{"product_id":"9781623565428","title":"Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy","description":"\u003ch3\u003e33 1\/3\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003ch1\u003eKanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy\u003c\/h1\u003e\u003ch3\u003eKirk Walker Graves\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cb\u003eMusic \/ History \u0026amp; Criticism\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the first decade of the twenty-first century, Kanye West created the most compelling body of pop music by an American artist during the period. Having risen from obscurity as a precocious producer through the ranks of Jay Z's Roc-A-Fella records, by the time he released \u003ci\u003eMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (MBDTF)\u003c\/i\u003e in late 2010, West had evolved into a master collagist, an alchemist capable of transfiguring semi-obscure soul samples and indelible beats into a brash and vulnerable new art form.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e A look at the arc of his career, from the heady chipmunk soul exuberance of \u003ci\u003eThe College Dropout\u003c\/i\u003e (2004) to the operatic narcissism of \u003ci\u003eMBDTF\u003c\/i\u003e, tells us about the march of pop music into the digital age and, by extension, the contradictions that define our cultural epoch. In a cloud-based and on-demand culture – a place of increasing virtualization, loneliness, and hyper-connectivity – West straddles this critical moment as what David Samuels of \u003ci\u003eThe Atlantic \u003c\/i\u003ecalls \"the first true genius of the iPhone era, the Mozart of contemporary American music.\" In the land of taking a selfie, honing a personal brand, and publicly melting down online, Kanye West is the undisputed king.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  Swallowing the chaos wrought by his public persona and digesting it as a grandiose allegory of self-redemption, Kanye sublimates his narcissism to paint masterstroke after masterstroke on \u003ci\u003eMBDTF\u003c\/i\u003e, a 69-minute hymn to egotistical excess. Sampling and ventriloquizing the pop music past to tell the story of its future – very much a tale of our culture's wish for unfettered digital ubiquity – \u003ci\u003eMBDTF\u003c\/i\u003e is the album of its era, an aesthetic self-acquittal and spiritual autobiography of our era's most dynamic artist.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eKirk Walker Graves\u003c\/b\u003e is a writer from Tennessee at work on his first novel. A graduate of Princeton University, he lives with his wife and son in Nashville.\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ctable\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePublication Date: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e19 June 2014\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePublisher: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBloomsbury Academic\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eImprint: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBloomsbury Academic\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eISBN-13: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e9781623565428\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eFormat: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePaperback \/ softback\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePage Count: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e152\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eWeight (oz): \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e5.44\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury Academic","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51197865230476,"sku":"9781623565428","price":13.46,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0710\/9545\/1788\/files\/getimage_32c3ae8b-7122-455c-b4e6-26cd00f0fdcb.jpg?v=1782962806","url":"https:\/\/lateknightbooks.com\/products\/9781623565428","provider":"Late Knight Books and Services, LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}