Hypester Alert: Kanye West, "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy"

"Would you rather be underpaid, or overrated?" -Jay Z, in "So Appalled".

Surely(*) you have read some of the fervent, effervescent reviews of Kanye West's fifth album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by now. Rolling Stone(**) calls it his "rock-star manifesto", Pitchfork gives it the ultra-rare 10.0 rating (an honor only bestowed upon the heavyweights of music like Wilco and ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead (SarcMark!)) With a level of hype surrounding this record that is unprecedented even in West's hype-filled career, it is the responsibility of we at The Blogulator to explore the machinations of the Hype Machine. More specifically, we mean to answer the important question: is it Worthy of Hype, Hyped on Reputation, or should it get Sw-hyped Outta Here?

(*)And don't call me Shirley. Rest in peace, Mr. Nielsen.

(**)Rolling Stone also irritatingly says that Nicki Minaj, the Young Money artist who appears on "Monster" is "the new queen of hip-hop." Rolling Stone, I expect you to be hypester filled douches, but this level of hype is out of this world. Sure, Minaj has some crazy-fun style in her guest verse here and has displayed some showmanship in her solo outings, but don't even get me started on how women in hip-hop are generally ignored unless they have some kind of hook(***)(*****). Minaj may eventually prove to be Worthy of Hype but for now, let's leave the crowns to ourselves, mmmkay?

(***)Minneapolis is lucky to have a sensational trifecta of outstanding female hip hop artists in Dessa, Maria Isa, and Desdamona. Represent, Mpls.

(****)Yes, I footnoted in a footnote. Leave it alone.

First, the problematic. "Fantasy" is unquestionably structured like a "rock-star manifesto" with respect to the history of bigger-than-life rock stars. In fact, in my estimation, the nearest comparison to this record in terms of tone and structure would be Pink Floyd's "The Wall". Like "The Wall", "Fantasy" is a vicious, cold take on the larger-than-life music lifestyle, one with a protagonist who indulges in every indulgence one could partake in on the road. Musically, it is also structured the same, with opening track "Dark Fantasy" serving as a mission statement, "Power" serving as the big "Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)" single, "So Appalled" serving as the centerpiece much like "Hey You" does on Floyd's record, "Runaway" as "Comfortably Numb", and "Lost in the Game / Who Will Survive in America" as "The Trial". West lashes out at his detractors like Roger Waters does, from the writers of South Park in "Gorgeous" to those who call him "the Obamanation of Obama's nation" to, pretty much everybody in "Monster": "My presence is a present, kiss my ass."

Which is a long way of saying that the hypesters claiming that this album is a ground-breaker are not seeing the forest for the trees: this is just a concept album, but done by a hip-hop artist.

So, throwing aside the structure argument, how does "Fantasy" hold up musically? Well, after West's slight detour, the auto-tuned whacked-out "808s and Heartbreaks", which, to me, is a lesser record for West (but still a very good record compared to the rest of music), West returns to straight-up hip-hop like his first three records.

Except that, West has never really been a straight-up hip-hop artist. He first rose to fame producing Jay-Z, having provided the production to his biggest hit "Izzo (H.O.V.A)". But when West broke out with his first solo album, he was a hip-hop star, but also a blip on hipster radars, consistently written up on Pitchfork. His debut "College Dropout" was a slice of old-school hip-hop style, loaded with old-school soul samples, and just really damn smooth. His third album "Graduation", though, started to flirt more with the hipster contingent of his fanbase, famously sampling Daft Punk with "Stronger"(*****). "808s and Heartbreak" was an even bigger turn toward the indie kids with all the autotuning and what not.

(*****)They played the ess outta that song at Brigitte and my wedding. Definite hypester shizz.

So, yes, with regard to "Fantasy" being his "return to hip-hop", it's a similar move to Radiohead's supposed "return to rock" with "Amnesiac." That is to say, it is a return, but West has unquestionably evolved beyond his former sound to the point that returning to the sound he started with would be pretty pointless. As Chris pointed out to me, West is the rare case of an artist going from a target demographic of mainstream to indie, rather than vice versa.

Which is why it is problematic to really call this a great hip-hop record, with all the allusions to Radiohead and Pink Floyd that I just made. It brings up a question I constantly wrestle with when I listen to this record: is it fair to call it a great hip-hop record? Does the hype surrounding it that, to me, feels like indie hypesters calling it a great hip-hop record because it is essentially a classic rock record done in hip-hop? When I break it down like that, "Fantasy" doesn't hold water.

It would be a lot easier to dismiss it if it wasn't chock full of great songwriting, consistently jaw-dropping production, show-stopping guest appearances by hip-hop heavyweights like Rihanna, Jay-Z, Pusha T, and the aforementioned Nicki Minaj, and predictably great lyric writing. But that is what this album is full of: great songs. And unlike West's contemporaries like Pink Floyd, he is able to push the excess up to eleven without feeling, y'know, excessive. My favorite track, the sparse, world-melting "So Appalled", features five (FIVE!) guest rappers, and goes on for a bloated 6:38 running time. Yet, the haunting, ball-busting production and great guest turns keep it from feeling overwrought whatsoever. The dual singles "Power" and "Runaway" are unquestionably instant classics. The energy does die down a little bit with the last few tracks, only saved by the balls-to-the-walls Imogen Heap-influenced "Lost in the World", but this is an album that can be enjoyed as much jamming out to it in one's car and jamming on headphones.

So, while we have established that the hypesters calling this record a ground-breaker are missing out on, oh, the history of concept albums, it is, indeed, a very, very good record. Depending on one's preferences, it may or may not be your favorite record by West. Me, I prefer his first couple of albums, the less indie-influenced ones. And it is a little harder to identify with the now-superstar West, who in "So Appalled" describes his life: "Five-star dishes, different exotic fishes, man this shit is fucking ridiculous." But if West is aspiring to be a larger-than-life, alright, rock-star, he definitely succeeds with "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy."

Hypester Assessment: Worthy of Hype

And now, I leave you with a closing line, and a link, to my favorite track, "So Appalled":

Praises due to the most high, Allah / Praises due to the most fly, Prada

Hypester Alert: The Greatest Hype in Sport

As we all know, we as pop culture mavens are not immune to the powers of Hype. Hype happens, folks. Sometimes, hype works in good ways, sometimes it works in ways that make us see The Da Vinci Code on opening night(*). What our job is as connoisseurs of pop culture is discern what elements are worthy of the eternal Hype Machine, and what elements need to be Sw-hyped Outta Here. This month, I bring you three extraordinarily hyped pop culture touchstones of recent days. (*)Yes, hype really did cause Chris, Lady Amy and I to see The Da Vinci Code on opening night. We are not all perfect, nor should we have to strive for perfection, but it was not a great choice.

Lady Gaga, "Alejandro"
While I generally don't feel as strongly against the actual song as Chris does, it's safe to say that this is the first Gaga video that's just left me feeling neither shocked nor entertained, just bored. At this point, it's gotten predictable -- Gaga waits a few months, then unleashes a brand new, high concept, nine-minute long video, that features her in clothes that make her look like she might actually be totally naked. Yeah, been there done that. Yawn. I think it is hard to top the "Let's Make a Sandwich" section of "Telephone" in terms of WTFness, so it's understandable.

To top it all, she's made news this weekend by "not" being banned at Yankee Stadium after showing up in the New York Yankees clubhouse wearing only a Yankee jersey, bra, and bikini bottoms. Snooze. Get back to me in six months to see if I'm interested. And it's not as if I now dislike Gaga. I still really enjoy her persona, and have really enjoyed her music. I even like how popular she is. I really, really do. I forsee great things for her in her career. But, I'm just, I dunno, bored. This whole "controversy" just makes me hate the Yankees more than I already do. Instead, I'll listen to Ke$ha's Animal over and over for a while. Then I'll check back with the Gagster.
Hypester alert status: Hyped on Reputation.



The World Cup
I'm gonna be honest here. When the World Cup started, I was not excited. In fact, I was downright apathetic. Then something crazy happened. Chris texted me, asking if I was going to watch the USA vs. England match. I wasn't planning on it, but I figured I'll never turn down watching a sporting event with another dude, let alone a dude like Chris who is usually not the first one to volunteer to watch a sporting event. So, Chris came over, and we watched the wackiness that was the USA vs. England match.



And it was totally exciting! Now, all kinds of crazy stuff is happening, like Team France imploding upon itself, and Denmark finally winning (Team Denmark is my second fave team behind the US of A), and people are blowing on those vuvuzelas. In fact, the word vuvuzela has been a Trending Topic on Twitter since the World Cup started, an excellent measure of the level of hype the World Cup has gotten. Finally, though, this is a sporting event worthy of the massive amounts of hype, if only because the usually British announcers say words like "massive" and it rubs off on my vocabulary. If more NFL or MLB or NBA announcers said things like "reveling in their supremacy" the way Martin Tyler does, the world would be a better place.
Hypester Alert Status: Worthy of Hype.

Red Dead Redemption
Where has being a virtual badass cowboy been my whole life? Rockstar Games has done it again -- they've again made me feel okay with simulating acting like a complete and utter sociopath in its newest video game Red Dead Redemption. This time around, it's different. When I play Red Dead Redemption, I am not a sociopathic dude running around in a modern urban sprawl; rather, I am a sociopathic dude in the wild west. That means most of my sociopathic urges are fulfilled by hunting animals in the wild, Oregon Trail style. Which is great! Because it lets me hunt in a video game, Oregon Trail style! I love Oregon Trail!



Granted, I'm slightly overstating the sociopathic part of the game, because it helps that the landscapes designed are beyond gorgeous, the voice acting is pretty decent given how horrible voice acting usually is, and one doesn't need to act like a total sociopath to have fun. In fact, the most fun I had in the game was an off-mission task where I followed a dog around at night at the local ranch, scaring off criminals who were causing harm. And I didn't even kill either of the criminals. In turn, the game gave me extra "fame" points and "honor" points.



And the most fun I had playing this game was over Memorial Day weekend in Minneapolis, when the temperature stayed above 90 and I had just spent time on the beach, feeling sunburned. Feeling the sensation of burned skin while riding around on my virtual horse and shooting criminals had to be the most badass video game feeling I've felt since I beat the crap out of those jerk Detroit Red Wings as Pavel Bure and the Vancouver Canucks on NHL '94 on Sega Genesis. Yes, it's that cool. (Side note -- why would the YouTuber below put Bure at Center? Everybody knows, you put him at Left Wing, win the faceoff by passing it to him, have him loop around, shoot, and get a guaranteed goal. Pretty sure that move netted me a lot more than 5 goals in 85 seconds when I did that.)


Hypester Alert Status: Worthy of Hype.

Hypester Alert: Cable Television Rundown Mashup

Happy tax day everybody! In celebration of the official end of tax season, enjoy this special edition of Hypester Alert. This time, I mash up two of my features to create an extra special column. Hooray for mash-ups!

The Pacific
So, obviously, big budget (think $200 million) miniseries produced by HBO are totally hyped on many levels. They're advertised to death by the big budget behemoth that is HBO. They are relentlessly reviewed by critics everywhere. They are discussed in high school history classes. They are, folks, the very definition of hypester TV. So when parts one and two of this 10-part miniseries were entertaining but a little stodgy, I was getting somewhat ready to write this miniseries off as yet another product of the HBO hype machine.

Then, part three debuted and played a little like an episode of Mad Men -- all period costumes, hushed romances, and deep longing. Part four focused on James Badge Dale's character Robert Leckie and the psychological aspects of warfare. (Side note: Dale has been a revelation in this miniseries. To think that the only other thing I've seen him in was when he had to cut off his own arm on the third season of 24...) And finally, part five dug into the unbelievably intense warfare, depicting the horrifying two-month-long battle, the Battle of Peleliu, which fully utilizes that $200 million budget.



And, frankly, part five got me fully hooked, emotionally and viscerally. All the set-up in the first four parts was setting up the rules of the miniseries. We learned enough about the soldiers and about the method of warfare that when the first truly intense battle sequence commenced, it was truly jawdropping. Sure, it may have lifted an element or two from Saving Private Ryan, but something about the way the war was waged, in an environment totally unfamiliar and with a mission so vague, was absolutely horrifying. I had to pick my jaw up off of the floor by the time the episode finished. Five more parts to go, and I cannot wait to see how the rest of the miniseries develops.
Hypester assessment: Worthy of Hype



Glee
The show that I so badly want to love to hate but can't help but love came back to Fox on Tuesday night with an installment that had me starting to tell Brigitte that I was finally getting kind of sick of the show and ended with me begrudgingly loving it. After a self-imposed four-month break from new episodes, the first season continued with an episode jam-packed with what made the show successful in its first run -- fun song sequences juxtaposed with sad romances.

What lacks in Matthew Morrison's main character Will Scheuster is made up for in spades by the scene-stealing of Jane Lynch. Lynch is just so damn funny and so incredibly evil that she makes up for any lame, going-nowhere scene with Morrison involved. And Lea Michele, playing the confident-yet-insecure Rachel, is still a standout performer and character on the show.

Still, I am feeling very, very wary of where this show is headed. The ratings are through the roof, and creator Ryan Murphy has promised that things will essentially only get "bigger and better." That means awkward things like Jane Lynch doing a music video of Madonna's "Vogue" that premiered with Tuesday's episode. Um, what's the point of singing a song and making a fake music video that is exactly the same as the real thing? Knowing how Murphy's own Nip/Tuck fell off the rails when he grew tired of working on the show, I fully expect this show to implode any time soon. Enjoy your run as a Worthy of Hype show, Glee...you're officially on watch.
Hypester assessment: Worthy of Hype (barely)

Lost
Whether or not you think the "flash-sideways" episodes thus far into the season have been worth it, the final season has (predictably) become mindblowingly awesome. Tuesday night's "Everybody Loves Hurley" was yet another great episode that has rendered me unable to analyze the many things going on. At this point, it's just time to sit back and enjoy the ride.
Hypester assessment: Worthy, worthy, so worthy of Hype.

Hypester Alert: The Inaugural Sw-hype

What is a "hypester?" According to Urban Dictionary(*), a hypester is:

A person, not necessarily a hipster, who participates in certain activities because they are popular at the moment.

Guy 1: Did you see Vampire Weekend at the Fillmore last night?
Guy 2: No, but I drove by and saw all the hypesters in their skinny jeans.

Well, ladies and germs, it seems as though these days, we have a lot of stuff in the pop culture ether that is highly touted, whether by merit, reputation, or bags and bags of money used toward advertising said part-of-the-pop-culture ether. Whose job is it to officially decry whether those things are "Worthy of HypeTM", "Hyped on ReputationTM", or should be "Sw-hyped Outta HereTM"? It's mine.

So, I would like to formally introduce a new Blogulator feature: Hypester AlertTM. I, Qualler, will help you, the reader, determine whether or not the stuff that is being constantly shoved in your face by other fellow blogs, networks who are ruthless for money, or even your hypester friends in skinny jeans, is worthy of your time, money, and your precious, precious reputation.

For example, years ago I would have told you that Lost should have been Sw-hyped Outta Here, on the basis of the day Chris and I crabbily decided to watch the pilot, heard dinosaur roars, and immediately deemed it to be Jurassic Park meets Survivor. Had I had a Hypester Alert in my corner at that time, I would have known not to wait until 2009 to get fully engaged in the Lost experience. Thanks, Hypester Alert!!(**)

(*) Not coincidentally, Urban Dictionary itself could be used as an example of a product used by a hypester.

(**) Not to be confused as an actual endorsement.

So, with that being said, here goes the Hypester Alert for March 2010.

Vampire Weekend, Contra

Ah, Vampire Weekend -- the crown jewel of the Hypester crowd. The best example of a hypester-helped musical act released their second hype-fueled album Contra in January. Examples of elements of their music that are helped by hype: use of vocodor, elements of international music, cardigan sweaters. So, is their new album any good? Chris said that they're the type of band that is impossible to hate and impossible to love. Blogulator friend Wipert said they're impossible not to love, while other Blogulator friend Arun said they're impossible to not hate. So, which is it?

In my book, probably somewhere between Chris and Wipert's assessment. I understand what Chris means -- their musical style lends itself to a little bit of emotional distance. But, they do what they do so well -- craft impossibly bouncy, happy pop songs, that it's quite impossible to hate them. And depending on your love of the craft of making impossibly bouncy, happy pop songs, you might love them even more. But what is inarguable is their new record Contra is a step forward in terms of songwriting, and easily wipes out any worry of a sophomore slump. I am of the opinion that Vampire Weekend are here to stay. Thanks, hypesters.
Hypester Assessment: Worthy Of Hype

NBC's The Marriage Ref
You might know about The Marriage Ref from the many, many, commercials that NBC airs on its Thursday night comedy lineup. What is it about? Apparently, about Jerry Seinfeld producing a lazy, lazy idea that combines the comic stylings of Jay Leno's Jaywalking and a celeb panel made up of people like Larry David complaining about the garbage they're supposed to watch. NBC, kings of the Corporate Hypester, have hyped the eff outta this show to the point of embarrassment.

You can probably guess, then, that I'm not a fan. America feels the same, as well, as ratings for the show have fallen considerably since its hype-surrounded premiere after the Winter Olympics. So, for the love of God, NBC, please stop hyping this garbage. The last thing this world needs is a disgruntled Larry David outside of the realm of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Hypester Assessment: Sw-hype It Outta Here!

Lady Gaga feat. Beyonce, "Telephone"
Perhaps the most disappointing part of the new Lady Gaga video, the one Ryan Seacrest introduced on E! as "something you've never seen before", is not how it shamelessly it lifts from other sources (though it does). Nor is it the incessant, obvious, bordering on self-parody product placement by Target, Verizon Wireless, Polaroid, and Tyrese Gibson (though they are very incessant, and very obvious, and very much bordering on self-parody). What is the most disappointing about the video is how it doesn't seem to re-invent Gaga in any significant way the way "Bad Romance" does.

Then again, midway through the video, Gaga starts making a sandwich and takes a bite on the beat of the song extremely well, then stands like a statue. Also, she signs "1, 2, 3" with German subtitles, followed by dancing in an American flag bikini. And, she somehow gets the strong-minded Beyonce to go along with her insanity totally. So, the total insanity of the video might actually work in her favor. Were this Gaga's first video, it might have been totally passed over. Then again, what is the point of having a megastar if not to allow them to go overboard every once in a while?
Hypester Assessment: Hyped On Reputation