Whether showing off exotic purchases, defending himself against the press, or going on stream-of-consciousness rants, Kanye finally had the middleman-free, instant-gratification platform he'd always wanted. He found that platform with Twitter, and proceeded to dictate his own narrative in 140 character hits. Forever an over-sharer, Kanye was looking for an outlet for his latest mirror-born musings.
The Silicon Valley visits seemed like a stunt, but they were prophetic. Videos of West standing on a table in tailored GQ duds while gesticulating through new rhymes (sans musical accompaniment) quickly made the rounds. After exiling himself for months following last year's infamous Taylor Swift stage bomb, the rapper made some of his first comeback appearances at the headquarters of Facebook and Twitter in late July. And since the nerd-superstar rap archetype he popularized has now become commonplace, he leaves it in the dust, taking his style and drama to previously uncharted locales, far away from typical civilization. As a result, the record comes off like a culmination and an instant greatest hits, the ultimate realization of his strongest talents and divisive public persona. But musically, the new album largely continues where 2007's Graduation left off in its maximalist hip-hop bent, with flashes of The College Dropout's comfort-food sampling and Late Registration's baroque instrumentation weaved in seamlessly. It was a necessary detour that expanded his emotional palette a bloodletting after a harsh breakup and the passing of his mother that manifests itself in Twisted Fantasy's harshest lows. Kanye's last album, 2008's 808s and Heartbreak, was heavy on the Auto-Tune and stark synths, but relatively light on grandiose ideas. And, about a decade into his career, the hardworking perfectionist has gained the talent on the mic and in the control room to make a startlingly strong case for just that. On Twisted Fantasy, Kanye is crazy enough to truly believe he's the greatest out there. The balance is tenuous, but right now it's working to his advantage. And while Jackson's own twisted fantasies of paranoia and betrayal eventually consumed him whole, West is still aware of his illusions, though that mindfulness becomes increasingly unmoored with each newspaper-splashing controversy.
Unlike Michael, he's not interested in scrubbing away bits of himself- his blackness, his candidness- to appease the masses. As he told MTV last month, "I do have a goal in this lifetime to be the greatest artist of all time, that's very difficult being that I can't dance or sing." He ended the thought with a laugh, but you get the impression he's not kidding. To be clear, Kanye West is not Michael Jackson.
And it's never more apparent than on Twisted Fantasy, a blast of surreal pop excess that few artists are capable of creating, or even willing to attempt. For many, his first memorable lines as a rapper came during 2003's "Slow Jamz": "She got a light-skinned friend look like Michael Jackson/ Got a dark-skinned friend look like Michael Jackson." And when West's recent interview with Matt Lauer on the "Today" show went awry, he took to Twitter, writing, "I wish Michael Jackson had twitter!!!!!! Maybe Mike could have explained how the media tried to set him up!!! It's all a fucking set up!!!!" Like most everything else, Kanye may exaggerate the kinship, but it's real. His first hit as a producer, Jay-Z's "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)", sampled the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back". West's discography contains innumerable references and allusions to Jackson.
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