LOS ANGELES — Kanye West’s opus “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” took home the prize for rap album at the 54th Grammy Awards on Sunday.

West nabbed a leading seven nominations this year; however, the notoriously outspoken rapper missed the prestigious album of the year field for the career-defining record that was last year’s most critically acclaimed.

With epic beats that traversed the classic soul samples, orchestrations and heavy synths of West’s previous works, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” showed the rapper in his element: at war with himself over his turmoil with celebrity and excess.

Known for his ego and grand opinion about his talent, the rapper is no stranger to venting over a slight disdain for award shows, including the Grammys, which he finds “illogical.”

His history with the Grammys has proved spotty. The rapper was bested in the best new artist race in 2005 by pop-rockers Maroon 5, and his first three efforts all received album of the year nominations and have lost each time. When his sophomore disc, “Late Registration,” was up for album of the year in 2006, he told MTV News, “If I don’t win album of the year, I’m gonna really have a problem with that.” He lost out to U2. He hasn’t been nominated in the field since 2007’s “Graduation.”

But if it’s any consolation, the rapper has won 14 Grammys and been nominated 44 times.

West placed himself in direct competition with himself as his joint effort with Jay-Z, “Watch the Throne,” was also up for rap album. Also vying for the trophy were hit albums from Lil Wayne, Lupe Fiasco and Nicki Minaj.

After the Grammys eliminated 31 award categories, the categories for best rap soloist and best rap duo or group were merged into one category.

The Grammys are determined by about 13,000 voting members. The eligibility period for nominated recordings was Oct. 1, 2010 to Sept. 30, 2011.