“Monster” – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
‘Monster’ is THAT song, the moment in Kanye’s career that just says, “Shut up and pay attention to this guy.” It’s brilliant on so many levels, least of which are the guest performers like Jay Z, Bon Iver, and the magnificent Nicki Minaj. It’s a dark song with some heavy lyrics, and I’m not talking emotionally, I’m talking disturbingly. Most notably, ‘Monster’ features zero samples and a shit ton of writing credits from some of the coolest artists around. A lot of people think that Kanye takes himself too seriously. I’m probably the .01% of people on this earth that think he is fully aware of how silly he is. (I also think Paris Hilton is the greatest marketing genius we’ll never recognize.) ‘Monster’ shows us he’s just fucking with us. All of us. We are his biggest joke. The more attention we give him and the more we hate him, the more money he makes, the more popular he becomes, and the bigger “chain that always give me back pain” he’ll be able to buy. Kanye wastes zero time mocking himself in his lyrics and does so with great aplomb.