Andrew's #5 - "All of the Lights" by Kanye West

"All of the Lights" by Kanye West

I've timed this post perfectly to coincide with the release of Kanye's seizure-inducing video for this song, but that is neither here nor there.

I've never been much of a Kanye fan until this year, due in no small part to this song. There is a triumphant ferocity coursing through "All of the Lights" that I find absolutely magnetic. Kanye has always been a better producer than rapper and he handles that brilliantly here by not only surrounding himself with top-notch cameos that help plug the gaps in his game but also by constructing a layered instrumental background replete with a manic breakbeat and horns piggy-backing on horns.

And there's something wonderfully ambiguous about the lyric "We're going all the way this time," showing up in a Kanye West song. At face value, it seems like a relatively simple hip-hop cliche but when interpreted in the context of West's seeming mental instability it takes on an anarchic, ominous tone that I absolutely love.

It's the theatricality of it all. West has never been afraid of the "big statement" and this song is a swing for the fences in the best of ways. I may live in a hole when it comes to hip-hop music but I've never heard anything like this song. The beat and melody don't sound anything on the radio right now and West's blend of rappers and singers come together to create music that, to me, feels genuinely new.


Seth

Interestingly, my #5 is also a Kanye song, so the internet will finally have some commentary on his new album. I agree with you, Andrew, in that I haven't really cared about Kanye West until My Beautiful, Dark, Twisted Fantasy. He's a mediocre rapper at best and his childish antics and frequent, public temper tantrums overshadowed his music. (Although I do agree with him that Taylor Swift shouldn't have won that VMA, but that's a topic for another time). With MBDTF, though, he's created a record that justifies his outsized ego.

"All of the Lights" is, to me, a lesser track from the record, but Fantasy is a rare gem whose filler tracks are still solid gold. West assembles an award's show amount of guest stars here in a dizzyingly complicated arrangement that augments his vocals without overshadowing them. (Related: Rihanna should be used exclusively to sing choruses on monster rap songs.) Lyrically, West dwells on the same subject that the rest of the album takes on: failure, irresponsibility, and what I'm going to call "being a nightmare person." It's a subject that's going to come up again.