Can include: The College Dropout, Late Registration, Graduation, 808s & Heartbreak, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, GOOD Music singles on which Kanye has a verse, non-album singles/tracks (Eyes Closed, Theraflu, Mercy, Classic (Better Than I've Ever Been)) and Watch the Throne tracks on which Kanye has a verse (which leaves out one or two tracks), and tracks from Kanye's four mixtapes on which he has a verse (Freshman Adjustment 1/2/3, Can't Tell Me Nothing)
Criteria: *Beat (weighted slightly heavier if also produced by Kanye) *Kanye's verse(s) *Guest verses (if applicable)
You guys post 'em, I'll rank em. Comments will accompany as I see fit.
I expect this topic to have stuff for me to consider when I get up.
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Sophisticated ignorance, write my curses in cursive
*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. *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 *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.
*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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http://img.imgcake.com/pyramidjpgyg.jpg CRYING. Acceptable at funerals and the Grand Canyon
CherryCokes posted... The Glory was suggested. I just haven't gotten to it
Graduation is actually what inspired this topic. I was listening to it last night and realized it is very hit-or-miss
Haha, totally forgot that The Glory and Good Life were nominated for a sec. Went ahead and edited my post, so that WTT could have a rep.
I agree that Graduation is really inconsistent. There are some classics on there, like Everything I Am, The Glory, Champion and especially Flashing Lights... but then there's stuff like Homecoming and Stronger. Also, while I love I Wonder's production, it's so weak from a lyrical perspective.
-- Hey, you ever coming back? You kidding? I am Queens Boulevard.
From: TheCodeisBosco | #028 Haha, totally forgot that The Glory and Good Life were nominated for a sec. Went ahead and edited my post, so that WTT could have a rep.
I agree that Graduation is really inconsistent. There are some classics on there, like Everything I Am, The Glory, Champion and especially Flashing Lights... but then there's stuff like Homecoming and Stronger. Also, while I love I Wonder's production, it's so weak from a lyrical perspective.
You and I have some serious overlap... and some serious disagreements.
CherryCokes posted... From: TheCodeisBosco | #028 Haha, totally forgot that The Glory and Good Life were nominated for a sec. Went ahead and edited my post, so that WTT could have a rep.
I agree that Graduation is really inconsistent. There are some classics on there, like Everything I Am, The Glory, Champion and especially Flashing Lights... but then there's stuff like Homecoming and Stronger. Also, while I love I Wonder's production, it's so weak from a lyrical perspective. You and I have some serious overlap... and some serious disagreements.
I think most people feel that way about me! Haha. I'm definitely in the minority regarding Stronger and Flashing Lights, but I don't know. I just don't think the former has much of Kanye's personality on it, while the latter's production is brilliant. Such a great hook.
TimJab posted... and homecoming is great WTF is wrong with you people
The beat's so weak, man! Especially by Kanye standards!
-- Hey, you ever coming back? You kidding? I am Queens Boulevard.
*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. *Runaway - It's too long, we all know this, but it's still so good. Kanye can do wonders with minimalism when he actually tries it. Pusha T's verse is just right. *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. *Good Life - Hard to argue with the production on this one, or Kanye's delivery, even if T-Pain is mostly unnecessary. *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". *Two Words - It's got a strong enough beat and good guests, but isn't really outstanding in any category. *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. *Monster - Great intro from Justin Vernon. No need for Rick Ross there. Kanye's verse is very good. Nicki's verse is good, but its quality has been greatly overstated - Kanye's verse has held up better over time than hers. Jay's verse is one of the worst of his career. Beat is kind wonky. Drums are fine, but the sample sounds awful, and there's not much else to it. Outro is unnecessary, too. *The Glory - I like the beat, but very uneven, lyrically. *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.
Future lists will only have the notes from the new additions. This is already a 4096 character post as it is.