Kanye West’s ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ a brilliant piece of creativity

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Five stars out of five.

Kanye West returns with the brilliant “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” a triumphant re-entry to the world of hip-hop for Kanye after 2008’s electropop-meets-autotune breakup album, “808s & Heartbreak.”

The album builds on the strengths West has established throughout his career (killer verses and production) and finds him pushing himself creatively in ways that are extremely uncommon for mainstream musicians.

After 2007’s rather dumbed down “Graduation” and 2008’s hauntingly sparse “808’s & Heartbreak,” it was rather difficult to imagine where West would go next. A return to hip hop seemed inevitable, but what could listeners expect? The soulful style of “College Dropout” and “Late Registration,” or the more basic, poppy nature of “Graduation?”

What fans got is a stadium-sized modern day epic, overflowing with ardent creativity and a sometimes harrowing sense of self.

“Dark Fantasy,” the album’s opening track opens with the voice of not Yeezy, but up-and-comer Nicki Minaj, who also makes an explosive guest appearance on “Monster,” one of the album’s highlights.

“Dark Fantasy” unfolds with grandiose choral swells and moody piano chords, before banging away into its mid-section; it’s over a full minute into the track before we even hear Kanye’s first “yeeuh” as he prepares to deliver the album’s first verse.

One of the album’s best surprises is its almost absurd number of guest spots: album highlight “All of the Lights” features guest vocals from 14 different artists, including Rihanna, KiD CuDi, Fergie, Elton John and Alicia Keys, just to name a few. Perhaps one of the more surprising guest appearances is from Justin Vernon, an indie folk musician who lends his vocals to two tracks, one of which is based off of a sample from his band Bon Iver’s song “Woods.”

One of the more notable differences listeners will notice between this and Kanye’s older records is the length of the tracks, over half of which clock in at over five minutes and one of which, the album’s centerpiece, “Runaway,” stretches over nine minutes.

Beside a rather obnoxious two and a half minute monologue from Chris Rock at the end of “Blame Game,” which otherwise is one of the album’s finest moments, there’s not a single second on this record that is excessive or unnecessary.

Instead, it feels as if West is finally comfortable enough to fully let his creativity run free. Put a vocoder solo at the end of “Runaway?” Sure, why not. Drop a guitar solo over an old soul drumbeat and piano before Rick Ross delivers his verse at the end of “Devil in a New Dress?” Of course!

This sort of daring creativity can be a very dangerous thing, but West assures listeners over the length of “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” that it’s in good hands.

Big fans of West’s previous work will be thrilled with what he’s come up with this time around, while fans of his more poppy, accessible stuff might be a little let down. However, what the album may lack in instant gratification, it makes up for in unbridled creativity and musical brilliance.