He would rarely sleep, working long hours through the night, moving from room to room, as he directed what would become his come back album. He would import some of the world’s best producers, emcees and artists to form what he called “rap camp”. Here, Kanye indefinitely black booked all three session rooms of the Avex recording studio in Honolulu.

First to Japan, then Rome, and finally to Hawaii. Here, a unique instrumentation of 808 electronic drums, various synthesizers, and traditional acoustic instruments backed Kanye’s lamenting, auto-tuned vocals.įinally, we saw how the 2009 VMA debacle vilified Kanye and sent him on a self-imposed exile. We also saw how his mother’s passing and the disillusion of his marriage engagement influenced the departure album 808’s and Heartbreak. It was augmented with brassy arena-filling synthesizers on Graduation. We saw how Kanye’s innovative soul-sampling production of The College Dropout, matured with the inclusion of orchestral textures on Late Registration.

I cover the most impactful episodes in the notes below. The podcast explores Kanye’s magnum opus on the underbelly of fame, celebrity, and power. In Season 2 of Dissect! Cole Cuchna dives into Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

Kanye west dark fantasy vocals