"Anytime, Anywhere: Kanye West's Relentless Enthusiasms" by Sasha Frere-Jones

This article is a review of Kanye West's album, "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" as well as a reflection on the artist himself.  It begins with an observation of all the different Kanye Wests that have been seen this year, from his personality on Twitter to subdued interviews on the internet, to the couple awkward public outbursts about Taylor Swift and George W. Bush (from a few years ago).  His newest album is seen as just another facet to this artist's conflicting public image.  Frere-Jones is of the opinion that West has very good, but particular (and somewhat odd) taste in music and collaborators.  The author sees West not as another obnoxious ego-obsessed rapper, but one with enthusiasm and a drive to work that is admirable.  West's album spans quite a bit of musical territory, with collaboration by Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) in a more subtle, brooding track, to the more sprawling, crazy "Runaway," the track that Frere-Jones feels best embodies the album's "restless hunger and ambition" (95).  By the end of the piece, Frere-Jones appreciates that West sometimes blurs the line between what is "acceptable" and "normal" and what is not.  It makes his art and his persona all the more interesting.