KANYE WEST MY BEAUTIFUL DARK TWISTED FANTASY

It's a great album, period. 

I recently tweeted that it's easy enough to ignore Kanye West's interviews and public outbursts, just enjoy the music. Besides his own records, he's produced great music for John Legend (who he pretty much helped to become a big star), Common, Mos Def and a bunch of other people. That's the way I feel.

I don't like the way he acts - I actually had my own run-in with him before his debut album came out. But it doesn't take away from his music. At the same time, his great music doens't excuse (to me) his lesser efforts.  On my Kanye scorecard, I really like his first two albums, 2004's The College Dropout and 2005's Late Registration. 2007's Graduation was ambitious and I really liked some of it, but overall, it didn't do it for me. And I just couldn't get into 2008's 808s & Heartbreak. Going into this album, I really dug the King Crimson-sampling single "Power," and didn't really like "Runaway." So I figured there was a 50/50 chance that I would like it or not. But I definitely really like it.

The opening track, "Dark Fantasy," produced by The RZA, pretty much announces that this isn't another synthy, autotuney 808s type album. But I think the second track is where it takes off: "Gorgeous," featuring Kid Cudi and Raekwon (who are both great, but the song would stand without their verses). It's a song that a rock band should re-work.  It features a cool sample of The Byrds' "You Showed Me." "Power," like I've said, is amazing. "All Of The Lights" is pretty wild, it features a ton of guest vocalists, including Rihanna, Alicia Keys, Elton John, John Legend and Fergie, among others.  

The centerpiece of the album, to me, is "Monster," a classic collab track, featuring Rick Ross, Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj and... Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. Minaj kind of steals the show with a classic verse, but the real star is Kanye's track, he produced it. Another rocking track is "Hell Of A Life" which borrows liberally from Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" (and in fact gives Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward songwriting credits). There aren't really any weak points on the entire album, and there are just so many highlights.  Yes, Kanye's attitude gets annoying, but it doesn't really ruin anything.

And by the way, even after listening to "Runaway" (the one that toasts "the douchebags and the assholes") I realized that it's actually a really good song (and would have fit in better on 808s).

THE WU-3 CLAN

The Wu-Tang Clan's Method Man, Raekwon and Ghostface are working on an album as a trio. They are probably the three Wu-Tangers with the most starpower, and all have released highly anticipated albums this year that didn't really blow up like they wanted them to. The trio has done two records this year: "House Of Flying Daggers" and "The New Wu." Plus, members of the Clan (especially Ghostface) have been beefing with the big boss, The RZA, and this allows them to make an album without him (although he told MTV that he wants in on the album). Should be interesting. There's clearly a lot of money being invested. Check out the first of three planned trailers for the album:

BEST OF '09: N.A.S.A.'s SPIRIT OF APOLLO

I don't know what's up with the cover of N.A.S.A.'s Spirit Of Apollo album, or what they are trying to say. But don't let the Klan clown trick you, this is a very one-world album. The guest list includes: David Byrne, Chali 2na (formerly of Jurassic 5), Chuck D, Method Man, The RZA, John Frusciante of The Red Hot Chili Peppers, KRS-One, Karen O of The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Ol' Dirty Bastard (the album has been in the works for a long time), Tom Waits, Kool Keith, Kanye West, Santigold, Lykke Li, George Clinton, M.I.A., Del The Funkee Homosapien, Ghostface Killah and the late DJ AM. N.A.S.A. features DJ Zegon and Squeak E. Clean (aka Sam Speigel aka Spike Jonze's brother, which explains some of the guest list). It is a great, fun album that not enough people know about it. Check it out, have a great time, thank me later. It's hard to explain.

Other Best of '09 albums: Bob Dylan's Together Through Life , The Cocktail Slippers' Saint Valentine's Day Massacre , Rancid's Let The Dominoes Fall, Willie Nelson & Asleep At The Wheel's Willie & The Wheel

ROCK THE BELLS WILL ROCK A LITTLE MORE

Busta Rhymes and The GZA have been added to the already cool Rock The Bells lineup which also features Nas and Damien "Junior Gong" Marley, The Roots, Common, Big Boi and GZA's fellow Wu-Tangers RZA and Raekwon. That's a pretty cool lineup. This is according to All Hip-Hop.com.

ROCK THE BELLS 2009

They haven't announced the dates yet, but Rock The Bells announced the main artists on this year's lineup.  The headliner is Nas with Damien "Jr. Gong" Marley (they are doing an album together). Also on the bill: The Roots, Common, Big Boi, KRS-One, House Of Pain (!), RZA and Raekwon, among others. Rock The Bells puts on a great show: last year rocked, and the year before was even better (it featured Rage Against The Machine, Pubic Enemy and The Wu-Tang Clan).  

GEORGE CLINTON'S NEXT ALBUM

I'm a big George Clinton fan. I got into the whole Parliment-Funkadelic thing I guess in the late '80s and early '90s, mainly through hip-hop groups who sampled them (notably Public Enemy - I still remember a special issue of Rolling Stone where then-current artists posed with their influences, and there was a cool picture of Chuck D and Flavor Flav with George), but also The Red Hot Chili Peppers, who cited him as a huge influence, and who used him as a producer on their Freaky Styley album.

Things really took off for him again when Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg started sampling his music in the early '90s, and it was great to see so many younger people showing up at his shows. At the same time, he was starting to get a Deadhead/hippie crowd. The thing about George is, he's done too many albums that were billed as his "comeback," and done too many tours where people thought that Bootsy Collins and Bernie Worrell were back in the band. And his shows are a bit too Deadheady these days, the last few times I went, it was very jammy. I mean, Funkadelic always jammed, as did Parliment, but I felt it was getting a bit unfocused, and I stopped going.

So, Billboard reports that George's next album will have a big guest list, including the Chili Peppers, The RZA and Sly Stone, among others. I wonder if that will do anything for him - if the public will pay attention. I'll check it out for sure

I don't mean to sound down on George. If I was going to describe myself with a mixtape, it would have to include Funkadelic's "Who Says A Funk Band Can't Play Rock?" and "One Nation Under A Groove." The early Funkadelic and Parliment records can improve your life. I hope this new record is good; maybe it will get me to go to George's shows again.