*Family Business - A great many people will put "Gone" as the best song Kanye has ever made, but I'm not so sure. "Family Business" is the best song from The College Dropout by a wide margin, and is one of the most heartfelt things Kanye's ever written. He's never sounded so at ease while sounding so lyrically limber. Add in what is perhaps my favorite of his beat collection, and you've got a strong contender for #1. But how long will it stay here?
*Gorgeous - Three of Kanye's best verses on MBDTF. Raekwon at second-coming-of-Christ levels. Ridiculous beat. Surprisingly good hook by Cudi.
*Gone - What can I say about this that hasn't already been said? Gone's beat is one of Kanye's 5-10 best, and every verse is ridiculously good. Very few songs have a shot at beating this.
*Spaceship - One of the all-time great Kanye beats, so it scores well there. GLC and Consequence have probably never been better personally, but aren't great on the grand scheme of Kanye guests. Kanye's verses are mostly great.
*Home - Kanye and John Legend have a knack for making great songs together - see Legend's "Number One" - and this is no exception. It's a damn shame that Kanye replaced Legend with goddamn Chris Martin for "Homecoming", because "Home" is better on every front, from beat to flow. One of the great missteps of Graduation.
*All Falls Down - A great song, and one of my favorites. The guitar is nice, it's simple, and Kanye is great. The issue is the hook, really. Ideally, pre-crisis Lauryn Hill's voice would sing the hook with the clean production values of the album version. Even post-crisis L Boogie on the demo version is better than Syleena Johnson, who is still good, but kind of robotic. But the demo version is so rough, it's hard to give it much credit. This ranking is an amalgamation of the two versions.
*Street Lights - Arguably the best song on 808s, an album I still don't love, but have come around on a bit. It's still kinda crazy that he made this album, in all honesty.
*Devil in a New Dress - Strong beat. Great Kanye verses/hook. Too long, and by the time Rick Ross shows up, I really don't care to hear him. If the verses had been reordered or Ross had been cut, this would be one of the best songs on MBDTF. As is, it's merely "good".
*Hey Mama - It's hard not to like this, but at the same time, it's never felt like it's in the right spot on Late Registration, and the beat is forgettable - probably by design, but still - so it loses some points there.
*Never Let Me Down - One of the weaker tracks on The College Dropout, it's a little too long and a little too preachy (in the wrong ways) for its own good. Jays Z and Ivy don't turn in the best performances (though Jay-Z does turn in worse ones on Kanye songs, as you'll find out in the near future)
*Mercy - Can't stand the beat. The guest verses are fairly weak. Kanye's work is good, but this was/is really underwhelming.
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CRYING. Acceptable at funerals and the Grand Canyon