If you don’t already have some sort of underlying dislike for Kanye West here are some of his quotes that may bring out any hidden distaste:
“My greatest pain in life is that I will never be able to see myself perform live.”
“I feel like I’m too busy writing history to read it.”
“I hate when I’m on a flight and I wake up with a water bottle next to me like oh great now I gotta be responsible for this water bottle.”
“50 is Eminem’s favorite rapper…I’m my favorite rapper.”
Even though he is married to Kim Kardashian, has some of the most ridiculous quotes of all time, named his first child after a direction, and he totally crashed Taylor Swift’s speech during the 2009 MTV Music Awards, Kanye is somewhat of a musical genius.
I hate to admit that, because I really can’t stand anything about Kanye, but if you take a deeper look at some of his music you can see the intention that actually lies behind his music.
Kanye has never been a lyricist, as you can see in his song “Devil in a New Dress” when he says “Hood phenomenon/ The LeBron of rhyme.”
His lyrics are typically simplistic, easy, and juvenile, but they’re actually incredibly honest. He knows who he is, and even though it might be obnoxious, it is still admirable. In the album “808s and Heartbreak” Kanye showed emotion in his rap, which opened the floor to rappers like Drake, J. Cole, and Kendrick Lamar to place more of their feelings into lyrics, and changed the way that rap was viewed by the public. Kanye’s heartfelt expressions like “I’m in love with you, but the vibe is wrong. And that haunted me all the way home,” from the track “Love Lockdown” changed rap from mindless rhymes to sincere confessions.
Aside from his repulsive/respectable ego, Kanye West dropped the bomb of “College Dropout” into the musical area in 2003, accomplishing two big things: he changed rap into a more meaningful genre, and bridged the gap between hip hop and rap. He stretched the category of rap from the boisterous and mechanical sounds of early 2000’s rappers like 50 Cent, Andre 3000, and Nas, to an all-encompassing class of experimental tracks and more melodic tunes. This was a big step for Kanye, because he was a new and young face on the music scene and he dropped an innovative and exploratory album into the abyss with his fingers crossed that it would work out.
His music was confusing and enticing, even in the comments he made. One song he would be sexist and crude, but the next track he could be accessible and sensitive, meaning that no audience could get a hold on who Kanye was. His lyrics were surprisingly socially aware, and yet he could come across as the most ignorant artist of all time, leaving listeners in a fascinated stupor.
Kanye’s style not only changes from album to album to album, but from song to song within an album. The fact that the choral symphony of “Ultralight Beam” and the stream of consciousness “Freestyle 4” are on the same track is mind-blowing.
Not only is Kanye a prolific writer and recorder of music, he is also a surprisingly proficient producer and has introduced a number of artists to the top of the charts. He has produced songs by artists like Scarface, Jay-Z, Mos Def, Mariah Carey, Alicia Keys, Lil Wayne, and Ludacris.
Kanye has his hand in a wide range of the musical industry, and next time you listen to a Drake song, take a moment to thank Kanye.
