Kanye West's "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" in Parallel to the Classical Epics

As the saying goes, there is a fine line between genius and crazy. One of the most controversial music artists of the modern era, Kanye West, represents—indeed, incarnates—this idea. West commands the presence of a man who has lost his mind and yet creates the art of a genius. The primary contention of such a statement is withheld almost universally in modern America, while the latter raises a bold and highly challenged proposition. Although the aspects of West’s artistic genius are cast across various facets of music and fashion, there is an instance of particular genius in his most acclaimed album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, comprised of thirteen pieces and released in 2010.

The album itself was universally well received, pushing the boundaries of rap and culture and receiving numerous awards, including a Grammy for the best rap album of the year. Rolling Stone ranked the album as the 353rd best album of all time, and NME placed it at 24th. Among the layers of depth and wit blended within West’s magnum opus, the most stunning element results from the album paralleling, if not being modeled after, a Classical epic.

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is an epic tale which poetically documents the rise of the African American man in American society. The hero, the image of such a rising man, is West himself. The album in its entirety has thoroughly spiritual themes alongside an ample amount of West’s typical self praise. West produced and released a thirty minute film to accompany the album, which served as further testament to the album’s epic nature.

West has never shied away from the Classical. In his collaboration album with Jay-Z, Watch the Throne, a direct reference to Plato’s Euthyphro is found in the question “Is pious pious cause god love pious” alongside a referral to the blood-stained Coliseum. The song itself takes on a particularly philosophical nature, repeatedly questioning “What is god to a non-believer?” in Frank Ocean’s hook. An exemplary song such as “No Church in the Wild”[1], simply provides a blatant instance of the Classical influence spread through West’s music, and sets an example of his knowledge of, or at least respect for, antiquity. While many of the suppositions that are proponed in this essay are mere theory, it is important to consider that it is not beyond West to have purposefully referenced and modeled the Classics at least in some, if not all, of these occurrences.

“Dark Fantasy” is the opening track. The song features Nicki Minaj, Tenaya Taylor, and Bon Iver. It is an introduction, or proem, and in many ways, this piece serves as an invocation to a Muse. Minaj opens in an atypical talking voice, saying

You might think you've peeped the scene You haven't The real one is far to mean The watered down one, the one you know Was made up centuries ago They it sound all wack and corny Yes it’s awful blasted boring Twisted fiction, sick addiction Well gather round children Zip it listen!

This verse skewers the false perception of African American life in the American society. Even the lifestyle of someone such as West, an acclaimed and significantly wealthy musician, is “far too mean”. The one that outsiders see is “watered down” and is only a “twisted fiction”. Minaj resolves to elaborate to the “children”, an allegory for a listener who has much to learn and is eager to do so, the real story of the African American life. Taylor then follows with a sung hook verse, asking the audience and the musicians, “Can we get much higher?” This is an invocation to the muse of the musicians, which in this case seems to be narcotics. This “muse” is seemingly ageless, as it was a muse in Plato’s symposium and as Dionysus, or Bacchus, and his wine inspired many poets and philosophers throughout Greek and Roman history. The invocation of a muse, likely Calliope, was an essential piece to epic poetry. Vergil asks “Muse recount to me the cause…” in the Aeneid, and Homer requests “Sing, Muse” in both the Iliad and the Odyssey. Likewise, West invokes the muse in his opening track. The production during the hook is a beat of Taylor and Bon Iver singing “Oh, oh, oh” which is similar to the vocative used to invoke the muses of Vergil and Homer. This occurrence is likely coincidental, but nevertheless interesting.

In the film, labeled Runaway, which encompasses most of the album, the “Dark Fantasy” portion evokes several instances classical and paralleling imagery. The film begins with a romantic scene: a blood red sky, cast behind a black forest, and a lone road[2]. West sprints down the road, the viewer clueless to any pretense; the film was set in a nonlinear narrative. At minute 29:56, West, after some course of the film, is shown in the same scene, yet completely set in context. In classical terminology, the film begins In Medias Res, a characteristic which is featured in the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Aeneid. A final classical image from this “Dark Fantasy” portion of the film is the deer which walk through the woods aside West. A classicist by the name of M.K. Thornton at the University of Miami at Ohio wrote an essay in 1996 labeled “Vergil's Injured Deer Motif in the Aeneid” in which she solely discusses this image of a deer. She points out that “the deer is a gentle, beautiful animal”. However, the deer often is injured in its beauty and causes problematic instances. In Book Seven of the Aeneid, at the conniving hand of Juno, Ascanius slays a deer, which was, unbeknownst to Ascanius at the time, a beloved pet. In the poetry of Vergil, “It was this that kindled the zeal for war in the hearts of the country people” (VII.482)[3]. The deer in West’s film creates an allegory for West himself, who is a gentle and beautiful creature but slain by the media and the fates, despite the fact that he is indeed an artist, simply trying to make his art. “Dark Fantasy” serves as a perfect prelude to the album and introduction to West’s own “dark fantasy”. This term is clever and sarcastic; it alludes that the “dark” fantasy to be actualized is that he might be able, as an African-American, to rise to prominence. Primarily, however, the fantasy is “dark” because West believes the American people to fear such a rise to prominence as the one he propones.

The next song on the album is “Gorgeous” featuring Kid Cudi and Raekwon. Although this particular song holds less significance to the classical epic parallel than some of the other pieces on the album, it nevertheless plays its part in the album as a whole, and in completing the epic that My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is. It also does not have an absence of classical references, either, with West referring to himself as “at the top of Mount Olympus, Ready for the World’s game, this is [his] Olympics”. Such a small allusion, although fleeting, simply adds to the classical nature present in the collective album. While West could have chosen any way to depict his influence and power, he chose to sit himself among the Greek and Roman gods atop Mount Olympus. Gorgeous serves to address common issues which have plagued African-Americans and present obstacles that the epic hero must overcome.

Following “Gorgeous” is perhaps the most popular song off of the entire album in “POWER”. West claimed in an interview to have spent 5,000 hours on this song alone, and it consequently played a pivotal role on the album and affected its classical nature. Before considering any aspects within the song, the name alone speaks. In all capital letters, it is emphasized, and it acknowledges the universal human obsession with and struggle for power. The songs central themes focus on time and timelessness; lines such as “the clock’s tickin’ I just count the hours” clarify this. Each classical epic, in particular the Iliad and the Aeneid, there is an evident power struggle. As Aeneas’ father tells him,

Your task, Roman, and do not forget it, will be to govern the peoples of the world in your empire. These will be your arts—and to impose a settled pattern upon peace, to pardon the defeated, and war down the proud. (VI.851-4)

This song embodies the desire for power, and its timelessness. One of the most fascinating lines of the song, with regards to the classics, is West’s “lost in translation with a whole f*ckin nation”. West’s work is indeed lost in translation. It often requires a deep analysis to discover his art and wit, but such an analysis is discarded as a waste of effort because of West’s personal self display, which causes his work to be lost in translation. Of course, the line itself is very classically applicable.

The music video, separate from the Runaway film, is the song’s most classical element. The scene opens, and West stares forcefully, between two rows of Ionic columned pillars, as the song proceeds. The production and beat are royal, and the classical imagery complements that. The columns on either side hold classical relevance even outside of their artistic period. They often symbolized an entrance or gateway. The “Pillars of Hercules” mark the end of the Strait of Gibraltar, which was in times of antiquity the end of the known world. The frontispiece to Francis Bacon's 1620 Instauratio Magna contains a depiction of adventure through such pillars. An archive on the Princeton University website elaborates as such:

The frontispiece depicts a ship travelling between the metaphorical Pillars of Hercules which were thought to lie at the strait of Gibraltar and were believed to mark the end of the known world. The engraving draws on the new knowledge brought home by recent voyages of exploration, and is an allegory for the new world of concrete knowledge Bacon emphasized in his plan to go beyond the traditional philosophy taught in universities.

West’s pillars also mark the end of the known world. West believes that the upper echelon of society is dominated by whites[4]; even rapping in the song “In this white man’s world, we the ones chosen”. He crosses through the gateway with all of black America into that upper echelon through his music. When he crosses, he does so not for himself, but for all African-Americans. This is the nature of his epic: Kanye West champions African-American society in his ascendance, documented in this epic album. In the scene, which West described as “moving painting” he is flanked by nymphs and classical maidens, and the Sword of Damocles appears above his head. Professor Dan-el Padilla Peralta, a Classics professor at Princeton University, observes of this scene such:

What viewers of the video were being treated to was a provocatively intermediated version of the Damocles legend: the sword positioned right over Kanye’s head is paired together with Ionic columns, female figures arrayed in diaphanous tarot-inspired costumes (Westall’s[5] maidens, remixed), to generate a new vision of the implied threats to the man in power.

While West ascends to his power, he must maintain the mindset that a threat is present to his power; if he can maintain his earned power, he will raise the whole African-American society with him.

The album proceeds with the “All of the Lights Interlude” and the following masterpiece, “All of the Lights”. The interlude has no lyrics, but is comprised of string music. “All of the Lights” features several artists, among them Kid Cudi, Rhianna, Elton John, Fergie, Alicia Keys, and Ellie Jackson. The song serves two purposes: first, to document and predict the polar transition from “thug life” to celebrity status, and second, to acknowledge the effect such a change it will have on West’s family. These changes are important factors to account for in the making of an epic. West understands that if he is able to ascend to the high society, they will experience all of the lights, or, as the hook verse states, “Cop lights, flash lights, spot lights, strobe lights, street lights; all of the lights”. Kanye hopes to rise out of a world where cop lights and their subsequently searching flashlights are the only lights he knows—he wants to be in the spotlight or at a concert where strobe lights cast their violent flickering.

In “All of the Lights” there is also a parallel to the Odyssey in West’s first verse.

I did that time and spent that bread I’m heading home, I’m almost there, I’m on my way, headed up the stairs, To my surprise, a n*gga replacing me, I had to take him to that ghetto university.

West here refers to coming home from jail, returning to his woman and child. Odysseus similarly left Penelope and Telemachos for the Trojan War, and took an extra ten years to return after its finish, documented in the Odyssey. In that time, a multitude of suitors had taken it upon themselves to pursue the hand of Penelope, all of whom Odysseus slays upon his return.

But leave behind, for you and me alone, a pair each of swords and spears, and a pair of ox hide shields, to take up in our hands, and wield them, and kill these men (XVI.295-7)[6]

This motif of returning home to find another man attempting to fill your place is a general plotline of the Odyssey, and West’s verse parallels that. In the Iliad, Agamemnon speaks brutally from the opposite perspective. He tells his men about to attack “their wives and children will be our cargo, After we have taken their city’s high rock” (IV.254-5)[7]. One can see that the overtaking of a man’s home and wife is the ultimate measure of conquering, and for any hero to be a true hero, he must reclaim what has been snatched away from him. Thus, Kanye takes his suitor to “that ghetto university”.

The epic progresses by addressing what West perceives to be the view of the African-American man in “Monster”. In eerie tone, West sings to begin,

I shoot the lights out, Hide till its bright out, Whoa just another lonely night, Are you willing to sacrifice your life?

Here West provides the initial image of a monster, which he uses the first person to activate. Later, West will say “Gossip, Gossip, n*gga just stop it, Everybody knows I’m a Mothaf*ckin monster”. West declares that he is fed up with the maligning he receives, and has even come to believe himself a monster. Yet, nevertheless, he intends to enter the highest levels of community and civilization through his music, and will do so, even if the media and subsequently society determine him to be a monster. In Jay-Z’s verse on the song, he exclaims, “Everybody want to know what my Achilles heel is! Love, I don’t get enough of it”. Though this classical reference is a modern idiom, once again it simply adds to the classical aura of the work. Finally, the closing lines of “Monster” are quite significant: “I have crossed the limelight, And I’ll let God decide”. West has crossed into popularity; he will leave it up to God to determine his fate. As Helenus advises Aeneas in Book Two of the Aeneid, “The fates will find a way. Call upon Apollo and he will come.” (II.395-6)

“So Appalled” is a slower paced song than its predecessors, and diagrams how Kanye feels about other rappers who do not work in the way that he does, and therefore produce lower quality art. Although the song is another that has no overt classical references, it goes so far to show that there was indeed a great deal of effort put into this album; therefore, at least some of the inferences discussed in this essay are not mere coincidence.

The role that the gods play in The Odyssey, Iliad, and Aeneid directs the course of each epic’s proceedings. It is therefore befitting that West also has spiritual themes and instances in My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. “Devil in a New Dress” is the most spiritual song of the album, with themes and contrasts between good and evil, Christianity and the Occult. Kanye begins his rap with “May the Lord be with us, May the gods forgive us”. Similar instances and phrases can be seen throughout the epics, particularly when Aeneas takes with him “the Penates, [the] defeated gods” (I.68) out from Troy and to Rome. Kanye similarly wants the gods to be with him. The song has several spiritual phrasings, such as “preaching to the congregation” and “the way you look should be a sin, you my sin-sation”, adding to the spiritual element. The general address, however, concerns the presence of Satan. West is aware of Satan and his power, although in the song he neither speaks for or against him[8]. Discussion of “the magic hour” which occurs “when the sun go down” harkens to the line from “Dark Fantasy”—

At the mall there was a séance, just kids no parents, And the sky filled with herons, And I saw the Devil in a Chrysler LeBaron

It simply makes the album more eerie, and certainly more spiritual. The second meaning of “Devil in a New Dress” is to characterize West and the rising African-American man, previously referred to as “Monster[s]”, as devils, but in a new dress. His guise of fame puts him in new clothing, and the populace becomes oblivious to his origin. Nevertheless, West is concerned that some still believe a “devil” lies beneath the dress. In the Runaway film, West, during this song, sits at a table of well dressed black people. Each man is paired with a woman, all of whom are dressed and act similarly. However, West himself enters aside a phoenix, gorgeous, but regardless out of place and startling. The others at the table are unsettled by his companion. This serves as an allegory for Kanye seating himself at the table of great musicians and high society.

In one of West’s greatest pieces of music, “Runaway”, he philosophizes on his sporadic nature, making deep and heartfelt observations considering how he struggles to stay with a single woman. In the song, he demonstrates a propensity to create new and unique pieces of music which transform to timeless classics. His first verse includes a forthright statement of his dilemma:

I don't know what it is with females But I'm not too good with that sh*t See, I could have me a good girl And still be addicted to them hoodrats And I just blame everything on you At least you know that's what I'm good at.

This theme, and particularly this verse, draws an uncanny parallel to Book Four of the Aeneid. The tragedy of Dido has been long studied by classicists, and serves as a tribute to the timeless struggles of committed relationships and the extent of love. Over two thousand years after the Aeneid was written, Kanye West attempts to construct a similar idea in a piece of music. Aeneas speaks in symmetry with West’s verse:

I shall never be sorry to remember Dido while I remember myself, while my spirit still governs this body. Much could be said. I shall only say little. It was never my intention to be deceitful or run away (IV.355-8)

Kanye takes on the role of both Dido and Aeneas; he is distraught that his lovers leave him, yet sees the necessity that they leave because he is a chronic cheater. Ironically David West chooses the word “run away” from Vergil’s “fugam” and parallels Kanye West’s “run away”. Aeneas leaves Dido to found Rome, while West leaves simply because he follows his impulses. However, he must learn to cease this cheating if he indeed wishes to raise his status. Commitment is essential to Kanye developing himself. In the Runaway film, during “Runaway” the phoenix is served a bird as the main dish with all the others dining, once again serving as a resonant image of West, seated at the table of high society while the media, and that high society, dines on his faults and shortcomings. In “Runaway”, he toasts those like him, faces his shortcomings, and sets goals to overcome them as he climbs.

Following “Runaway” is undoubtedly the most obscene and impious song of the album in “Hell of a Life”. Accompanied by violent and choppy production, the song creates an irreverent feel, only accompanied by more irreverent lyrics. However, such a creation develops exactly what West aims at: the abuse of fame and power in his culture. He, already having risen in society, abuses his fame to woo women, do drugs, and spend his money extravagantly. It is a shameful life that he tries to characterize—one that he wishes to avoid in his ascendance but seemingly cannot.

“Blame Game” follows “Hell of a Life” and contrasts “Runaway”. In “Blame Game”, West is cheated on, and everything he did for his woman is pawned off to her new lover. The contrast is made that Kanye is not a man from the “neighborhood”, but rather an artist and celebrity, and if a girl wishes to leave him, she suffers the loss. The song serves little epic purpose, but colors West’s self perception quite clearly.

The concluding song of the album is “Lost in the World”. It ties every loose end, and culminates the epic. It alludes back and enlightens, characterizing the tone of West’s climb to high society. “Lost in the World” has a unique sound, differing greatly from the other pieces on the album. It is Kanye’s acknowledgement that, having made it to the top, he simply wants to leave. He even sings “Lost in this plastic life, Let's break out of this fake-ass party, Turn this into a classic night” and “I'm lost in the world, been down my whole life”. He muses to the woman who is the subject of many of his songs:

You're my devil, you're my angel You're my heaven, you're my hell You're my now, you're my forever You're my freedom, you're my jail, You're my lies, you're my truth You're my war, you're my truce You're my questions, you're my proof You're my stress and you're my masseuse

Each issue has been discussed in some song, whether it be her cheating or his cheating, her devilishness or angelic character, she is his purpose, the reason he ascends. This ascendance was not only for himself and the African-American man, but also to achieve the woman he loves. This motif of love guides all epics, and follows in line with the purpose of the epic.

Kanye, now that he has achieved his goal of raising himself and the African-American man in society, wishes to step away from the artificial plasticity of the celebrity lights. He harkens to his previous songs, saying “run for your life” not only to women to run away from him and his cheating, but to himself, to “run from the lights” that he previously sought. As the song fades into the final speech, it questions, “Who will survive in America?”

“Who Will Survive in America?” is the final piece on the album, and it is a speech. It addresses the concept of freedom and democracy, and what it allows. Drawing on a fiery style, it questions, “Who will survive in America?” The ascendance to high American society is brutal; it can cause one to forget values and fall into debauchery, yet as Kanye questions who will survive, he himself survives, having raised with him the African American man. This album documented the epic journey of this rise—It tells the struggles and tale of the rise culminating grandly—Kanye West survives in America.

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is one of the most thorough pieces of art in the modern era—in West’s grand effort he created a work worthy of parallel to the Classical Epics. In this album, Kanye West, perhaps with a bit of help from his muse, draws similarities between his own tale and those tales of ancient heroes, truly raising himself and marking his name in society, as he so sought in the album.

[1] “No Church in the Wild” is not a song on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, the album with which this essay is concerned, but provides a more overt example of West’s classical lyric composition.

[2] West later cruises through the woods in his sports car, surrounded by a Romantic nature scene, and stops to observe a phoenix falling from the sky. This scene evokes a similarity to the opening scene of Dante’s Inferno. However, the Inferno, albeit part of an epic, is not classical and therefore will not be elaborated on in this essay.

[3] This quote and all other quotes in English from the Aeneid in this essay come from David West’s Aeneid translation.

[4] West has on several occasions made such controversial statements as “George Bush hates black people”. Nevertheless, he acknowledges that he has caused embarrassment to African-American society, even within “POWER” calling himself “The abomination of Obama’s nation”.

[5] The “moving painting” is based off of a George Westall Painting, “The Sword of Damocles”. This is factual; West tweeted naming this painting as a chief influence for the music video.

[6] This quote and all other quotes in English from the Odyssey in this essay come from Richard Lattimore’s Odyssey translation

[7] This quote and all other quotes in English from the Iliad in this essay come from Stanley Lombardo’s Iliad translation.

[8] However, West has been outspoken against the Devil in several other pieces of music, for example, in “Jesus Walks”, he repeatedly exclaims “God show me the way, because the Devil tryna break me down”.