10 Best Hip Hop Albums Of The Decade

2. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Sympathising with Kanye West isn’t easy. His obnoxious media personality has made him one of the most divisive people in the world, and his outlandish lifestyle is totally alien to the average human being. These factors don’t exactly make for a relatable individual, but all this changes with one listen to My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

This is Kanye’s masterpiece. It’s every bit as loud, bombastic, and braggadocious as we’ve come to expect from Mr. West, but the Chicago MC has never sounded so human. There’s plenty of celebrity gloss, glitz, and glamour, but tracks like “Runaway” are rife with insecurity, painting the picture of an artist who has achieved fame beyond his wildest dreams, but doesn’t quite know how to deal with it.

What’s most impressive is that he was able to do this without sacrificing accessibility. The songs are long, but the likes of “All Of The Lights” and “Power” are built for radio airplay, while “Gorgeous” supplies one of the smoothest beats in Yeezy’s back catalogue. As a lengthy study on the dizzying highs and crippling lows of celebrity lifestyle, MBDTF is close to perfect, and several levels above the messy, inconsistent records that followed.