Happy Birthday, Me! As of the 17th, this blog is officially one year old. I'm beyond proud of myself for sticking to the commitment to creation I swore to 365 days ago when I uploaded my take on Ye, my favorite album of 2018. While my schedule got dicey in the back half of the year, and my posts such as the Ye Review could use a proof reader upon re-reading, I'm a one-man band of listening, writing, designing, and creating for this endeavor, and I think I deserve to pat myself on the back for that. To celebrate, I wanted to touch down with the topic where this all began, a topic that's going to get me clicks, none other than that of the man himself, Kanye West.
With the most formative decade of my life recently closing, there's been a lot of reflection and introspection happening in and around me. It's inconceivable to imagine that everything I will refer to as formative for years to come is, for the most part, concluded. All of the early 2000's to late 2010's content I've ever experienced, at this point, is set in stone as the foundation I'm built upon, and that's a thought of staggering proportion to wrap your head around. There are many pillars of artistry I have to thank for molding me into the person I am today. As a platform, YouTube cultivated my humor, alongside the likes of legends such as Donald Glover, Bo Burnham, and the revolving door cast of SNL. Musically, I've grown up with the likes of Childish Gambino, Frank Ocean, Brockhampton, and so, SO much more easily accessible talent that I am thankful to have had listened to. Music is obviously such an impactful aspect of my development, but when it comes to really focusing in on who's put the most forth to shape my tastes, the numbers don't lie; Kanye West is the volume shooter of this first quarter of my life.
Now, that isn't to say Kanye is my favorite artist or person. In reality, he isn't either. But, when focusing in on purely discographies, no one comes CLOSE to matching the prolific output of quality music that Kanye has produced these past two decades. Frank and Bino don't fire off at such a rapid rate, and BH hasn't had the time yet. It's Kanye who has really giving me all of these choices of sounds, of songs, an uncomprehensive amount of options of ways to define myself musically. You'll notice the cover photo for this post is from my eighteenth birthday; I've had a lot of respect for his level of proficiency for a while now. Kanye West has the best collections of albums under his belt for this century, a discography that can hold its own against the titans of yesteryear. In order to celebrate the turn of a new decade, I wanted to dedicate a substantial amount of time to appreciating someone who has made my time here a much more enjoyable stay.
I cannot lie though; I am stressed writing this. With a discography of such pristine quality, how do I begin to go about ranking it? When I think the upper echelon of his work is so closely comparable, how am I going to distinguish what is best and what is mid? Additionally, how am I going to put this all into words, set this all into stone? My favorite Kanye Album has probably changed 4-5 times at this point. To make a public declaration in a time-exhaustive format.... It's daunting to say the least. So, when reading my rankings, I do want you to keep in mind that I hold all of Kanye's discography in a high regard, and this list is similar to a modern Kanye release; It's a living, breathing project. Ranking discographies is never going to be a definitive thing for me. Take my Beatles post, for example. I've probably listened to This Boy more than any other song by the band since making that post, and that tune wasn't even in my top 25 tracks. Looking back at that post, I definitely want to change my approach. So, what's the fairest way to tackle a colossal discography with respectable discretion?
I've thought about this question for a while now, and I think the answer to it is actually kind of simple; Multiple rankings. This post is going to take a combination of subjectivity and logical approach to hopefully produce something creative. Ranking songs will stay the same for this post as it was in my Beatles breakdown, with the exception of skits getting a special treatment. When ranking the albums, however, these are the criterion I want to consider;
1. Accessibility & Flow
I kind of incorporated all of these into the Beatles post, but I wasn't super clear as to how, and the execution of these multiple factors being included in a single score didn't really work for me. This category is probably the least simple, but in general; If I want to sit down and listen to an album, what am I likely to put on? I'm talking about the record as a whole, start to finish, and generally, I like records with minimal skips and a smooth flow. I'm already apologizing to Graduation & Late Registration here, because with the number of skits on those albums, this is going to be a ROUGH category. Tie breaker to albums I'm equally likely to sit down and bump will be significance to the genre / culture / future generations, etc. Transitions and cohesion between tracks will be considered here. (This is likely going to be the most controversial part of this post.)
2. Average Song Score
Continuing to thrift the aspects of thought that went into making the Beatles discography breakdown, this portion of my rankings will just be the aggregate scores of individual songs from the album. Scoring will be simple, I will rate a song from 1 to 10 as I see fit, then average these scores and mathematically determine what is the best project in this regard. I will be keeping two scores; A raw score of the average of every track, an adjusted score that counts out shackling factors such as skits or an outlier track. (i.e. The Pinocchio clause; I already know heading into this I despise Pinocchio Story as a track, but it's at the end of the album and entirely unlike the rest of the tracks, seeing that it's a live performance. It's an outlier in the track listing and an easy skip at its placement, so I wouldn't include it in the adjusted score calculation.) The raw score will paint a better picture of how much skits and interludes get on my nerves, whereas the adjusted score will be better for representing every album at their most enjoyable and reasonable presentation. Because I expect a lot of these to be very close in score, this is where my opinion is going to most heavily come into play to break some times.
3. Strength of singles
Certain songs you just end up returning to more than others, that's life. Gold Digger is going to hit more playlists then Late, Violent Crimes isn't going into the party rotation, etc. For this category, I'll be taking my five favorite tracks from each of the albums, comparing them against one another, and ultimately figuring out which album has the highest highlights.
With these 3 criteria in mind, the average of these 3 placements feels like a fair and decisive way to quantify what is "best" from the mind of Kanye West.
I'm putting this in BIG font so hopefully it'll be read. Why? Why score albums like this? Because all of these albums have merit to me in different ways. Jesus Is King is great background music for repeat listens, The College Drop Out and Late Registration are not that, but have amazing singles. It gives every album a fighting chance to shine where they are able to shine brightest, I think it's the fairest way to consider all aspects.
Here is a thorough explanation of how these scores are intended to work. Let's say hypothetically, out of the 10 albums, Ye has the highest score in category 1, the 3rd highest score in category 2, and the fifth highest score in category 3, whereas MBDTF has the 6th highest score in category 1, but the top score in categories 2 and 3 (These are imaginary numbers, I don't know yet.) 1+3+5 divided by 3 equals a score of 3 for Ye, and 6 + 1 + 1 for MBDTF has a score of 2.66. Lowest score wins, so MBDTF would be ranked ahead of Ye in the final rankings to follow. Is that clear? Hopefully, this is a concise enough explanation. Realistically, no one cares that much, so, without more blathering, let's begin with this decomposition!
WARNING:
1 - The Next Graphic will spoil the album rankings.
(Best stuff on top, worse stuff on bottom)
2 - Y'all are going to HATE me for spots 9 and 10.
You've Been Warned. :-)
10. Kids See Ghosts (2018)
9th in Accessibility, 7.43/10 Average Song Score (8th), 9th in top 5 tracks
Frankly, I'm just as surprised as you are that this is the last place finisher in this exercise.
Yea, I know, I've been very vocal and outspoken about the fact I think KSG is extremely overrated, but heading into this, I though Yeezus would be a lock for last, and KSG would clinch at least 9th or 8th. Alas, Kids See Ghosts tied for last in the placement index, and the tie breaker was really a no-brainer for me. Kids See Ghosts being my least favorite Kanye album really comes down to one, essential question; What does KSG offer to me? The short answer? 4th Dimension. The long answer? ...Not much. It's not an album I ever want to put on and listen to straight through, it lacks any truly prominent highlights, and it's only 7 tracks long, offering almost no playlist fodder at the bare minimum. I don't hate KSG, but it offers very little appeal in any fashion in my opinion. It's only 7 tracks, so I guess I can discuss the entire track list to articulate my dissatisfaction.
For starters, you may be asking, why even include this album? it's not a true Kanye album, it's a collaborative project between Ye and Kid Cudi. That leads into my first main issue with KSG; It feels like a Kanye album. In my opinion, Kid Cudi gets washed in nearly every facet across Kids See Ghosts. His verses are weaker both lyrically and content-wise, his creative presence is dwarfed by Kanye’s, and in whole, the endeavor feels like a vision of Kanye's that just happened to include Cudi as a centerpiece. At the very least, I will concede that with the exception of Fire, the production (and features) across Kids See Ghosts are good to spectacular. The album kicks off with Pusha T on "Feel the Love", spitting a charismatic yet not to memorable verse over an ominous synth and Cudi echoes of "I can still feel the love!" The album plants its foot down hard on this opening, striking a grand, eloquent pose, before tumbling down the scenic cliffside of this analogy with Kanye's sporadic "Grrrat-gat-gat-gat-gat's." I've linked the genius post to this song just because I feel sorry for the man who had to annotate this. I find this half of the song to be extremely grating, completely erasing the goodwill that the album started with. "Fire" follows, and does not help KSG's case. I find the plodding percussion to drag the listener through the mud as opposed to the intended anthemic march it aims for. The content of the verses just come across as bland placating of "We made it!", and the two-minute run time feels somehow so much, MUCH, longer.
Thankfully, I'm allowed to be positive again, as "4th Dimension" shuts me up with its grimy, unrelenting groove. The production features down-right brilliant usage of a Louis Prima Christmas song, accompanied by some gritty percussion and smart usage of bass hits. The distortion of the sample careens through anthemic chants of "ooooo-ooooo-oh!" and imploding reversed vocals, allowing for Ye to coast along the dystopian production for easily the greatest verse of the project. Ye's bars are colorful, playful, and offer up some amazing quotables. "Freeee (Ghost Town Pt. 2)" Features an entirely different energy from the Synonymous Pt. 1, but it kind of works in its own regard. The instrumentation utilizes a warbling, psychedelic guitar that stands out in the mix in the best way possible. Ty Dolla $ign does an awesome job with his feature, and the production is very well suited for Cudi's strained delivery. "Reborn" is the most 'Cudi' track of the album, sounding near identical to some of his best work of the previous decade. The hook is undeniably catchy, but does also wear thin quickly, being repeated like 5 times in 5 minutes. I enjoy the sort of lo-fi, grainy elements layered onto the percussion for this track, but am again left feeling like Kanye's verse is the superior takeaway. "Kids See Ghosts" is handily the second-best track of the project. The gravely rumbles of the synth bass, the distant woodblocks, and an infectious Yasiin Bey hook all contribute to a haunting yet beautiful song. The instrumental features some really feint flourishes that complete the track, and again, Kanye's verse is top-notch, probably one of his best flows from the decade. The album finishes on "Cudi Montage", a non-essential closer that tends to drone on in my listening experience. The instrumental is just not that involved, I can't really invest my full attention until the last minute of the track. I'm at the point in my life where Cudi hums are not sustentative enough for me, I need more from a track like this to sell me on an emotional finish.
I think that, in whole, KSG is built upon some really solid fundamentals: Colorful production, a distinct sound, and adventurous presentation. There is a lot to love about the album, but I also find a lot to dislike, more so than with any other Kanye project. At the very least, on something like Yeezus, when the experimentation falls short, I can see what the aim was. Some aspects of Kids See Ghosts are just completely lost on me. Why is Feel the Love more scatting then singing? Why make the fire instrumental the same loop for nearly the whole track? How does a 24-minute album feel like its dragging on? Evil Babies laughing halfway through 4th Dimension? Where did this come from? At its worse, I find Kids See Ghosts to be lacking in content, a collection of songs with no more relation then their stylistic similarities, and at best, the highlights of Kid See Ghosts pale in comparison to the monoliths of works prior of Ye. The distribution of Kanye to Cudi creative input feels lopsided, the whole project has an off-kilter feel to me that I cannot shake, no matter how much I try to fight it. What is Kids See Ghosts about? Mental Illness? Overcoming adversity? Self-Reflection? I'm not quite sure. What I am sure of is that there is a Kanye album that tackles each one of these topics with more robust singles, less questionable moments, more cohesive motifs, and more refined performances. Kids See Ghosts placement seems more and more purposeful to me the more I realize its lack of purpose in the grand scheme of this discography, and for that, at 10th it stands.
9. The College Dropout (2004)
10th in Accessibility, 7.30/10 Average Song Score (10th), 6th in top 5 tracks
Wait! I know that if KSG being last to rile all of you up, having TCDO as second to last will finish the job. You're thinking, "Last in TWO categories!? Are you Insane!?" Let me explain.
The way I've structured this post is rigid, with the intention to inject more elements that are not solely subjective to the rankings. Obviously, this is an opinion piece, but sometimes, opinions are hard. Gosh, Do I like Graduation or The Life of Pablo, two albums that sound so insanely dissimilar, more? Breaking things down the way I did has more easily highlighted to me the aspects of what and don't like about each album, but in doing so, it has crushed almost all consideration of legacy and nostalgia. Sorry, no rose-tinted lenses for this post. I don't have the established fondness from growing up with this album, I don't have a kinship to what this album did for me throughout my life or what it meant for the scene as a whole, I was born completely removed from all of that. So, with that in mind... It is a pain to go back and listen to The College Dropout front to back.
There's your quotable for this post. But, I'm serious. Put any nostalgia aside and think about this. The album has no flow! It has two songs bookended with skits. The run from Spaceship to Get Em High is great, but other than that, the album does not transition well from track to track. Get Em High into a Workout Plan skit? Pretty foul. Slow Jamz into Breath in Breath Out!? You took the sexiest song of the album, and ran it into Ludacris saying "Yeeugh!" in a husky growl? There's just some questionable decision making going on here. Also, you know me, Mr. big bad hates skits man, but this album is littered with them. I even gave 3 of the six a passing grade by a HUGE margin, I think School Spirits 1 and 2 and Lil Jimmy are 3 of the most entertaining and thematically consistent skits I've ever seen on an album, but that still doesn't excuse the stench of pond scum like Workout Plan and Graduation Day. The album is a disjointed playthrough, and requires some real mashing of the skip button for a single sitting.
These skips don't stop at skits, though, they extend to some tracks to. This is Kanye's debut album, and as such, it demonstrates some of the growing pains experienced for a freshman debut. School Spirit incites torturous paranoia, in the depths of my soul. It is an absolute CRAWL to listen to. I will hear the plodding, sluggish, "Alpha Step, Omega Step, Kappa Step, Sigma Step..." on an endless loop as they cart me off to the psychiatric ward. It's malicious. Can't believe I'm saying that the 3 skits surrounding it are better than the song itself (by miles). Breathe in Breathe Out is just kind of annoying. If B.I.B.O had a personified form, it would have a real punchable face. The flows, the infections, the pauses for punchlines have just not aged well like other songs have. We Don't Care, Family Business, and especially I'll Fly Away all show their age, they sound dated. The Child choir on We Don't Care is another particularly sour spot for me on the record.
With all that negative energy finally of my chest, let me now state that TCDO is littered with diamonds throughout the rough edges of the record. Through the Wire and All Falls Down are probably two of the best soul-sampled beats ever made, outright. The groove of Get Em High is outstanding, emanating the feel of a low-ride cruise during the early 2000's. The interplay between Ye and Talib is super charming, and elevates the memorable traits of the song. The New Workout Plan is a sleeper banger, both off-the-wall and throwing everything at it. The concept is outrageous, the instrumental does not hesitate to get the feet moving, and the track is an absolute journey from start to finish. The use of string instruments across a majority of the songs ties the album together sonically, and I'd be foolish not to mention Slow Jamz, a track that combines Jazz, Soul, Seductive R&B and Twista, yes, Twista, to limitless successes. Go Figure. TCDO to this day has some of the best cuts of Kanye's entire career, and considering that we're 10 albums in, it's beyond impressive that Kanye blasted onto the scene with such high-quality jams.
In full, I love the standout tracks from The College Dropout, and really appreciate how it both put Ye on the map and overturned rap conventions a plenty. I just don't like actually listening to the album as an album. I'll take my dozen or so bops and leave with them, I don't ask for anything more from TCDO than that. And, because we're ranking ALBUMS, not legacy, not cultural significance, not anything else, TCDO offers a whole lot less than the other 8 albums from the discography in this regard. Thank you, TCDO, for kicking this whole sha-bang off, but Late Registration does your style and your sound at a more enjoyable standard. It's difficult to champion an album with a more successful mirror image, so 9th will have to do for you.
8. Yeezus (2013)
7th in Accessibility, 7.35/10 Average Song Score (9th), 8th in top 5 tracks
As someone who has been quick to dump on Yeezus, apt to jump on it as the Worst of the discography for as long as I've been listening to Kanye... I've got to say, I'm surprised by how much Yeezus is growing on me.
I like rap! I don't really care for rappity rap, trap rap, or aggressively industrial rap. Death grips? Cool! I see the appeal, not really for me. JPEGMafia? Some real interesting stuff, but at the end of the day, a Buddy or even a 2 Chainz is just going to hit harder for me. I've been spouting off about the importance of accessibility for a year now, I'm more inclined to poppier sounds. Sorry. I'm not saying Yeezus even touches the grittiness of contemporary albums of the genre, but Yeezus helped direct mainstream attention to industrial rap, so core elements are pervasive at the least. Thus, Yeezus has always been the scapegoat of the Kanye catalog for me. Don't want to look like a stan? Bash Yeezus. Off the cuff ranking of the albums? Ahh, throw Yeezus at the bottom. I've never really given Yeezus a deep, thoughtful listen through, or at least one as intensive as the run throughs I gave for this post. And now, on the other side of that, I can confidently say Yeezus is a pretty damn good album in a genre that I'm lukewarm for.
That's all it really is. I'm never really craving a Yeezus listen (although surprisingly I wanted to listen to it more than KSG and the classics while doing this), and I'm never really fiending to hear a song off of Yeezus, bar the car commercial anthem "Black Skinhead", the frat banger "Blood on the Leaves", or the sonic outlier of "Bound 2." I have a huge amount of respect for the way this album kicked down the door for industrial hip-hop, and I can acknowledge how cutting edge and ahead of its time this album was. Yeezus flows from track to track surprisingly well, it covers political based material and the arc of Kanye's ego subtly yet effectively, and it was a full 2 years ahead of its time. All fingers point towards good, but I just. can't. love it.
Because of this relationship with the album, I'm finding it difficult to write about, so, going to touchdown on some of the moments of note. The opener, On Sight, is a great way to foray into the album, and I adore the left-field choir sample. Similar to how Dark Fantasy is the perfect forward to what MBDTF contains, I feel like On Sight is a great encapsulation of the energy I associate with Yeezus. Black Skinhead is a great track, but as previous mentioned, I can only hear it in the context of a car commercial when I hear it now. New Slaves is some of Kanye’s greatest commentary ever put to wax. The biting delivery, the blunt lyrics, it's all very hard-hitting, driven, and to the point. Additionally, similar to On Sight, I'm enamored with the outro of the track, a completely unexpected switch up of styles. I both simultaneously love and hate the predominant sound effect on Hold My Liquor, I just respect how audacious of a choice it was to build a song around. Also, the way Ye comes in on this track is phenomenal. Guilt Trip has me torn, as I find the production to be generally enjoyable, but can't get past the vocal processing on Popcaan and excessive sound effects over Ye. Send It Up is a worse version of Hold My Liquor, and what I find to be the most obnoxious track of the whole album. Repetitive, grating, and generally not a fun listen. The track I really want to talk about is Bound 2. Why is it on this album? It is entirely separate from the stylistic landscape the rest of Yeezus is predicated on. Whereas Yeezus is a corrugated pillar striking rail spikes through headphones, Bound 2 is... gorgeous. Unequivocally, the lushest instrumental Kanye has ever been responsible for putting out. I have whole-heartedly loved Bound 2 from the moment I first heard it, and all these years later, my adoration for the track has not wavered in the slightest.
With these brief thoughts on the track list in mind, it makes sense why Yeezus notched not last. In comparison to KSG, Yeezus is a comparably smooth listen with a more impressive standout track. In comparison to TCDO, Yeezus is a cohesive project that I can listen to front to back with no skips if I want to (I may usually skip Send It Up). Yeezus is deceptively refined, and really consistent with its tone in addressing political issues. Additionally, the rise and fall of Kanye's ego across this album that I only briefly mentioned leaves Yeezus with a lot to chew on if you can get past the abrasive genre choice. While Yeezus no longer seems abrasive in the past way I considered it to be, it still isn't an album I can fall head over heels for. At the very least, I'm glad this exercise brought me around on a couple more Kanye tracks for the collection.
7. Jesus Is King (2019)
5th in Accessibility, 7.55/10 Average Song Score (7th), 10th in top 5 tracks
Jesus Is King has finally been out long enough for me to establish my take on it, and the polls are in! JIK is the greatest assembly of playlist fodder to hit the shelves in 2019.
All jokes aside, Jesus Is King is perfect background music. I don't want to listen to what Kanye or the Sunday Service Choir are saying, and I don't want to explore any deeper themes of the album, I just want to zone out and listen to the some of the stunning arrangements contained on this project. Thus, I haven't really analyzed any themes of JIK, I haven't explored the lyrics of JIK in depth (at least the lyrics that don't involve Chik-fil-a), I've only ever chilled to the album. Is that a bad look, to champion Kanye's discography as monumental, and then, be 4 albums into the rankings and state that I don't want to listen to an album in-depth? Maybe. I just don't think the subject matter interests me too much, it's the orchestrating of the music that I find compelling. I really do believe that this album is superbly produced, there's not a single bad track on this album. Consequentially, I don't think there's a single truly spectacular track on display here either. I think this is a collection of decent to great tracks, songs that are close to being great, but all just missing that little oomph.
For this project, I have 8 out of the 12 tracks at between a 6.5 and a 7.5 ranking out of 10. (To provided context, that's from the late 60's to 90's of the 118 tracks I ranked.) Of the remaining four, two were the minute-long intro and outro. Follow God, Everything We Need, and Water are the only big standout songs on this project for me. This album is incredibly consistent at being just good to great, which, paradoxically, begins to feel like a strength for this project in some regards. I can burn through listens of JIK like no tomorrow. Perfect to write to. Amazing to study to. Fantastic to mill about the house to. JIK is all-purpose life music to me, it is the perfect stage dressing for me to perform about. In this regard, I think JIK is exceptional. This form on enjoyment is admittedly mindless, but it's soothing in a niche way that the rest of Kanye's discography simply does not hit, and I think that's worth a lot of merit in this exercise. It is at this point that I remind you that I'm ranking albums. TCDO without a doubt has infinitely better songs, some of the best singles of the past decade! But, because of the structure of the album, unbalanced with skits and duds wrought with lack of experience at songwriting, it is not a fun album to listen to. In terms of utility, I can't lie to myself, JIK offers more for me to work with.
Starting at the peak of Jesus Is King tracks, "Follow God" is a refined, Christian version of "Yikes" from Ye. Seriously. Very similar flows and groove. Follow God has a very classic Kanye feel, utilizing a Father Stretch My Hands sample in a style reminiscent of "Otis” off Watch the Throne. Off of JIK, this is the only track that gets my head bobbing in a significant manner, the rest of the album is much more subdued, such as my second favorite track, "Everything We Need." I'm an absolute sucker for Ty Dolla Sign features, and Ant Clemons is yet to fail me on a Kanye feature. It is at this point you begin to realize that calling this project a "gospel album" is a farce; Jesus Is King is just a really enjoyable Christian rap album bookended by two beautiful gospel inspired pieces, "Every Hour" and "Jesus Is Lord". "Water" is a track I can see rocketing up these rankings for me. It's very wholesome, a little stupid, but so undeniably quirky. Aptly named, the track pulls off an underwater feel without a hitch, it's a surreal listen. Going down the track list rankings from here, we have a cavalcade of tracks that are one element away from being amazing. With like 10 tweaks, I'm not kidding when I say this album could shoot up in quality in immensely.
All "On God" needs to be great is a standout chorus, Simple as that. Pi'erre Bourne fabricates the experience of hypnotic ascension with his production talents here. Although distant as all hell from being a gospel track, the beat sure does bang. I feel like, if there was a catchy hook to come back to, this track would rival Follow God for title of king of Jesus is King. "Closed on Sunday" just needs a lyrical rework on the front half, and the addition of one more musical element. Maybe some organs, something cool to fill out the sound and carry into the compelling second half of the track. "God Is" is the easiest fix by far, just necessitating some touching up on the vocals. This song *almost* took me to church, I just needed a little more passion in that delivery. And, seriously, Kanye... clear your throat! The production is so summery and pristine, it basically does all the work for you, just take a breather and do another take. "Hands On" is too much of a husk of an instrumental, either some more compelling vocal or production elements are needed in the mix to add just a little bit more life to the song. As for "Use This Gospel," it could do without out Kenny G's sax solo and I'd probably move it up 10 spots.
This album is so close to spilling over to some fantastic territory, if it were to receive the TLOP treatment of touch-ups after release, I think JIK would climb its way up a spot or two this list. I'm not sure if my discussion of this album has been too negative, but it's a really good album that just lacks the push it needed to become a truly great project. Regardless, I think Jesus Is King is an underrated addition to the catalog that is good for endlessly loop listening sessions and some calm relaxation. Jesus is King may not standout out with all of the insane positives of other Kanye albums, but in that same vein, it doesn't offend with any abhorrent wrongdoings either. It's definitely early to be incorporating this album into these rankings, and some fluctuation may occur in the years to follow, but at face value, JIK holds true at a functional, practical 7th.
6. Graduation (2019)
6th in Accessibility, 7.77/10 Average Song Score (6th), 7th in top 5 tracks
This used to be my favorite Kanye album. This is now my 6th favorite Kanye album. From this point on, the competition is stiff, all of these albums are outstanding... We're in that 'front-to-back classic' territory of this post.
Spots 6 through 4 on this list are only fractions off of one another, I find them all to be spectacular in their own ways. Here's some history on the creation of Graduation: Inspired from being on tour with U2, Kanye wanted to craft an album that would get crowds moving, his aspirations were nothing short of anthemic. In anticipation to releasing the album, Kanye was in stiff competition with 50 Cent over who would do the most with their first week sales. Ultimately, Kanye crushed 50, selling just shy of a million copies of Graduation first week, toppling our boy Curtis by hundreds of thousands of sales. The music was boiled down to its most accessible elements, the hype was delivered upon in spades, and the momentum generated from these factors catapulted Kanye to status as THE face of rap. Graduation's release is arguably the peak of Kanye's commercial career, but some of the magic of the album is left in the past for me. Graduation is a fantastic album, infusing never before crossed genres such as synth pop and house music into rap music, but some songs have not aged well accordingly. Graduation is ambitious, bold, proud, and beautiful, but ultimately, a relic of an era of Kanye that is long gone.
That isn't to say every song on Graduation sounds dated. On the contrary, I'd argue that a majority of the album is timeless, bar a few outliers. Graduation is concise, tightly arranged, and due to the simplified approach to song writing, highly resonate. Take "Good Morning", the opener. The echoed vocal snippet played throughout the track is chilling, and the sparsely place percussion allows the track a true feeling of significance. As Kanye summited the rap game, Good Morning served as the triumphant foot plant at the zenith of the climb, looking down and around the territory Ye conquered. "Champion", "Good Life", "Homecoming" and "The Glory" are some of the most celebratory rap cuts I've ever heard. Champion and Good Life are pure exuberance, whereas Homecoming and The Glory are more reverent. Both styles hold their place in contribution to the important feel of the album. "Everything I Am", "I Wonder", and "Big Brother" are some of Kanye's most introspective tracks of his early career, with the former two tackling a self-reflective look at his fame, and the latter being a compelling navigation through his relationship with mentor and fellow rapper Jay-Z. Considering the cultural environment of the late 2000's, Big Brother is an exceedingly brave track for Ye's discography, not many straight men possessed the confidence to profess their love for another man on wax like that. And, of course, the stadium bangers are ever present, with "Stronger" and “Flashing Lights" existing as two of the best pop rap cuts I've ever come across. Stronger's Daft Punk inspired hook and motivated verses fill the listener with braggadocio, and Flashing Lights masterful cross of synths and strings can evolve any function to a neon speckled rave. Graduation's trackless is bolstered with emotionally relatable and confidently exciting moments, and is overall a record to find solace in through multiple fashions.
These highs do unfortunately come with some lows. Certain tracks, particularly "Everything I am" and especially "I Wonder", may have oversimplified their flow patterns and lyrical presentation. But truly, the two kickers in the stank department are "Drunk & Hot Girls" and "Barry Bonds". Flatly put, these tracks didn't age gracefully as their contemporaries. D&HG's has a unique sample that pulls off the drunken waltz aim of the track without a hitch, but I'd be lying if I said the chorus has held up 13 years later. The waltzy rhythm is a little too overdone for my personal tastes, making this track something I can, at the most, muster some fringe enjoyment out of. Barry Bonds is worse. Lil Wayne has a poor track record of appearances on Kanye songs, as the verse he musters on Barry Bonds is kind of unappealing. His voice is at his sickliest, his flow is sluggish, and the line "here's another hit, Barry Bonds" does not punch in the way it was intended to. The beat is awkward, and overall, I find Barry Bonds to be one of Kanye's sloppiest tracks to date.
Graduation is a great album, and in my opinion, a classic. However, being only 13 tracks, the cracks in the armor here carry more weight than they would on something like The Life of Pablo or Late Registration. Graduation was once my favorite of Ye's catalog, and while I feel its luster hasn't dimmed, the lights it surrounded by have grown to flash brighter, leaving the album a respectable 6th place ranking.
5. Late Registration (2005)
8th in Accessibility, 7.81/10 Average Song Score (4th), 3rd in top 5 tracks
Late Registration is comfortably the best of the Education trilogy, and exists as a refined version of all the elements that made The College Drop Out a classic.
That's really all there is to it. Late Registration has the feel of a slightly jazzier TCDO, with stronger singles, less freshman flops, and a more consistent track listing. It takes everything I like about TCDO, bar the skits, and does it better. My complaints and praises are mostly the same. Too many skits, but less songs sound dated in comparison with its weaker twin. Ignoring the skits, the disgusting "Gone", and maybe the indifferent "Bring Me Down", I'd say every track on this album is, at minimum, really good. Late Registration champions a consistent slew of songs in tandem with the strongest singles "Old Kanye" ever produced. "Touch the Sky", the happiest song I've ever heard, and "Gold Digger", the most classic story-telling rap track ever to hit airwaves, are BACK TO BACK on this album. Two top 15 Kanye songs follow one another up! The jocular horns of Touch the Sky and soulful samples of Gold Digger are only two of the lethally enjoyable classic listens off of here. "Crack Music" is maybe the most underappreciated entry of Ye's entire discography. It's biting, forceful, and maybe the best metaphorical comparison Kanye has ever connected the dots on.
"Drive Slow" features the smoothest sax ever recorded in a prominent fashion, and has a sinister yet charming groove to its name. "We Major" is a grandiose display of dominance over the rap game, a powerful ode to lyrical ability, and "My Way Home" would be considered a classic if not for its meager 100 second runtime. Late Registration touches on a plethora of emotions: Be it the wholesome "Heard Em Say" or "Hey Mama", the somber "Addiction" or "Roses", or the uplifting "Celebration" or "Late", Late Registration has a consistent level of quality to its versatility. (Side note: The opening laugh on Late is my favorite moment on any Kanye project. It's endlessly replicable.)
So, Late Registration is extremely consistent with its track list, and a standout with its singles, so what makes it the 6th stinkiest? Similar to TCDO, Late Registration is a tough album to listen to front to back. I’m sorry, I just find skits to be extremely intrusive and generally yucky 90% of the time. Why have school yard beatboxing before the deep cut commentary of "Diamonds from Sierra Leonne"? Why introduce a fraternity narrative solely in the skits, and not in the songs? It's never going to sit with well with me, I despise the way flagrant skit usage can tarnish a record. Additionally, spoilers here, but the aforementioned "Gone" is like a bottom 3 Kanye song, all time. It's like, cheesy schoolyard movie montage music. It's incredibly droning with its percussive elements, and not in an endearing way. Gone drops a negative .25-point anvil onto the head of this project, and I stand by that move on my part. With all that said, 1 stinker in a 15-track album? Where the other 14 being, at minimum, good songs? How could this project be anything but a winner? Late Registration compounds the successful elements of The College Dropout, refining them into the innovative qualities that would jettison Kanye's career further forward. The glamourous natural instrumentation, jazzier influences, and tighter song writing all contribute to making Late Registration one of the pinnacle projects of the previous previous decade.
4. The Life Of Pablo (2016)
4th in Accessibility, 7.78/10 Average Song Score (5th), 4th in top 5 tracks
In the biggest shock of this post to me personally, I learn that The Life of Pablo is quietly holding strong as one of Kanye's greatest outings to date.
In one of my dumbest, stupid blog posts, I spent no more than 10 minutes making tier lists. They were popping off at the time, I had not posted in a while, it made sense. Looking back, I just want to delete the post in retrospect, it was super rushed and lacked any true substance. However, gleaning what positives I can from it, I cobbled together a quick Kanye tier list from that endeavor. Predictably, the 3 albums I had in the S rank are the 3 albums remaining after this entry. However, TLOP was down with Graduation at the 6th to 7th rank, behind the classic duo of TCDO and LR. To jump from an arguable 7th to a firm 4th? Pretty impressive. The Life of Pablo is pretty unassuming: Not as ambitious in concept as MBDTF, or as ambitious sonically as Yeezus. It's not as stylistically consistent as a classic Kanye album, and it's not as concisely packaged as something like Ye. What is TLOP's strength then, you ask? TLOP is the result of taking a bunch of outstanding scattershot deep cuts, compiling them together, and churning out one of the greatest collections of singles I heard this decade.
The Life of Pablo has 17 songs I consider as songs and not skits, and of those 17, ELEVEN are 8's or higher, and seven are 9's or higher (I Love Kanye, Frank's Track and SS Interlude aren't really true tracks in my eyes). In context, an 8 in my rankings is the upper half of Kanye's discography, and a 9 is a top 40 spot, a 'This is bordering on all time classic' track. That's a LOT of good music. The whiffs on TLOP, additionally, don't offend in the way previous duds have in this exercise. My least favorite, "30 Hours", is a little boring, but not truly offensive until the outro drags on. "Low Lights" is just an average interlude that only is ranked as a song based off its length, and "Freestyle 4" is in the Yeezus vein of just being an ambitious aside outside of my genre tastes that falls flat for me. Finally, "Facts" incurs my wrath for just being a worse retread of Drake's "Jumpman", and ultimately deserves more scorn for what it stands for then what it sounds like. Outside of despising this song's premise, and maybe labelling "Saint Pablo" as boring on numerous repeat listens, I find every track on this album to be great at minimum. The album lacks a consistent, coherent through line, something that elevates the 3 albums that lead it in the rankings, but the way TLOP amalgamates all the different aspects of Kanye into sporadic chaos is reminiscent of a Jackson Pollock painting: It's a mess, but a riveting one.
The way this album opens leaves me nothing short of speechless. The First 5 Songs, "Ultralight Beam", "Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1", "Pt. 2", "Famous", and "Feedback", open up the album in a rancorous fashion. These songs all tackle their own themes in their own styles, and for that, all stand out in their own ways. Ultralight Beam is a gospel epic that many wanted to be the sound of Jesus Is King. Quite possibly the most powerful track Kanye has ever made, the ebbs and flow of features popping in and out of frame, explosive outbursts from a stunning choir, and so much more culminate to a feeling of transcendence. The-Dream's vocals are heavenly, and Chance offers up a verse that rivals the legendary status of Nicki Minaj's on MBDTF's "Monster". This religious turnstone is followed by Pt.1, which can only be described as an anticipatory build up to pure, unadulterated bliss. Pt. 2, conversely, is riddled with angst, as Kanye recounts the story of his ill-fated car crash of Through the Wire fame with an assist from Desiigner. Famous, as told by its namesake, handles Kanye tackling different aspects of fame he has encountered through his years. Feedback wraps this run up with what I can only describe as what I wish all of Yeezus sounded like. Seeing how I mentioned TCDO, JIK, MBDTF and Yeezus all in this section while trying to describe this album, you can see how The Life of Pablo pulls from every element of Kanye that he himself has demonstrated, taking bits from the best to build to something more.
Outside of this run, there’s still so much more to love on TLOP. “Highlights”, which follows Low lights, is a fantastically fun jam that utilizes careening strings, subtle samples, and soulful interjections to create a lively atmosphere of success. “Waves” is a top guilty pleasure of this discography for me. I feel as though most listeners don’t care for this track, and I cannot explain why I am so inexplicably drawn towards it. The arpeggiated, stuttering synth, the bounce of the bass hits, the distant rumbles of processed piano, there’s an inescapable heaven to be found on this Track. It’s euphoric in its celebration, and features Kid Cudi and Chris Brown play to their strengths as musicians with their assist of the song. “Real Friends” features Ty Dolla $ign, the human cheat code at elevating a song, so it goes without saying that the story told over the haunted, shucked production goes hard. ‘No More Parties in LA” is a renaissance of ‘Old Kanye’ lyricism, which features Kanye holding his own while trading bars with Kendrick Lamar, an impressive feat. Furthermore, I’d be remiss not to mention “I Love Kanye”, or in other words, what I consider to be the golden standard of skits. It’s entertaining, contributes to discussion of Kanye’s ego that is relevant to the circumstances of the project, and is quick with its delivery. Outside of perfecting the skit, The Life of Pablo does a lot of different sounds and styles to near perfection, and stands as an eclectic but formidable pillar of the discography. What TLOP lacks thematically, it makes up for sonically, and for a blogger who talks near exclusively about music related topics, that’s good enough for 4th place for me.
3. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010)
3rd in Accessibility, 8.50/10 Average Song Score (3rd), 1st in top 5 tracks
Both critically acclaimed and generally concerned by fans as not only the greatest album by Kanye West, but one of the greatest projects of the new millennium, I've got to concede that the general public may be onto something with this one.
There's not much to be said that hasn't been said about this album. Dissected to nauseum, MBDTF has been celebrated, deconstructed, and vehemently enjoyed from all possible perspectives and lenses. The praises for this record seem inexhaustible, so I'll try to keep my compliments brief, and be more articulate with what makes this album only the bronze place finisher in my eyes. The album falls off after "Runaway", the climatic emotional peak of the project. In my opinion, 3 of the last 4 tracks are completely unessential to the project. "Blame Game" and "Who Will Survive in America" serve as active hinderances to MBDTF's successes. Using my metrics, MBDTF scored an 8.5 average song score. While insanely impressive, removal of the two aforementioned tracks & "Hell of a Life" shoots the score to 9.28, creating a 10-track album that would stomp this list from the top spot. MBDTF is 75% of Kanye's greatest work to date, infused with some extremely detrimental filler that puts the project out with a whimper.
My least favorite track, "Who Will Survive in America", is barely a track. It's a 90 second snippet of Gil-Scott Heron monologue, that although stimulating with its subject manner, is completely eclipse in reverence by its sister track proceeding it, "Lost in The World." My least favorite track that is a full track is without a doubt "Blame Game", featuring John Legend and Chris Rock. This track borders on boring for the whole song, then collapses underneath the weight of a gaudy, excessive, snooze-inducing Chris Rock skit. Taking up a THIRD of a 7 MINUTE SONG, Chris Rock's overstayed welcome grates the listener, dragging on with a skit that will leave you deadpan for its entire listen. If it weren't for a sold instrumental, and John Legend trying his best, I would drop this song further to the bottom of the song rankings. Blame Game in tandem with WWSIA are near solely responsible for serving as the tie breakers between second and third place for this post. "Hell of a Life" slightly misses its mark, interpolating a Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" on the hook to meh results. Fortunately, the instrumental for the track, led by a chopped synth layered with a fuzzed guitar, redeem the track into something much more enjoyable. The final song from the back half of this record, "Lost in The World", is the best of the bunch, and would've been a powerful choice to close on. It does take a little too long to get going for my tastes, but the Bon Iver sample crossed with a sinister drumline allow for a great time regardless. Overall, the back half of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy isn't awful, with 2 of the 4 songs existing as tracks I'm a fan of, but the drop off of quality between these songs and the ones that proceed them are extremely evident with repeat listens.
Pulling ourselves out of that negative energy, let's now run through the nearly flawless ensemble that is the front half of MBDTF. "Dark Fantasy" is an extravagant masterpiece that just barely missed a 10/10 rating from me. I find this track to be criminally under appreciated by others, and I would wager that it may be the greatest opener to an album that I've heard ever, flat out. The cello assisted groove is disgusting in the best way possible, the grandeur created from the use of choir and bells is near unparalleled, and the track perfectly embodies the thesis of the album. Dark Fantasy is the most ideal forward an album could have, and every listen leaves me feeling so high, as so aptly described by Teyana Taylor. "Gorgeous" is a hard-hitting assessment of some of the slimier aspects of American society, assisted from a heated electric guitar riff and a smooth Kid Cudi hook. I find the track to be just a little bit long, I could go without the outro, but overall, a phenomenal showcase of Kanye's lyrical abilities. "POWER" is the best pop track Kanye has ever made. It's lofty, it's bombastic, and sacrifices zero artistic integrity in return for its earworm nature. POWER fits flawlessly into the jigsaw of MBDTF, and deserves every shred of radio success it experienced. The interlude leading into "All of The Lights" isn't anything of note, but AOTL itself is another fantastic pop outing for West. While lacking some of the grandiose heights that Power achieves, All of The Lights is still a formidable showcase of Kanye's mastery over orchestral arrangement and infectious (Rihanna assisted) hooks.
Spoiler: "Monster" is my 18th favorite song of all time, and is only my 4th favorite off of this album. Sheesh. I can see this track climbing too. Kanye's verse is one of his most comedic and charismatic, and the Nicki verse is infamously championed as her greatest for good reason. When a solid Jay-Z verse is your biggest fault as a song, you're doing something right. Skipping to a "Devil in a New Dress", I'd like to throw this into the ring for "Greatest rap instrumentals of all time." Mike Dean made magic happen with this beat, and Ross and Ye flow over its velvety perfection with style and eloquence. Finally, I'll discuss "Runaway", everyone ever's favorite Kanye song. On my hipster game, I came into this project thinking it was a little overrated, but now, honestly? I get it. I can overlook the flaws (such as the second line being "I sent this b_tch a picture of my d_ck") in favor of the tear-jerking resonance this track puts forward. Its placement on the album alley oops a slam dunk of emotional release, it's a Herculean unpacking of turmoil that may have singlehandedly saved Kanye's reputation following the public perception collapse experienced before MBDTF's release. These tracks are some of Kanye's greatest work across his entire career, and lift this album to some all -time legendary status. MBDTF is monumental, a heroic undertaking that soars high, but ultimately, fails to stick the landing; A well-deserved 3rd place is where it crashes.
2. 808s & Heartbreak (2008)
2nd in Accessibility, 8.55/10 Average Song Score (2nd), 2nd in top 5 tracks
808s is the cohesiveness of Jesus Is King, the consistency of Graduation and Late Registration, and the standout moments of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy all rolled up into one concise, beautiful, somber package.
808s being at #2 spoils Ye being my #1 Kanye album, so I think to start off this portion of discussion, I want to compare what elements make these albums such effective pieces of art to me. I think what I really enjoy about both these albums most prominently is how assigned they are to picking a mood, setting a tone, and allowing for an effortless immersion in the designated experience. As someone who champions versatility, both of these listening experiences offer multiple levels of immersion, different pathways to abstract meaning, and classics cuts from the Kanye catalog, all under a tonally cohesive umbrella of unity. Following the generally upbeat Education trilogy, Kanye found himself single and motherless in rapid succession. From that loss, 808s was born. 808s is an absolutely desolate record. Whether direct or dressed up in a sweet disguise, every song contains anguish, pain, or solitude in some capacity. 808s does not waste any time setting this tone with "Say You Will." Akin to a heartbeat monitor, Say You Will paints a grim picture of someone just barely holding onto it all. A chorus of fallen angels sing in the back of the mix as sparse percussion fails to console a Kanye by his lonesome. This track would be bounds higher in my rankings if not for having an outro the same length as the song itself, but it's a powerful preface nonetheless.
Snapping back to reality, "Welcome to Heartbreak" is a rhythmic questioning from Kanye about the life he's lived, and it if it was the right path to go down all together. With sprawling pianos and a hook from Cudi, Kanye recants the difficulties and isolation wrought from fame. "Heartless" follows, the most impossible pop song Kanye's ever crafted. Driven by a pan-flute and condensed emotion, as Kanye paints a picture of the outside observer, witnessing the pain that he goes through. Kept up nightly from heartbroken anguish, he hears the pity of others as the pain continues to persists. Dressed up to be glossier than the story at hand, Heartless is a visceral articulation of honest pain that was a spot away from being the number one song in America. Unreal stuff. "Amazing" and "Love Lockdown" utilize tribal percussion to their advantage, with the former tackling the duality of possessing an amazing legacy while living an opposite lifestyle, and the latter pleading with the fortunate and happy out there to cherish and protect what they have.
"Paranoid" plays the "Hey Ya!" formula of a sad song dressed up as a happy bop to one of the highest standards of excellence I've ever seen. It's perfection. Paranoid can be entertained as a tragicomic pop song, the tale of a relationship slowly shattering, a bittersweet ode to the past, or so much, much more. It is without a doubt one of the most slept on songs Kanye has ever crafted; It's unassumingly brilliant. The double entendre of paranoia throughout the song, referring to both the girls' distrusts in the relationship AND the greater unrest associated with the things Kanye has articulated thus far in the album is nothing short of prodigious. The line "You worry 'bout the wrong things, the wrong things" hits so much harder in the face of a dead parent or other tragedy, it's beyond poignant. This track is foiled flawlessly by another one of Kanye's most underappreciated gems, "Robocop". Taking a more lighthearted, albeit cynical, approach to a relationship teetering towards shambles, Robocop signifies a turning point in the album. While not happy nor optimistic per say, Robocop and the back half of this album trend towards acceptance, towards forward progress, towards keeping your head above water. With sprawling string arrangements across aggressive percussion, Robocop begins the navigation out of the spiral the album has presented thus far.
“Street Lights” is up there for ‘songs I’m most liable to cry to. With pain-tinged optimism, Kanye is seen here gritting his teeth, smiling with tears in his eyes at the unfair aspects of life. The fleeting nature of streetlights is a really beautiful encapsulation of the listlessness that Street Lights present, and a slightly questionable synth choice is completely offset by production with incredible swell and story telling capability. “Bad News” details the struggles of remaining strong in solemn times further, and similar to “Say You Will”, loses most of its points solely for an overstayed welcome on the outro. (In certain contexts, the extended instrumentals of the record actually are a help as opposed to a hinderance, but for curating songs individually, they’re a detriment.) “See You in My Nightmares” is Kanye moving on, moving past his heartbreak, by putting on a brave & braggadocious mask and returning to his past confidence. Finally, “Coldest Winter” dots 808s with a sort of P.S. at the end of a letter. Coldest Winter is the final farewell, a last goodbye to the stars to love lost, the pondering of if that love will ever be found once more. The duality of this track serving as both a speculation on whether Kanye will ever love another woman the way he loved his Ex and their happy memories and a questioning of whether his spirit will ever go further beyond to encounter his mother once more is quite touching and astute. In my mind, Coldest Winter wraps up the colossal undertaking of deconstructing sadness that 808s offers with flying colors, but, technically, it’s NOT the last track.
“Pinocchio Story.” The worst Kanye track EVER recorded. It is offending and awful in nearly every facet. I do not enjoy the existence of this track what so ever. It’s taken from a live performance, during which Kanye is moved to tears by remorse for his responsibilities for the sadness encountered in his life. The only redeeming aspect of this song is the genuine emotion that Kanye puts forth on it, because, especially after listening to this album, you’ve got to feel for the guy. Everything else about it? Terrible. Completely undermines the narrative of moving forward by putting it as the last track. I think the Pinocchio simile and irony of a crowd cheering over the cries of someone who just wants to feel real are powerful, but completely out of place at this point of the record where acceptance is supposed to be already achieved. The addition of this track is such an afterthought, it’s a shame it’s even included in the album. All of that vitriol I have hasn’t even addressed how the song sounds sonically. Terrible! Bad! It’s a live performance, it has zero cohesion with the sonic landscape of the album what-so-ever! It is the most mopey, pitiful, grating 6-minute experience ever pressed to vinyl. And, where as the rest of 808s taps into universal human emotion, and allows you to feel empathetic towards a multimillionaire artist, Pinocchio Story comes across more as a spoiled tantrum. It’s so boring instrumentally, so poorly mixed for an album, and just overall the worst thing to happen to this entire discography. Thankfully, it’s at the end of the album, so it’s an easy skip, but man do I not like this song. The 8.55 score for this album is without Pinocchio Story factored in, the only song I gave a zero. With the track, the score drops to 7.83, nearly a full point. That’s still the 3rd best average due to the strength of the rest of the album, but it’s staggering to me just how much this track does not belong on this album.
Not to end things on a sour note, though, this is only one track that’s a flop. A humongous belly flop, but nonetheless, only a single fumble. MBDTF has 2, and the skit heavy records like LR and TLOP have multiple. One track does not tank the masterful execution that is 808s & Heartbreak. Where as MBDTF is sonically rich and a bounce back of public persona, 808s strikes a chord of perfect harmony between sonic styling and emotional tone. The subject matter is so interwoven throughout the actual composition of the music, taking 808s past the stratosphere in terms of compelling moments. For all of these reasons, I love 808s. H o w e v e r……. One Kanye album does all of this, and it does it better! One album combines these elements, and features intimacy between Kanye and Listener, and does with a stronger dark-to-light narrative, and so much, much, MUCH more, and for the reasons I love this album, 808s and Heartbreak falls just short to my #1.
1. Ye (2018)
1st in Accessibility, 9.07/10 Average Song Score (1st), 3rd in top 5 tracks
Honestly, I shouldn’t be surprised as I am that the album that inspired the blog is now ruling it once more a year later. Ye inspired me to create everything I have with year long pursuit. Ye is a masterpiece.
For starters. I’m flat out going to link my blog post from a year prior, here (CLICK THIS TO GO TO THAT IN A NEW TAB). A lot of what that said still holds true, and additionally, I’m going to be touching up the grammatical mistakes and inconsistencies the second this post you’re reading now goes live, and I’ll probably reference portions of that discussion in this blurb, so it makes sense to link it now.
I Think it’s beyond poetic that the two Kanye albums released in the same year bookend this list as the best and worst of his offerings. What’s more, I think it’s even more just *chef’s kiss* that this occurred with the album that details Kanye’s struggle with bi-polar disorder, all the way down to the album cover. It’s pretty hilarious. Kanye’s music has always been an extension of him. One day he owns the heart me and the masses, the next he’s grat-grat-grraaat-ing on Feel the Love. A few days after I uploaded my previous post discussing album of the decade, I was a little upset with myself that I didn’t more greatly consider this album as a contender for best of the best. I forget why I talked myself out of it; Maybe for fear of the generally lukewarm public opinion on this album, maybe because I told myself it was too short or not explosive enough or whatever, but honestly, one thing holds true for Ye that does not hold true for those two albums I discussed: Kanye West’s Ye makes me want to cry.
… In a good way. Like, when I think about Ye, I’m sometimes overwhelmed by just how powerful of a force music. I try not to take for granted how music is the closest thing to magic in our day to day lives. Simple vibrations throughout the air have the power to make us smile, to make us dance, to make us love, to make us cry… I tear up thinking about that sometimes. Ye is a reminder of all that for me. To paraphrase myself from a year prior; “On Ye, Kanye owns his shortcomings, all the while establishing that being himself, even through the trials and tribulations that he experiences in articulating himself to his audience, is ultimately no mistake, and never will be.” Similar to 808s, Ye takes the listener on a journey with Kanye as he navigates through the war that wages in his own mind. The album dissects the detriments accompanying Ye’s Bi-Polar diagnosis, and simultaneously details a path to overcome these obstacles. All of this is done in, true to the nature of Bi-Polar, two wildly different, opposite haves, a dark half and a light half to the album.
I don’t want to simply repeat what I wrote a year ago, so the discussion of the songs in this portion will not be as in depth. “I Thought About Killing You” starts us off in dark territory; Ye is acknowledging he has these malevolent thoughts inside of him, but is unable to control these nasty plots from persisting, ultimately bubbling up to the surface from time to time during his more chaotic outbursts. I take the you in question from the song title to be the light side of Kanye, more sensitive and reserved, with his brash and ignorant traits threatening to eliminate any purity and guilt left in him, willing to ‘go dumb’ in a tirade fit for the god of hip-hop. The back and forth between two sides of Kanye is reflected brilliantly in the lyrics, vocal distortion, and production choices.
To quote my own thoughts on the track “Yikes”; “Kanye describes how his tough posturing may lead to outcomes that are frightening to him, but due to this being the sort of façade that Kanye has created for himself over the years, he's forced to perform under this guise in a conflict of interests for the majority of this track.” Kanye is scared of the beast he’s created, himself, and showcases that the perception of himself he portrays in his music is not an honest articulation of the man he is in totality through some clever use of lyrical dichotomy. “. “My favorite Juxtaposition comes from the lines "Tweakin' Tweakin' off that 2C-B huh" vs. "This the type of high that get you gunned down", a condemning detailing of substance abuse and drug issues that seemingly glorifies usage on a surface level listen.” “All Mine”, an all-time guilty pleasure track of mine, is a heavily underrated track that holds more narrative significance than a closed cover judge would lead you to believe. All Mine is the final progression in the recession to the shadows Kanye has detailed thus far in the album. Blinded with lust and emboldened by corrosive impulses, Kanye offers up some of the most crass and childish lyrics of his career, including but not limited to; Bars about bodily fluids, women’s chests, infidelity, threesomes, Stormy Daniels, and… bodily fluids. For as Kanye-apologist as it seems, yes, I wholeheartedly believe that the infamous cum bar serves as a narrative indicator to how sunken into the darker aspects of ego, fame, and self-control Kanye has become.
The turning point of this record, “Wouldn’t Leave”, paints the picture of a broken Kanye, who, to near solely the fault of his own, has left his life in shambles. “Feeling isolated, unable to communicate with the world or his girl that sort of internal trauma he's experience, Kanye tells her that she'd be better off splitting from himself.” However, even through all of Kanye’s deplorable actions, all of his ill-informed tirades and poor judgement calls, Kim holds firm by his side, she just wouldn’t leave him. This serves as an epiphany moment for the record for Kanye; He doesn’t have to fight this fight alone. Yes, his bi-polar is an internal battle, but that doesn’t excommunicate him from any external support. It is in this moment that Kanye realizes that while we are all imperfect, no one is forced to lead this life alone. Family, friends, religion, faith, community, and so much more serve as pillars for us all to fall back upon in our weakest moments, and this fact is symbolized through Kim’s resolve to love and support her husband unconditionally. This tonally ambivalent track is the gray point of the record, the moment the clouds clear to reveal brighter skies. Similarly, this record signifies a shift from introspection to extrospection, as Kanye begins to apply a new found philosophy in an outwards direction for the remainder of the album.
“No Mistakes” jump-starts the light half of this record with the most euphoric production to grace a Kanye record since Late Registration’s “Touch the Sky.” In this track, Kanye pays forward the love issued to him on Wouldn’t Leave, in two regards. Primarily, Kanye reciprocates the adoration for his wife Kim, with assist from the Charlie Wilson-Kid Cudi combo hook, “Make no mistake, girl, I still love you!” Simultaneously, Kanye stakes a confident claim on his newfound happiness, issuing deterring threats towards those that would make a run at him or the ones he loves. (These lines are speculated to be aimed at Drake, due to the feuding between the two at the time, but I think that they can also be taken more generally… to an extent.) I think this fits thematically at this point of the record, because while this is for the most part a bright and cheerful melody, Kanye is only just pulling himself out of his rut, allowing for a little bit of some sinister to creep in on the delivery of his defensive declaration.
“Ghost Town” is the track to follow. This track has grown on me immensely since its release, and honestly, I’d wager to say it’s the most emotionally compelling song from not only Kanye’s discography, but maybe this century. Brief tangential spoiler, but I’ll have a lot more to say about it when I discuss the songs rankings, so just look for it somewhere high up on that list. If I had to describe the track in one word, it’s cathartic. It’s acceptance. It’s Kanye coming to terms with who he is, Bi-polar and all, and moving on with life with an unbridled optimism. I’ll undersell the track here to make up for overselling it later, but this track is touching, tear-jerking, and up there in competition for “songs closest to making Logan cry.” Finally, “Violent Crimes” is a continuation of Kanye looking forward, specifically to the care of his daughter. Focusing on what’s truly important to him, Kanye provides his daughter a message that a lot of us could do good by heeding: “Enjoy all facets of life, down to the littlest things, and consider that even the negative things are still a crucial part of life. Appreciate those dismal moments once you've moved past them, as they've shaped you into a stronger person.” Violent Crimes has a weathered aura to it, but to me, it’s the musical equivalent of ‘bending, not breaking.’ It wraps up the album on a hopeful note for me, and if you’re a twisted freak, loops back into track one if the scenarios described on this track turn out for worse, not better. Violent Crimes is a reserved, all-purpose bow atop a masterpiece, and the perfect way to close out the narrative of this record.
Structurally, Ye is unrivaled in my eyes. MBDTF falls off on the tail end of the record, TLOP has some dull moments, and 808s is cohesive but with a glaring weakness. Ye is tight. Ye is concise. It wastes no time in its excellence: It gets in and out with what I’d say is the most compelling narrative on any of these albums, and does it in half the run time. Where as KSG’s run time is a detriment, one flop track matters more on a 7-track album then a 20-track album, Ye’s slim packaging is a strength in my eyes. There’s never a moment for your gaze to lapse, there’s never an instance where the mind tries to wander, Ye is so immensely effective as a listening experience that it’s almost unfair to the rest of the competition. The only true fault of the album, in my eyes, is that sonically, it’s not as innovative as Kanye’s production has been in the past. Don’t get me wrong, I adore the nostalgic atmosphere of Ghost Town and the modernized indulgence of All Mine, but they’re not cutting edge stylistically like Stronger. They’re not Grandiose like Power. They’re not genre defining like Black Skinhead. I understand this, but I’m completely fine with letting Ye still tower at the top position. As I so aptly put it a year prior, “Whereas albums such as MBDTF and Yeezus have meant so much for the evolution of Kanye's sound, this album means so much more for the evolution of Kanye as a human.”
I think Kanye’s past achievements in redefining genre have set the general public’s bar impossibly high. Firstly, not every innovative album is phenomenal. Yeezus was a ground breaking album that I’m entirely lukewarm on. Secondarily, not every album needs to innovate a new sound to be phenomenal. I think Ye is the best product to exist within its own chosen stylistic confines of genre. I think Ye took some familiar aspects of Kanye’s prior sounds, compiled them together, and then slugged that creation right out of the park. I don’t know what more I can say without sounding like a broken record about this spotless record! Ye is Kanye’s crown jewel of a straight listen through, conceptual narrative, personal development and growth, songwriting, and so, so much more… It hit an emotional chord with me 365 days ago when it fully clicked, and that note has rung true in my heart ever since. There’s no 3-minute outro or unbearable skit, there’s nothing to be picky about here. Ye is emotionally resonant, thematically and tonally consistent, prodigiously produced, and without a lull or wasted second. It’s near perfection. In fact, It’s probably the closest to perfection that an album like this can ever get. There’s nothing more for me to say about Ye to sway you on giving Ye a second chance if you’re one of the many who have written it off at this point, and honestly, there’s nothing that can be said back to me sway mine. I've deliberated, I've truly meditated on this, and I'm beyond excited to see the reaction to this album being my number one of Kanye's. I'll say it once and for all, definitively: Ye, as an album, is a pinnacle achievement from the mind of Kanye West, and deserves infinitely more in this cruel, unfair world... but maybe someday. All the internal conflict I faced putting this album at number one; all of the external runs from others saying my perspective on this album was flawed, all of the doubts I’ve ever had about Ye being the best Kanye West album, I’m past it all… I’m at peace. I guess nothing hurts anymore, I feel kinda free.
Thank you for reading this far if you have, or for skipping down to the bottom of the post if you haven’t. Admittedly, things got pretty rushed towards the end of writing this, trying to get it out before the anniversary deadline. If you’ve spared me a second to read anything I’ve ever posted on here in the last trip around the sun, thank you, sincerely. I truly appreciate anyone willing enough to invest their time into something so unapologetically me in nature, so thank you for supporting me sharing what I love.