for your mind one that will build your empathy muscle and your capacity to relate to nearly everyone on this earth intent over specifics when we strip the album of its specifics my beautiful dark twisted fantasy is simply a story of a man examining his own challenging circumstances ultimately proposing a resolution through the belief in himself stripped of its specifics to pip a butterfly is simply a story of a man examining his own circumstances and challenges ultimately proposing a resolution through the belief in himself while both albums are sonically grandiose and very specific to their own personal journey when we strip them of their specifics until we're left with only their intent we find something very basic and universal something that we can all relate to both artists were not content with their life and they were simply seeking a better way to live through rigorous self-examination they assessed and sorted the authentic from the fake and realigned their life path altered the trajectory of who they are toward who they want to become this is how progress is made in life in the world one realignment one readjustment at a time we're all in a constant state of becoming even our heroes both kendrick and connie are living proof they both share with us their experience at its core very human experience because it's done with so much honesty and genuine emotion we can relate this is art at its best because art at its best has the ability to expand our worldview be it kendrick lamar's experience growing up in compton or connie west struggle with fame if a story is told well and honestly through art it helps us to understand the experience of others experiences we'd likely know nothing about otherwise we can watch a movie like hotel rwanda and get a basic understanding of a life experience unlike anything most of us can imagine you can listen to an album like kendrick lamar's good kid bad city and get a basic understanding of what it might be like to grow up in the gang-infested streets of compton there are countless examples of this these stories and experiences told through art expand our worldview they force us to consider experiences that are different from our own and at the risk of sounding like a broken record they compel us to have empathy which can simply be defined as having a basic understanding of someone else's story but the intersection of art and empathy is nothing more than a pleasant-sounding theory if it doesn't inspire action the philosopher herbert marcus said that quote art cannot change the world but it can contribute to changing the consciousness and drives of the men and women who could change the world some 20 years later the poet tupac chakour said i'm not saying i'm going to change the world but i guarantee i will spark the brain that will change the world the primary function of art is to inspire action otherwise art is a static novelty something that sits on a wall artists aren't meant to be worshipped art meant to be tabloid subjects or treated like animals in a zoo they're simply meant to be listened to they're the conveyors of universal truths they often express what most of us find to be inexpressible they help to crystallize our own existence help us to better understand our own experiences and inspire us to take action in our own lives one of the primary goals of dissect is to act as an intersection between art and action to make art more readily understandable expedite the expansion of worldview so you may extract meaning and be inspired to act but this podcast means nothing and more importantly art itself means nothing if it's rendered inactive if we consume it passively like we do so much these days art has so much to give us if only we allow it but you have to listen when it calls you that album you love so much that you listen to over and over year after year that connection isn't arbitrary there's a reason for that there's a reason you and i do mean you very specifically are able to sit through a podcast that so tediously picks apart art you recognize either consciously or intuitively that art has something very tangible to offer you that if you make yourself available to it art has the power to influence your actions to push forward the progress of human existence but the empathetic understanding of the stories and experiences of others i know these might sound like lofty inspirational cliches but they're really not your life and the lives of others improve due to the collection of individual actions and if art can act as a catalyst to action inspire you to become more empathetic to the experience of others it'll expand your worldview it will change the way you think and therefore change the way you act i know this to be true because it very recently happened to me in a very tangible way as much as i attempt to keep my personal life separate from this podcast i'm going to share with you my story and i preface the story knowing that i'm not the end all be all shining example of how to live i also preface the story knowing that i'm circumstantially very fortunate but i'm sharing with you this story because it's the direct effect of art and action the direct effect of altering the trajectory of one's life it's the story of this podcast i'm currently 34 years old i'm not old but i'm certainly not young anymore either throughout my teenage and adult life as long as i can remember really i've dreamt of one day making a living through a creative project for about 10 years that meant writing and performing music in the handful of bands that i was in during those years as much as i loved school i dropped out of college to give music my all for a while i even lived in a closet under a staircase because it was cheap and allowed me to work less and create music more ironically as soon as i got fairly close to obtaining my goal i realized that the band life wasn't the life i wanted to live anymore so i realigned my life path went back to college and faked my way into the music program despite not knowing how to read music or never having taken a music lesson in my life i studied music composition immersing myself in classical music for over four years once i graduated i realized that while i loved composition theory and classical music it wasn't what i ultimately wanted to do with my life shortly after that time i found a job i liked and my wife and i had a daughter as you either know or as you can imagine kids are amazing but exhausting i love my daughter more than anything in the world but i'd be lying if i didn't say that having a kid has the potential to suck the ambition from your personal life due to sheer exhaustion looking back at that time it would have been very easy and very easily justifiable for me to give up my creative dream but instead i followed my intuition i didn't give up it actually feels really nice to be able to say that honestly i didn't give up i started a podcast called dissect a unification of all the things i've come to love over my lifelong pursuit of creativity music music composition theory history culture philosophy writing critical thinking and storytelling but dissect also posed a series of practical challenges i had to get over hearing the sound of my own voice that initial insecurity nearly destroyed the chance of this podcast from seeing the light of day but the biggest challenge a challenge that lasts to this day is simply time i work a full-time job and have a wife and daughter that's enough to fill a daily schedule and then some in order to create this podcast i wake up every day at 5 a.m i work on the podcast i go to work for 8 to 9 hours a day i come home and spend time with my family they go to sleep and i stay up late working on this podcast the next morning i get up and do it all over again the world gives you nothing until you give it everything that's been my mantra this year and frankly i live in a perpetual state of exhaustion but make no mistake i love creating dissect i voluntarily choose exhaustion in the ongoing pursuit of a lifelong dream to make a living doing something i created something that i love and it's extremely exciting and honestly a bit surreal for me to announce today and i'm not exaggerating here literally the day i'm recording this i officially accepted an opportunity that will allow me to create dissect full-time i'm quitting my job tomorrow and come 2018 i'll be making a living doing something that i created something that i love it's still all sinking in to be honest but to bring it all back to this season i shared with you my story because it's a personal account of art inspiring action one that i hope resonates with you because when we strip my story of its specifics we have a man who examined and re-examined the challenges of his life and constantly realigned his life trajectory in order to make progress it's my story it's kendrick's story it's kanye's story and it's your story too we're all in a constant state of becoming all realigning again and again our life trajectory in order to move who we are a little bit closer to who we want to become and i tell you my story knowing that it's not the final chapter i'll inevitably face a new set of challenges that i'll have to navigate through that's just the way life works but if kendrick and kanye have taught us anything these first two seasons it's that sacrifice hard work dedication blind determination and most importantly the belief in oneself is the key to ongoing progress with all those cliches you hear all the time but that's the danger of cliches they tempt us to roll our eyes words and concepts we often hear is thrown around so much that they can lose their meaning but we can't let that happen hard work determination blind persistence and a belief in oneself are the essential building blocks of progress and if you take away anything from kendrick lamars to pimp a butterfly from kanye west my beautiful dark twisted fantasy from even this little podcast let it be the inspiration of action in your own life to pursue the things you love to challenge yourself in that pursuit when things inevitably become difficult to resist the temptation of giving up because it's easy or you're tired or you fail more times than you succeeded to continually realign your life's trajectory as many times as necessary to pursue and spend the most amount of time with the things that you love go listen to all my music it's the codes of self-esteem it's the codes of who you are if you're a kanye west fan you're not a fan of me you're a fan of yourself you will believe in yourself i'm just the espresso i'm just a shot in the morning to get you going to make you believe that you can overcome that situation that you're dealing with all the time i always feel like i could do anything that's the main thing people are controlled by thoughts their perception of themselves they're slowed down by their perception of themselves if you're taught you can't do anything you won't do anything i was taught i could do everything my mother made me believe in myself no matter how many people tell me stop believing in yourself stop saying what you can do stop affirming what you're going to do and then and then completing that in real life that's the improper way to do it i refuse to follow those rules that society has set up in the way that they control people with low self-esteem the time is now the time is now to express and for people to believe in themselves the time is now for it to be okay to be great people in this world shun people for being great for being a bright color for standing out but the time is now to be okay to be the greatest you we've now reached my favorite part of the entire season and that's hearing from you all i asked for you to submit your thoughts on kanye west twisted fantasy this podcast season basically anything you wanted to share what you're going to hear now is a collection of incredibly diverse voices from all around the world all united by a shared love of kanye west and his music but perhaps more importantly a shared love of art itself i encourage you all to give them your full attention they may sound or think different from you but they are your people and it's surprising how much we can learn from one another if only we listen jasmine canterbury uk i remember when my beautiful actress of fancy came out and the first time i listened to it was like suddenly hearing what i hadn't known i was waiting to hear it slotted into parts of my brain that were dormant and they exploded into a kaleidoscope of colors apart from the lyrics which are some of my favorite of all time orally this album makes my brain happy and to this day the drums kicking in in all of the lights just makes me go oh that is so good dylan from chicago the day the late registration came out in 2005 i bought the album and played it for my mother she was brought to tears by hey mama and a memory associated with that song was forever bonded i lost my mother in my mid-20s and kanye's parallel narrative in his songs has always spoken to me and brought strength through sad experiences i still watch kanye's 08 grammy performance of hey mama every mother's day and lines like last night i saw you in my dreams and i can't wait to go to sleep are intensely relatable moments it's been easy for me to parse out feelings of empathy for kanye and men's public meltdowns raggedoshes behavior and other tomfoolery beneath it all is a deeply complex man who just wants to be done this boy once more that's a universal human experience even for yeezus hey there guys this is easy from satirabia um one of the major themes of my beautiful doctor's fantasy is adapting and egotistical persona in order to hide the many crippling insecurities that he have which is the main reason I relate to Kanye more than ours I relate to him as a human being thanks Cole for all your great work peace out yo what's up this is Spose from Wells, Maine I love this podcast I just want to say that we need more Kanye West I am endlessly inspired by Kanye his art his fearlessness he's destroyed many of the walls I thought existed in music in culture in marketing and I hope he never stops innovating for us though many losers hate Kanye I think he'll be universally appreciated in retrospect almost like Abraham Lincoln or some shit long live Kanye West we need more Kanye West my name is Danny and my beautiful dark twisted fantasy came out during my first major breakup in an odd way the themes and power of the album mirrored my struggle of losing somebody resenting an ex hating myself for the part I play in the destruction of the relationship and helped me rebuild my self-worth and ego afterwards Kanye's music has always been important to me but this was simply the case of a great album at the right time I believe that Kanye is a definitive entertainer for people who are looking to believe in themselves and if nothing else the message I got from this album is that I should never be afraid to bet on myself Salutations faithful dissect listeners my name is Joey I'm a writer from Milwaukee Wisconsin and I think the genius of season 2 lies in the thematic connections it makes between season 1 particularly the exploration of Kanye's fall from grace and how his career often embodies the highwire act of being a black celebrity in America which as you may recall is something Kendrick addresses directly on to Pimple Butterfly and which Cole shined the light on so I really want to thank Cole for that and especially for encouraging us to practice empathy in general in closing I just really want to thank Kanye for being Kanye Hey my name is Callie and I'm in Nashville, Tennessee I've always been a Kanye fan and this podcast made me sympathize and understand him even more and also made me further realize what a force he is and how misunderstood and underappreciated his talent has become breaking down the lyrics as well as the musical structure was super powerful for me I also have a new appreciation for this album and I found myself listening to it on repeat a lot over the past few weeks while listening to this podcast I kept figuring out a way to talk about Kanye and in particular this album the most emotional songs for me were Power and Runway both which brought me to tears I hope that Kanye will create music that challenges folks and makes them not just want to dance but want to listen Hi everyone my name is Rachel and I'm from Hayward, California when I first heard that Ducks like season 2 was going to be about Kanye it didn't matter what Kanye album it was going to be about from College Dropout to Yeezus to my beautiful dark twisted fantasy to 808s and heartbreaks these albums are a pure representation of Kanye's evolution as an artist each of them represent a different time and struggle in his life and the greatest gift that he's given to me as a fan is his vulnerability to allow me to see him evolve as an artist his music has always spoken for itself and I'm forever grateful for that Cole I hope you do another Kanye album but regardless you're awesome thanks man Hey Cole my name is James I'm from Tampa, Florida shout out to Kanye and Matias I was going to say this season please change my respect on the album and ultimately my opinion of Kanye I know what effort went to his work but not to the degree that everything in it had a meaning but I mostly want to thank you that second rap in general as someone who's a big fan of the art not many people give me the time of the day to explain it or explain its importance but you help others understand and appreciate the art which I thank you for I talk about what I learn from you all the time especially for my mom so I want to thank you for helping me appreciate the art more and helping others understand it and I hope to see the channel grow What's up Dicec Podcast it's Sam from Tampa and this is my favorite album of all time and I really think you highlighted some of the features of it that I think go underlooked when people appreciate the project on a surface level and don't really look at the intricacies of Kanye's character how he's changing and how even when he's at his lowest you can still find that he's relatable and that you can side with him I just want to thank you for all your hard work I can't wait to see what season 3 is Shout out to my boy James My name is Grayson and I live in Searcy, Arkansas Roger Ebert has famously said that film is an empathy generating machine and I think that can be said about a lot of creative expression Most people I know when Kanye West's name is brought up will dismiss him as an asshole or maybe even herald him as the greatest creative genius alive today Well I think both of those labels contain elements of truth I think what he is most of all is multifaceted and human I think Kanye West music and projects like the Dicect Podcast that seek to understand his music help illuminate more what those terms mean and have taught me and I'm sure a lot of others more about what it means to be us Hi this is Teresa from San Francisco Being a Kanye West fan can be lonely at times I find myself struggling to defend his creativity and explain his cultural influence to friends who see him as nothing more than an arrogant asshole that the media makes him out to be So thank you Cole for shining light on not only the artistry of Kanye's work but also the human being behind the genius a human being who is worthy of our empathy and whose contributions to our culture deserve to be recognized Hello my name is Alyssa I'm from the St. Louis area and I just want to say thank you Cole for reminding us all that Kanye is a person just like the rest of us that he faces pain in his life and he has to figure out how to emotionally navigate these struggles he makes mistakes he learns and he turns around and works on himself to become better Can any one of us really say that we would handle the stress of pain any differently? Hey this is Gully in Venice and I just wanted to share my thoughts about Kanye For me Dissect was a huge redeemer for Kanye I'd always enjoyed his music but a lot of the controversy and his sort of douchebaggery in the media really had turned me off a lot but I think what I discovered listening to season 2 of Dissect is that there was a lot of complexity behind those situations and it's never just as simple as what you hear about in the media or what you see on Twitter so I think for me it was really insightful and eye-opening to hear the narrative behind the album and also a lot of the struggles Kanye's been through because I'm a huge fan of his music but I think his personality just turned me on for a while I'm Manuel from Millersville I've had a special connection to Kanye's music since the college dropout since it coincided with my freshman year of college With my beautiful dark twisted fantasy I'm really most appreciative of his willingness to bury his soul on record even more than before and also the multiple levels both thematically and musically that he implements I mean I always relate 100% to Kanye but I will always appreciate that he takes us along for his journey with all the bumps bruises, highs and lows That's true art My name is Tim Arrington I'm a producer and engineer currently in Washington DC and after listening to season 2 of Dissect it really helped me become a better musician a better producer just a better music fan overall just hearing how meticulous and well thought out Kanye was and putting it together it made me really look at look at my music at a different level and really just made me want to inspire me to become great man Hey my name's Marlee I'm from Bend, Oregon and I'm convinced that Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy saved my life I'd always been a huge Kanye fan but Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy came out right when my parents were getting divorced and my boyfriend and I had broken up and I just dropped out of art school and I felt crazy and listening to Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy on vinyl in my living room every day just gave me a little sense that I wasn't so lost in the world Hi my name is Joel Jackson I'm from Atlanta, Georgia Kanye has played a huge role in my life both personality wise and artistically as an artist myself I try to be as creative as artists like Kendrick and Kanye I feel that Dissect helps me get a better grasp on how difficult it is to make a great project and I really appreciate Kyle and all the work he's doing over there at Dissect and please Kyle Blunt season 3 thank you Yo, Sally Jones Kanye has always been one of if not my biggest inspirations and production ever since graduation came out but honestly it wasn't until some time between Yeezus as a Chicago guy Kanye definitely resonates with me he performed at my Chicago public high school before college dropout released with Twister in our auditorium the same high school changed the rapper eventually went to and I followed him ever since say what you will about his personality calling him an asshole is easy I appreciate a celebrity willing to speak his mind regardless of public backlash and the music speaks for itself he produced some of Jay-Z's best work and as an artist innovates hip-hop more and more with each album Cole, I'm gonna let you finish but Kanye is quite possibly the best artist of all time this is Jenny in Fort Collins, Colorado and all I gotta say is that being a fan of Kanye West used to feel like a dirty confession but since listening to Dissect it feels like something that I should proclaim a lot louder and prouder Kanye's been there for me as a shoulder to lean on a friend to party with and a coach throughout my life and I appreciate his music tremendously Yeezy taught me Hi Cole, this is Tash from Amsterdam, the Netherlands you are doing a great thing by reminding us all of the value of sitting down and living with a piece of art to me Kanye was one of the most beautifully complex, gifted, emotional and difficult artists of our generation and I really appreciate his mastery of the album as a narrative art form you said that Yeezus is your favorite Kanye album and it holds a special place for me too I love how he deconstructs he established concept of an album with the anti-album arts and insane sonics and he continues to do that with the life of Pablo and that's what sums up Kanye to me simply refusing to get comfortable Conceited, arrogant, brash genius, one of a kind brilliant No, I'm not talking about myself but about my music idol Kanye West My name is Sarah I'm from Montreal and a lesbian wasp so pretty much the furthest from the typical rap band you can think of but Kanye is more than rap more than hip-hop he bridges all that noise and writes from the heart and he makes his music relatable to all so he's been there through my tough moments my happy moments my sad moments he's written about all those things and more and that's why he's my favorite artist Hey, this is Robert Lepp and I'm a middlehead from Finland and I gotta say I started off as a Kanye hater everyone around me hated him as a teenager there was a South Park episode all that and I thought he was musically irrelevant but then I got into some music when I started listening to the full albums especially this one and I gotta say Dicex Season deepened my appreciation and love for the album and especially the episode Power which I loved and I shared it with a friend of mine who had similar thoughts on Kanye and he just changed his mind he and I still think Kanye's crazy but he's a genius and thanks for that My name's Ian I'm from Los Angeles, California Kanye West's music has continued to define shape explain altering influence the many seasons of my time on earth as I look back at my life all of his albums have served as personal mile markers his music has seemingly served as my own soundtrack ever since I was 13 years old as the throes of puberty hit me cultivating angst, self-doubt and cystic acne it was a college dropout late registration and graduation I gained confidence to walk through the hallways A8 and heartbreak aptly came out my freshman year when I was unsure of my life's path Twisted Fantasy comforted me at a time when a friend of mine was murdered he just came at a time when I began working my way up the corporate ladder and life of Pablo easing me out of my quarter life crisis his music has ever evolved but it's place in my life has not and never will my name is Sadie I'm from Texas and Kanye West has been my favorite musician since I first fully listened to my beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy years ago I feel basically indebted to Kanye forever due to the healing power that his music has brought to my life listening to him empowers me to confront my adversities head on and let any challenge I come across in life push me to be the best version of myself I love him and I'm thankful to dissect for letting me understand my favorite album in an even more complex way as a 15 year old listening to my beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in 2010 was a life-changing experience it's what I imagined experiencing Pet Sounds in 1966 Sgt. Pepper's in 1967 or Illmatic in 1994 must have been like it's the best album of the past 10 years and it's the one I go back to the most thank you so much Kanye West for this work of art and thank you Cole for this podcast this is Matt Pellucci from Massachusetts and I just want to thank you for making this podcast Kanye's always been my favorite artist and Dark Twisted Fantasy has always been my favorite album moments like Runaway's outro and the guitar leading into Ross's verse on Devil in the New Dress have always given me a feeling that no other artist can replicate your analysis has been spot on and I hope to see you tackle 808s and heartbreak in the future my name is Bryce and I'm from Canada Kanye has had a massive influence on my life from reaching every album to his journey and talents that span across fashion, film and design I remember being part of a Kanye fan forum creating a music video for a high school animation assignment and remixing songs as I mess around with production as a teenager seeing the glow in that our tour was life-changing and completely shifted how I think about concerts while I connected deeply to 808s at that time in my life and continue to be inspired by his work and words on a daily basis I'm grateful for this deep dive with Dissect to better understand the level of craft meaning and music theory and still in his work thanks to Kanye I'm pushing myself to bring my own genius out into the world more and to unapologetically believe in where I'm headed despite the naysayers and noise Hey Cole this is Zach from Toronto Kanye is an artist whose early stuff in particular is just stitched into the fabric of my love for hip-hop I can vividly recall myself for setting every syllable of Spaceship while walking to work for my overnight shift at the radio station that song for me got me through some of the most intense second guessing at myself as I was grinding into my first career anyway thanks for doing what you do I've always appreciated my beautiful dark twisted fantasy but nowhere close to the level that I do now can't wait for season 3 Hi my name is Phillip and I'm from St.

Louis Missouri I'm a big Kanye fan and now I'm a big fan of this podcast as well one of my favorite things about Dissect is the context that it provides having context really helps you understand a person as well as their art I never really connected on my own thanks Dissect for helping give me the context to be a great album in a whole new light Hi this is Paige from Boston when I first heard that season 2 was going to be about Kanye West I was a little biased because I'm a Taylor Swift fan but I buckled down about the album and I was actually surprised at the number of tracks that I was already familiar with but only in isolated fleeting incidents like the radio or at a bar so stringing together the beautiful, the dark, the twisted and listening to the album in full of the help of Dissect brought insight and understanding to Kanye's experience as a celebrity and as a human so I have a greater appreciation for all of his work and I believe that this is a masterful piece of artistry you know I look forward to season 3 thanks Cole Hi my name is Brian I'm from Houston, Texas Ghost Rose Kanye's inspiration through music and personal beliefs is what stands out to me despite how the media portrays Kanye he is not wrong for believing in himself and his creativity through art and music every album Kanye has created reflects a point in his life on what he has been through and how he approaches it just like my beautiful dark twisted fantasy Kanye has taught me to think independently and speak my mind regardless of what people will say or think about me Hi I'm Danny from Syracuse, New York and I just want to say my beautiful dark twisted fantasy is my favorite album of all time I really got turned on to it when my sister got it for me for Christmas and I was going through a hard breakup at the time and this album just helped me get over that and inspired me to I guess better myself and turn me on to different music and different art forms so I definitely have an emotional attachment to this album overall Hi this is Matt from Ferndale, Michigan Kanye to me represents the full spectrum of artistic expression he juxtaposes the sacrosanct of the profane and manages to be boastfully egotistical while introspectively exposing listeners to his own deepest insecurities he embodies the taboo of a genius who is not humble about it he's vilified for his public personality and he seems both hurt by it and unable to resist feeling his bad reputation he's his own biggest fan and his own worst enemy he's every Greek myth and every story of the Bible wrapped up into a single brilliant but complicated mind listening to this season of Dissect has not only reinforced my belief that Kanye is a visionary and a pop cultural icon it has also proven that he is much more in touch and knowledgeable about a variety of subjects than many people give him credit for there are so many moments on Twisted Fantasy and in his career as a whole that peel back his layers to reveal an enthusiastic creative slash art and fashion nerd underneath his often crude ragadocio his intuition regarding music composition and his ability to work samples into his soaring hip-hop magnum opus and make no mistake Twisted Fantasy is a magnum opus as well as his penchant for shoes and clothes and the human spirit uncontestedly make him worthy of the highest modern artistic accolades this is Tyler Barrett from Minneapolis, Minnesota I think Kanye West's story of persistently and more importantly deterministically overcoming adversity is a beautiful dark-twisted representation of the American dream from mocking himself inside a room doing five beats a day for three summers but persevering through seemingly endless rejection from unbelievers he shows that an indomitable spirit is the single most important key to greatness Bobby from Detroit if you're a fan of Kanye West then you're really a fan of yourself I hope that statement would be totally true as I look at Kanye's albums it's really the soundtrack of my life as I look at all my accomplishments as I look through all the things I've been through going through heartbreak in terms of relationships success in terms of winning his songs, his albums have really dictated that a lot of people don't have that luxury of being able to create that. But Kanye West is just inspirational, motivational, and honestly, I really do feel like he is one of the main reasons why I'm where I am right now. Hey, everybody. Wendell in San Francisco here.

Kanye West, simply put, is one of the most important artists of any genre in any time period. Personally, Kanye's music has been a soundtrack to my entire adult life. My beautiful dark twist of fantasy is in constant rotation in my house, and I consider it to be one of the most impressive musical achievements of all time. It deserves to be in the Smithsonian for the last three minutes of Runaway Alone.

I'm grateful to Cole for all his time, effort, and thoughtfulness in bringing us this beautiful, analytical, and endlessly interesting examination of the album. On behalf of all the fanboys and fans out there, I'd like to say that you absolutely nailed the essence of Kanye, his work, and his place in the context of our culture. Thank you. Hello, I'm Bobby.

You may think Kanye West is an egotistical asshole, but it was his drive and belief in himself, when no one else did, that propelled him to greatness. You may think Kanye West is one of the most important artists of our time. He sure does. You may not think Kanye West is a true MC.

You're probably right. While aided by a team of rappers and producers, the creative complexities of the lyrical and musical content on my beautiful dark twisted fantasy are nothing short of genius. You may miss the old Kanye. I still long for the soul beats and sped up vocal samples that first caught my ear in the early 2000s, but I can appreciate the evolution of his musical expression.

Regardless of what you think of Kanye West, you have to respect his iconic legacy. Hello, my name is Chris Marchand, and I'm from Peoria, Illinois. I realized while listening to the Runaway Part 2 episode that discusses Kanye's extended vocal guitar solo that we were having a cultural moment, that you were acknowledging and helping us all realize that Runaway is an undeniably masterful word of art, a landmark song, a pillar of culture. But here's why it's so frustrating.

There are so many people that can still only see Kanye as a douchebag hack, a narcissistic, no-talent crybaby. I haven't really convinced anyone who isn't already convinced that Kanye creates beautifully complex art and that, yes, he's an undeniable genius. But here's what I'm grateful for. I'm grateful you created this podcast for people to discover.

It is a testament to the brilliance of Kanye in his dark, twisted fantasy. I'm Kevin from Hoboken, New Jersey. One of the reasons I love Kanye so much is for those hilarious moments or songs where you can't quite tell what's intentionally or unintentionally funny. I think in terms of full songs, this is exemplified perfectly and so appalled.

For example, it is so great how it seems like absolutely no one on the track even considers pronouncing the word ridiculous correctly, but that his biggest problem with his housekeeper is that she can't just be a bad bitch who also happens to sweep. These moments show Kanye as either super self-aware or hilariously oblivious, and not knowing which is a fan is what makes his music endlessly entertaining. Kanye West is a multifaceted genius, from his clever plans and metaphors to the social samples he cherry-picks to create his distinct style. My connection to Kanye is layered and is the source of my inspiration.

My name is Amber Nicole, and I'm also a writer in Gemini from Chicago. Yay once said, reach for the sky, so if you fall, you land on the cloud. I use that line as a mantra to pursue my songwriting aspirations. I miss the old Kanye, but I still love Kanye, and that'll never change.

Hi, I'm Michael. I'm 18, as I'm currently recording this. Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark, Twisted Fantasy, came out about eight years ago, and so I've had a lot of time to grow up with this album and go through many different stages of life, and while I'm still young, it's still been really helpful and helped me develop as a person, being able to listen to his emotions and think through mine, especially on things like Blame Game, Devil in a New Dress, and Run Away. Every time I listen to Run Away, I just, I feel the tears coming, and it just helps me to realize that everything is okay in life.

It helps me to move on, yo. Hey, what's good? It's Animal Brown checking in from the OnDickTV podcast. Man, you couldn't have picked a better record to do season two of Dissect With.

My Beautiful Dark, Twisted Fantasy was already a classic. You just made it five times better. I will say that Kanye has taught me to take chances and not be afraid to be different. He is constantly reinventing himself and also speaking his mind unapologetically, so that's super dope, man.

Keep up the good work. My name is Carly, and I live in Dayton, Ohio. Kanye is a true artist in a world when everything else in his genre seems commercialized. I believe he honestly cares about his fans.

The line about him beating the espresso for his fans is truer than ever. He elevates us. He expects us to get his sneaky innuendos. He trusts us and expects the same in return.

He's giving us an insight into his psyche that is so pure, and as a fan, I feel like I know him based on his seven albums. I almost feel as if we've grown up together. His confidence is inspiring to me, and I think I've become more confident in who I am by taking a page out of Ye's book. Hi, my name is Andrew Henline, and I'm from Chesapeake, Virginia, and listening to this season of Dissect helped me gain deeper respect for music composition.

I was enlightened by the Runaway Part 2 episode by experiencing why Kanye said the abstract notes felt more expressive than the words. I think the artist's ability to express the deepest parts of emotion through music and then accompanying that with attempting to explain those emotions speaks volumes to how people operate. We feel our beliefs at the core of who we are, and then we rationalize it with analytical thought and language. I learned that music Hi, I'm Corey from Baltimore, and I just want to say Kanye will always have a huge place in my heart because I felt like when a lot of people who I loved in my life let me down, Kanye's music has always been there for me.

Also, I will go to bat for Kanye in any situation. If his music starts playing somewhere, everyone I know just looks straight at me, and I'm inevitably going to get very heated and stick up for him like I would stick up for anyone that I love. I call him my dad. Everyone makes fun of me for it, and I am not ashamed.

I love Kanye, and I always will. Hi there. My name is Kelly Coyne. I'm a recording engineer and producer in the Bay Area, San Francisco.

And Kanye West has been a huge inspiration for my production. Especially his vocal effects and his sampling. It's just so funny and creative, and I love it. And in a deeper sense, I feel like he's let me connect to the monster in me and the darkness in me.

In a healthy way. It's Amaka from Mississippi, and I have to say Kanye West's music is inspiring and empowering on many different levels. The quote that stuck out to me the most from the entire podcast is when he says himself that if you're a fan of Kanye West, you're a fan of yourself. And I really like that about Kanye.

Although it comes off as cockiness, he really promotes self-confidence. Not being afraid to take risks being your own person, even when majority of people are really not feeling you. Kanye West is truly one of the greatest of our time. I'll end by saying my beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is one of Kanye's best bodies of work, hands down.

And so I'm so glad that I covered such a great album. Yeah, as a Kanye fan, you always have to defend him. But when he was saying he needed money more than Africa, I stopped defending him. Overnight, I made a site that went viral called Help Kenya Not Kanye to shift the conversation on something positive and raise money for Africa.

It wasn't out of hate. It was tough love. I wanted him to recognize he had gone too far and go get help. His music is so smart, but he can act so stupid sometimes, and it makes it hard to be a fan.

That's why I love your podcast. It makes me feel like loving Kanye isn't crazy. He is a musical genius. Kanye West had set up a rap camp for my beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy album.

That alone should tell you the dedication he had towards making his album. And as a result, it's one of the greatest hip-hop albums ever made. It's Kanye at the peak of his powers. It's an album that's worthy to be examined fully, and it's also an album that will help you open your ears even wider to other genres of music.

That's how special it is. My name is Marquise, and I'm from Jacksonville, Florida. My name is Isaac, and here are my thoughts. Kanye is extremely talented.

He has shown not only as a musician that he can be timeless, but as a producer and as a fashion icon, too. He demonstrates an adaptive, artistic, and exuberant style unlike many others. I think for the most part, his albums barely disappoint. He enhances the skills of other musicians around him, and as Jay-Z's prodigy, he discovers new artists that are going to be great, such as Travis Scott and Chance the Rafter.

From the start, he has proven his capabilities of creativity are nearly limitless, and I can't wait to see what the future brings from Ye. It's difficult to see someone with immense fame, money, and most of all, power of influence to think there's a humble or even human side. I'm not the type to put people on a pedestal, but Kanye's kind of a musical genius. Pulling inspiration from rock music and other music, or using a room for musicians' opinions to make a song is an admirable process.

I get why Kanye couldn't sleep. Who could sleep with all this creative juice sitting in your head? Seeing the foundation of his critical, intelligent musical choices and the depth of pain of where all the music came from, you put aside preconceived notions from the media of his insanity. Maybe he is insane, but don't all artists and geniuses have some level of madness?

Joanne Kim, Los Angeles. I'm sorry, Kanye. I'm sorry I took you for granted. Your genius, your creativity, your mastery, we all took you for granted.

The pace, the noise, the gossip, it's easy to do so these days. You gave us so much, every part of you. The details, the intricacies, every part of you. Thank you, Cole, for slowing the pace, opening up our eyes, our ears, our hearts, to appreciate art again.

I'm so sorry, Kanye. I forgot how important you are. I'll never take your work for granted again. It was meant to be admired, appreciated, piece by piece.

From my heart to yours. Marie. On this album, Kanye shows us his Greek god, Persona. How, because he's such a polarizing, huge star, he seems larger than life, but as a human, as a man, he's fundamentally flawed.

And this really shows well in his music and makes you realize that this is simply a man, a human being, that is subject to the same stressors and weaknesses that you and me are, which is incredibly, like, strange and shocking and polarizing to hear in songs like Runaway. Yo, yo, yo. What's good? My name is Curtis Bethel.

I'm from South Bend, Indiana, Notre Dame. Huge fan of podcasts, man. Once I seen you were doing Kanye, I got super excited. That's one of my favorites of all time.

One of the biggest inspirations when it comes to making music and even listening to it. So, uh, beautiful, like, Twins of Fantasy, man. One of my favorite albums of all time. I just love the way you analyze everything right down to the E-flats, man.

You're super freaky with it, but I love it. Keep doing what you do, Cole. You're for the culture, man. This is Hannah from Cambridge.

I was first introduced to hip-hop through Jay-Z and a lot of 90s things to rap, and Kanye taught me that hip-hop is about more than just drugs and sex and growing up on the streets. His wordplay and beats and all the qualities of the songs told stories that were so rich and universal. Every song felt like I was opening up a novel, and it didn't always have to be that way. Like, you could throw on Gold Digger at a party, and people could still bump to it on a surface level.

But to have all that complexity and still appeal to a wide amount of people meant that Kanye really epitomizes rap as popular music for me. Early mornings, good morning. Rapping in the car, touch the sky. Bad breakup?

Streetlights. For seemingly every moment or emotion, there's a corresponding Kanye song. The difference between a musician and an artist lies in the artist's ability to create emotion, connection. Whether it's runaway, through the wire, or ultralight beam, Kanye's talent and versatility allow him to craft music that is relatable.

His lyrics aren't his. They're mine, too. Because Jay says, if you're a Kanye West fan, you're not a fan of me. You're a fan of yourself.

As an artist, Kanye brings the perfect blend of witty, intelligent, sharp lyrics with classic, yet innovative music. My beautiful dark-fist fantasy came at a time for me when I was in grad school and needed this extra energy to finish studying, and the first time I heard all of the lights, I knew it was my new anthem. He has an ability to bring up your blood pressure and your energy. I'll never forget the college dropout.

It was something unlike anything I'd ever heard before, and I was able to play it through over and over since the 8th of my favorite full-album in the jam. My name is Natan, I'm from the maker of Canada. When I first saw Kanye West VDR, I was dissected on this season. That's very point.

Briefly, I didn't like Kanye to the principal, despite not really knowing much about him. I didn't want to like Kanye. I recognize that a lot of people really like Kanye, and he's clearly a very important voice in music, so I figured I could probably get a lot out of learning about him. Also, I have a lot of trust that Cole do a great job, regardless of what was being dissected.

Kanye's been a great study, and a celebrity. I don't know that I'd say like him, but I definitely empathize him a lot, and I really respect for his name on this album. Thanks for your insight, Cole. This podcast has meant to watch me.

Hi, my name is Daniel from Miami, Florida. What I love the most about Season 2 with Dissect was that I've learned a lot of things that I didn't know beforehand about Dark Twisted Fantasy. Like, for example, the song Power. I didn't know that that song was pretty much a cry for help, or almost like a suicide note.

I love the episode of Runaway, especially part two. I remember I was just crying in the car towards the end. Really love this season, man. Thank you for all you've done, especially for us Kanye fans.

Hey Cole, this is Shane from Michigan. I like Kanye for the unapologetic confidence and honesty in his music, and your show helped me understand the courage it took him to truly express himself with my beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The stories of his come up in the industry, and the stories behind this album remind me that all of us face doubt, but can do great things if we just keep trying. I've had confidence issues pretty much all my life, so for me, the most important part of Season 2 was hearing Kanye say, if you're a fan of Kanye West, you're a fan of yourself.

Thanks, Kanye and Cole, for helping me be a bigger fan of myself. I'm Casey from McKinney, Texas, and I just binge-listened to the entire podcast, and I took a couple of days to reflect on everything. I really liked this season with Kanye because I found myself really drawn to the interpolation part and the sampling part. Nowadays, in music, it's a big part of music, and it's not just hip-hop music.

It happens in pop music on the radio with Taylor Swift and with Fall Out Boy. They take their own interpolation songs and make them their own, but with Kanye, it was so important to his album, and it was really nice of you to break that down and show that it's not just a cop-out to use samples. It's not just a cop-out to use interpolations, that an artist can take those and make it their own musical journey. Kanye's music has been like a guidebook to my life.

He's written about things I've been through, things that we've all been through. That's what makes him prolific, is he taps into feelings that we share. He's shown me that it's okay to be your own biggest supporter, to make mistakes, to be outrageous, and to be human. He's displayed his heart publicly in a way I've never seen, and it showed me I could do the same and feel good about myself.

Hi, Cole. I wanted to thank you for helping me see a man I previously only viewed as a jerk, as in fact human. I didn't give Kanye's music serious consideration before, but your podcast helped me see that his artistry is considerable and to have empathy for the emotional turmoil he still seems to be going through. This podcast has been extremely valuable to me in both seasons, helping me to seek to be more understanding of others.

I appreciate you, and keep up the good work. Hi, my name is Gabby, and I'm from Atlanta. Kanye represents the first rapper that I could truly identify with, the first rapper to actually speak about things that I could relate to. My love for Kanye grew even more when I would see him perform.

Even in those early days, I knew he was a superstar. My Dark Twisted Fantasy is such a special album for me personally, with Runaway and All of the Lights being my favorite songs. So this season of Dissect was truly special for me, because it put into words and gave me reasons why I deeply failed this album and often returned to it. Hey, Cole.

My name is Eric, and I want to say that my favorite Kanye West album is in the registration. My favorite song off that album is Celebration. And yeah, great podcast, man. Keep up the great work.

Shout out to the Kanye subreddit. Stay wavy. What's up, Dissect? This is Jason from Nashville, Tennessee, by way of Chicago, Illinois.

My biggest takeaway from season two was the exploration of Kanye West as a man. The battle he wages against himself and others reaches really deep, and Dissect helps guide us, the listener, into his dark fantasy, and we come out of it knowing more about the person, not just the artist. Well done. Hello, my name is Gabriel.

I'm from Brazil, and I'm 17. A couple years ago, I used to miss Judge Kanye just as an asshole that made some famous songs. I basically always overlooked him. Well, last year, I heard other people saying that he was a musical genius.

I watched some interviews and liked a lot of his personality, and the things he was saying made a lot of sense to me. Then, after some research, I could understand a little bit more, but still wasn't into his music. Now, thanks to Dissect, I got into his music, and I started to see him as a fucking genius, especially after that mind-blowing power episode. Now I see him as a person that took every opportunity and turned every obstacle into fuel, and as a result, accomplished great things and innovated a lot in music.

Now, Kanye's one of my favorite artists. Thank you, Cole. Kanye West is a renaissance man compared to most artists. The deep savant thinking and sage ideals he puts into his music is mesmerizing.

It's captivating. It's modern art. It's relevant. It's intellectual.

It's Kanye. From fashion and music to footwear and visuals, his rants are the last thing I would use to describe him. He opens our eyes and mind and continues to show that anything is possible and can be brought to fruition, if you want it bad enough. He inspires me to continue my art and push boundaries while staying true to myself on a day-to-day basis.

My name is Justin White with Earwax.com. My name is Malcolm, now from Columbus, Ohio. I'm a concluding Kanye West. life a lot of people say things like i'm a huge fan of his music but i hate him as a person and i'm not one of those people even though i used to be don't get me wrong his music has been instrumental in my development as a man but it's his words outside of the songs that most resonate with me he told me that it was okay to be who i am to chase after my dreams and that i didn't have to apologize to anybody for being a genius in 2009 i wrote a poem with a line that says lately i've been accused of acquiring a cute cutting west impersonation this is around the same time that i began to come of age i genuinely feel we are cut from the same cloth sometimes i feel alone in the world but hearing him vocalize his perspective on things reminds me that there are others and i am not my name is isaac and here are my thoughts kanye is extremely talented he has shown not only as a musician he can be timeless but as a producer and as a fashion icon too he demonstrates an adaptive artistic and exuberant style unlike many others i think for the most part his albums barely disappoint he enhances the skills of other musicians around him as jay-z's prodigy he discovers new artists that are going to be great such as travis scott and chance the rapper from the start he has proven his capabilities of creativity are nearly limitless and i can't wait to see what the future brings from yay hey this is joseph retondo from rocky car clothing season two was very special because it shed a light on someone who is often misunderstood by the music and the fashion industry and kanye west plays a huge role in how i view music and how i design clothing so thanks cole hey cole my name is rekeveney i'm namibian but i've been living in johannesburg south africa for the past two years now oddly enough along with uh a romantic poet uh called william blake and his work and uh my beautiful doctor's fantasy i've been using the album's narrative and thematic structure to help me construct what i call a concept poetry album it will consist of 10 poems and i intend on submitting it to a poetry competition by the end of this month so uh finding your podcast uh has been quite helpful with constructing this uh project for me this is erica from san francisco i sort of formulated my thoughts on kanye when a friend of mine was expressing some hesitation about being a kanye fan before going to the life of pablo for last year which is totally valid it was a tough time to be a kanye fan he was going through a rough patch and we weren't really sure what was going to happen but i turned to him and i looked him in the eye and i said i don't care what the world thinks kanye west is the most important artist of our generation we are beyond lucky to be growing up with him to be witnessing how he changes hip-hop and music as a whole with every album release and i've been preaching this gospel for a while but season two of best act has just solidified that for me and just how amazing kanye west truly is hi this is ben from portland oregon i first heard my twisted dark fantasy as a sophomore in college i wasn't a huge kanye fan then and hadn't grown up listening to graduation or college dropout i was coming off a big kid cutty phase and hearing cutty on gorgeous really intrigued me however it was the power ballads of runaway monster nikki's verse of course that got me hooked those tracks teleported me to places marked by clever braggadocio and rawness nostalgia without memory and sorrow those feelings mixed with a newfound appreciation for the rapper producer elevated kanye in my mind from pop culture figure to avant-garde creator scott here quick kanye story i was listening to the radio when through the wire had just come out and there was the radio station was doing a top 10 at 10 and kanye gets on to do a little drop and he says this is kanye west you're listening to wpgc radio top 10 at 10 and i want all 10 songs to be kanye west songs i just think that says so much about him from early in his career he just wanted to take over and have incredible passion to do so this is caroline in montana twisted fantasy and kanye west taught me that it's okay to be ugly and skewed you can make towering beauty out of that as someone who grew up with preoccupied parents kanye west and twisted fantasy play a huge role in my upbringing he taught me the importance of self-awareness and sensitivity feeling honestly and sharing your emotions and that if you're real with the world things will somehow fall into place kanye shows us that it's fucking cool to care thank you to anyone and everyone and thanks to cola dissect for caring about good shit i hope you all enjoyed those as much as i did thank you to everyone who took the time to submit their thoughts and if you didn't submit a clip i'm going to give you your 30 seconds now read a particular song a memorable moment a theme that's presented wherever you are now take a moment and consider your biggest takeaway from kanye west my beautiful dark twisted fantasy thanks everyone this season has been a beautiful life-changing experience i'll talk to you next season where we'll fully submit ourselves to another musical masterwork because great art deserves more than a swipe dissect is written and produced by me if you enjoy dissect this season please tell a friend family member co-worker or anyone you might think would enjoy the show and if you haven't already please rate and review dissect on apple podcast it takes just 30 seconds and it really helps others to subscribe to the show if you want to stay up to date on dissect over the break subscribe to the newsletter at dissectpodcast.com and if you'll indulge me for a moment i'd like to say thank you to a few people who helped make this podcast possible first a big shout out to b-rocratic for letting me use this track as a dissect theme music you can hear more of this stuff at b-rocratic.bandcamp.com thanks to the team at rocky clark clothing for the amazing season 2 apparel we'll be making our donation to don this house in the coming days with the funds generated from this line thanks to hannah sellers for the incredible book she created based on my analysis of the blacker the berry you can still purchase that book at blackerberry-book.com a special thank you to my mom dad and sister for only supporting everything that i do an extra special thank you to my wife and daughter for letting me spend way too much time on dissect this year i'd also like to acknowledge a few invaluable resources on kanye west and twisted fantasy first there's a noah callahan bever piece that documents his time spent in hawaii at the twisted fantasy sessions definitely check that out also there's a 33 and a third book on twisted fantasy by kirk walker graves a must known for any kanye fan lastly the podcast watching the throne a song by song analysis of kanye west catalog you can find links to all these great resources in the show notes finally a huge thank you to all my patreon supporters out there with your contributions i was recently able to purchase a whole new studio setup including a new microphone monocro and a bunch of other stuff that's going to make the show sound really great next season i truly can't convey how humbling and surreal it is to find so much support from you all an extra special thank you to my diamond level supporters montana debash patrick moett quinton samuels r hudson raymond rays robbie lansberg sam and chaudry sasha flick scribble studios stuart cornelius ted hossman the 3-1 crew theo mills wendy ware guberto astacio xander pollock zach moses zanna ronowitz zm amy lee arturo macias brin masters claire murphy colin carrier daniel billick daniel wagner danny park david by toe david drummond doc parsons grant jacons craig servenny gene tannis jeff phillips jonathan hardyway judy kushna that's my mama kevin winn logan barlett michael novak and mike jala seriously your generosity is really appreciated and finally i'd like to sincerely thank each and every one of you for listening you helped me realize a dream so seriously thank you i'll talk to you all next season