Over the last 3 months I've gone from knowing a few songs here and there to knowing every Kanye West album to a pretty good extent. In preparation for his upcoming album I thought I'd rank each Kanye album from worst to best and say some of my thoughts on him as an artist. (List only includes solo albums, so know Kids See Ghosts or Watch the Throne).
I feel I was a bit harsh on 808's when I did the individual review of this album, the impact of the album on popular music today is still felt and present. Therefore, influentially you could say it is his strongest. The sentiment of the album is really genuine and endearing too. But that doesn't change the fact that the quality of it is way below all the other albums. I prefer to hear him rapping rather than singing, so ultimately the album was always going to be a bit of a non-starter for me. Over use of auto-tune and the melodies weren't even that special anyway. It's a bit cringey to say, but usually he's really good at creating moods and vibes with his beats, but on 808's they were just lacking that.
Star Track: RoboCop
7th: Late Registration (2005)
Late Registration won Kanye his second Grammy for Best Rap Album, in consecutive years as well, beating off competition like Encore by Eminem, The Massacre by 50 Cent and Be by Common, which... surprises me to be honest. Out of the 'school-series' from Kanye this is easily the worst. Which sounds weird because it's a great album. I enjoy all of his albums, but from this point, this is where I really fuck with them. The beats on here are exceptional, and the way he finds the pocket on some of them, flowing smoothly, changing up his cadences was really impressive. Some good examples are; Heard 'Em Say, Hey Mama and definitely Addiction. This being his second album you can definitely tell he was stepping up his pen game, his storytelling and lyricism did start to go up levels. I think what holds it back is some of the filler, I don't really care for Crack Music, Late or Celebration. Singles wise this is one of the worst albums too, Touch the Sky is decent, but Gold Digger is just too over-played at this point and the instrumental is just really grating and horrible.
Star Track : Hey Mama
6th: Ye (2018)
Kanye's latest album that is on this list. Weird one really, I think every song is decent, they're all solid tunes. It just felt a bit thrown together for me. Bit more of a mixtape in that respect, being only 7 songs as well it's hard to really get in to and have something to fully digest. I think it got overshadowed by Kids See Ghosts, but that's not a surprise to me having heard them both. When you listen to Kids See Ghosts you're like what the fuck is going on, this is mind-blowing, but when you listen to Ye, it's more just like what the fuck is going on? At the end I wasn't really sure what to take from the album. Later on in this list I mention a delivery and flow Kanye uses, and he demonstrates some of that on this album, on the track Yikes he absolutely snaps. This album is a little similar to The Life of Pablo, just less thorough, however, his bars on here are some of the best of his career, which makes me excited for what's coming. Also, the way he pulls the features together is incredible. If this album had maybe 5 more songs it could be higher on the list, but still, I really like Ye, and to see him still pushing himself creatively and with his lyricism is great.
Star Track: Yikes
5th: The College Dropout (2004)
With any high-profile rapper, people are always going to be offended no matter what opinion you have on their music. I feel as though out of anything, putting The College Dropout this low on the list would piss the most people off... Wait till you see what's first and second. This is just my opinion and that's all I can give. Debut album, Kanye's first Grammy for Best Rap Album, and he deserved this one. Straight out the gate coming with something fresh and authentic, chopping up beats, playing with samples and serving bangers throughout. There's not much to dislike about this album (except the skits). This album truly put Kanye on the map, making a stamp on the culture and challenging the expectations of Hip-Hop music at the time. Kanye took the game by the balls and Hip Hop was his for a few years at least. That shouldn't be a surprise when he's coming out with amazing songs like; We Don't Care, All Falls Down, Never Let Me Down, School Spirit, Family Business and the list goes on...
Star Track: All Falls Down
4th: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010)
Usually Kanye sticks to short-ish songs that can be quickly listened to, but where the depth is really in the instrumental and lyrics. To make an album where every track is basically 5+ minutes but still keep it interesting and have replay-ability is really impressive. Like some of his other albums that are high on this list, this album has an endearing wit to it, it's diverse, with a high-energy classics like POWER, big feature-heavy, lyrics-heavy songs like Monster and piano-led, storytelling tunes like Blame Game. Kanye takes producing skills to new heights too, instrumentals on songs like; Dark Fantasy, POWER and Runaway are crazy. It seems common for this album to be considered his greatest, and that doesn't surprise me, but not for me.
Star Track: Blame Game
3rd: Graduation (2007)
The first Kanye album that I listened to in full and it did not disappoint. Some of the beats blew me away. Graduation took the best parts of the prior two albums and jelled them together, which culminated in something special. The lyricism was as good as it was on Late Registration and the I liked the beats just as much as the ones on The College Dropout. But he still kept it fresh on Graduation, I think the more experimental side of him started coming to the surface, Stronger is a typical example of this. A lot of this list is kind of ranked not only on how good I think the music is, but how much it made me feel something. Everything from MBDTF consistently made me feel some type of way and essentially that's one of the most important parts of music. Graduation was no exception, powerful hooks from songs like Can't Tell Me Nothing and Good Life helped with this, lyrical showboating in Barry Bonds and instrumental masterclasses on Everything I am and Flashing Lights all added to the makeup of this album too. This album is inventive, empowering and inspiring.
Star Track: Champion
Runner Up: The Life of Pablo (2016)
For me The Life of Pablo is the epitome of his career so far. Phenomenal production, that once again pushed boundaries, in places that he hasn't yet been, for example on Fade and Waves. There were lyrical highlights left, right, centre on this album, for example Famous, Ultralight Beam and Facts. There was so much depth and substance to the album, but not only that it had mainstream appeal too, some catchy tunes and samples and clever use of features helped with this, using Panda by Desiigner was absolutely genius. The way Kanye is spitting on Feedback, Highlights, No Parties in LA and Facts is incredible. Probably my favourite Kanye flow. The flow, delivery, his voice is just crazy. Absolutely spazzing with it, whilst actually saying something. The lyrical content was brilliant on The Life of Pablo. The album plays seamlessly, all of the tracks have replay-ability (except maybe Ultralight Beam, which is first anyway), and there's no obvious skippable songs. I know most people wouldn't have The Life of Pablo that high on this list, but there's not much I can fault with this album. I think Kanye is at his most comfortable, experimenting with the music, trying things he hasn't done before, rapping like a demon who is assured and confident in his skills, letting you know how he feels (which he never struggles with anyway) and creating music that is both appealing and consistently strong content-wise.
Star Track: Father Stretch My Hands Pt.1 & Pt.2.
Best: Yeezus (2013)
The best Kanye album he's put out so far. It's goes without saying, the beats are just something else. So unique to everything I've heard. Incredible lyrical moments throughout the album, nothing crazy on the lyricism side of things, but his delivery and what he was saying was so powerful. Big bangers throughout. I think out of all his albums, this is the one I'd want to see live the most. The beat switch-ups were pretty amazing too. There was nothing too serious on there, a lot of it was tongue in cheek, and it felt like he was doing what he wants. Expressing himself in the most creative way so far. He wasn't trying to say too much, he kind of let the music do it's thing, but when he did rap it was spot on. Another one of his albums that plays through seamlessly. All the tracks are coherent to one another, but still had their own unique character and 'vibe'. Moving towards some electronic sounds helped keep this album fresh and even unique compared to any of his other albums. I think it will age well, already it's an album I can play multiple times a day at the moment and not be bored. Yeah overall it's a brilliant work of music.
Overall Thoughts:
Kanye was never someone I thought I would ever be a fan of. I only knew a handful of songs and I thought they were pretty good. On the singles like Gold Digger and Stronger (they were a couple of the ones I knew) I just thought he was an alright rapper and I couldn't really get behind the hype. However, once I got to know his discography I could really see his genius. He's not my GOAT, but he is the Greatest at what HE does. There'll be people who try mimic him, his influence on Hip Hop has been huge and his impact on the music industry has been monumental. There'll never be someone like him again. I can see why people consider him the best ever. It's fair to say I am a fully-fledged fan by now and 3 months ago that wasn't the case.I don't know much about him as a person, I don't really pay much attention to him outside his music, I know he's a big figure in popular culture but I wouldn't let that dictate my opinions on his music.
In terms of his music I love his attitude, his creativity, his imagination and most importantly his ability of making beats and his ability of writing lyrics. I'm not too sure why I've gravitated towards his newer material, but I think my list does reflect that I have. I'm excited for what is next. There are some ups and downs, but his music is nothing short of remarkable. I now consider him one of my favourite artists ever and I am really glad I took the time to discover his music.
"This is a story of a Champion, runners on their mark and they pop their guns, stand up stand up, here he comes, tell me what it takes to be Number 1..."
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