The Art of Kanye West

[060877]

idk if your high or what but dawg. kanye barely if at all uses multies

can't tell if serious. Multies are easy as fuck to write if you aren't actually saying anything, Kanye west uses a balance of them so that they don't take away from what he's actually saying.

tbh multis are the most overrated aspect of rapping, who cares? go on ANY rap forum and there's guys who can write "great" 6 syllable rhymes but couldn't make a good song to save their life. it's music, just make it sound good. of all the typical GOAT candidates, em is the only one who focuses on rhyming a lot. biggie, pac, jay, they often just rhyme one syllable. even nas isn't that focused on rhyming.

on topic, kanye is imo the best hiphop artist alive but that doesn't discount the artistry of others. yeah, em doesn't have crazy interludes and 'artistic' samples, but he isn't (or, wasn't i should say) any less creative than kanye.

[Almostlity]

idk if your high or what but dawg. kanye barely if at all uses multies

can't tell if serious. Multies are easy as fuck to write if you aren't actually saying anything, Kanye west uses a balance of them so that they don't take away from what he's actually saying.

tbh multis are the most overrated aspect of rapping, who cares? go on ANY rap forum and there's guys who can write "great" 6 syllable rhymes but couldn't make a good song to save their life. it's music, just make it sound good. of all the typical GOAT candidates, em is the only one who focuses on rhyming a lot. biggie, pac, jay, they often just rhyme one syllable. even nas isn't that focused on rhyming.

on topic, kanye is imo the best hiphop artist alive but that doesn't discount the artistry of others. yeah, em doesn't have crazy interludes and 'artistic' samples, but he isn't (or, wasn't i should say) any less creative than kanye.

Thank you.

[I'mShady]

Listen, the majority of music listeners do not consider hip hop an art form. If you have to explain art, it is not art. The word "art" is obviously arbitrary but bragging about how many drugs you sold in the low end of town or horrible turns of phrases called "punchlines." Just so you know, the following artists haven't put anything out that can be considered "art:" Dr. Dre, Eminem, Ice Cube, Jay-Z, NaS, Tech N9ne or Tupac. These artists are legends in the hip hop community, are all great lyricists and are the best in their genre. As far as musically, these artists are hardly have scratched the surface. It's like a very, very good pastel painting by an unknown artists to say, maybe the Mona Lisa.

Kanye West transcends music. He is a artist that raps, not the other way around. Let me give you a list of songs that are artistic, rap songs that Mr. West has made.

Welcome To Heartbreak
Runaway
Love Lockdown
Coldest Winter
Devil In A New Dress
Blame Game
Paranoid
Amazing
Flashing Lights
Street Lights
Homecoming
Power
Lost In The World
Say You Will

These songs have artistic integrity. Are not the most lyrical songs by any means, but have culture and zest that other rappers cannot put together. Name an rapper that is putting out songs that are up to par of these songs. Prediction: Kanye is remembered far beyond the aforementioned rappers.

You are out of your fucking mind.

[Spyder]

ya its easy to do multies... and kanye cant
and yes people can do six syllable multies and not have it sound good.
key is to do both. kanye does neither

fact is imo it doesnt even sound good. but he is bery subpar lyrically which as said by someone else
SHOULD be the key in rap. but unfortunetly peeps like u dont see that.

[060877]

ya its easy to do multies... and kanye cant
and yes people can do six syllable multies and not have it sound good.
key is to do both. kanye does neither

fact is imo it doesnt even sound good. but he is bery subpar lyrically which as said by someone else
SHOULD be the key in rap. but unfortunetly peeps like u dont see that.

kanye has better multis than biggie or pac, and about the same as jay and nas. it doesn't matter. and subpar lyrically? he is possibly the most conscious of any current mainstream artist.

Penitentiary chances, the devil dances
and eventually answers to the call of Autumn
all of them fallin’ for the love of ballin’
got caught with 30 rocks, the cop look like Alec Baldwin
inter century anthems based off inner city tantrums
based off the way we was branded
face it, Jerome get more time than Brandon
and at the airport they check all through my bag and tell me that it’s random
but we stay winning, this week has been a bad massage
I need a happy ending and a new beginning
and a new fitted and some job opportunities thats lucrative
this the real world, homie, school finished
they done stole your dreams, you dunno who did it
I treat the cash the way the government treats AIDS
I won’t be satisfied til all my n-ggas get it, get it?

GTFO saying he isn't lyrical...

[060877]

no, i just think it's stupid and hypocritical to hate on kanye for lyricism when his lyrics are no worse (and arguably are often better) than guys like pac, biggie, jay, and nas.

[12characters]

no, i just think it's stupid and hypocritical to hate on kanye for lyricism when his lyrics are no worse (and arguably are often better) than guys like pac, biggie, jay, and nas.

I get you, dude; but often better than Nas? Really?

[060877]

no, i just think it's stupid and hypocritical to hate on kanye for lyricism when his lyrics are no worse (and arguably are often better) than guys like pac, biggie, jay, and nas.

I get you, dude; but often better than Nas? Really?

imo, ya. nas has basically been making the same album since 1994 and musically he is incredibly average. nothing nas does gives me the feeling of songs like jesus walks or heard em say or cant tell me nothing. and i love nas fyi but when it comes to innovation he's pretty lackluster

i think the reason ye gets hate is either a) the douchebag things he does publicly or b) when people ride his dick over EVERYTHING he does. like, new god flow is actually pretty boring, especially musically. and mercy is an ok radio song but ye has the worst verse. i admit the things he does that are less than good, but overall he can't be reasonably hated as an artist.

[12characters]

no, i just think it's stupid and hypocritical to hate on kanye for lyricism when his lyrics are no worse (and arguably are often better) than guys like pac, biggie, jay, and nas.

I get you, dude; but often better than Nas? Really?

imo, ya. nas has basically been making the same album since 1994 and musically he is incredibly average. nothing nas does gives me the feeling of songs like jesus walks or heard em say or cant tell me nothing. and i love nas fyi but when it comes to innovation he's pretty lackluster

I thought we were talking lyrically? I get Ye's innovation and artistic talent. I even get his lyrical ability, but I don't see him being better than guys like Nas and Em (based on lyrics and meaning). I think he's on par with Jay, Big and Pac though.

[Accor]

Nas and Jay are better lyricists than Kanye, but Kanye still has great lyrics on top of his artistic abilities. I'd put Kanye above Jay because of his overall package but I'd say Nas edges both of them.

[060877]

I thought we were talking lyrically? I get Ye's innovation and artistic talent. I even get his lyrical ability, but I don't see him being better than guys like Nas and Em. I think he's on par with Jay, Big and Pac though.

i am talking lyrically, whatever nas' best verse is in your opinion, i can find a kanye one just as good. obviously everyone has preferences, i 100% understand if someone likes em or nas better. but writing off kanye as lyrically awful is just stupid, you yourself said he is up there with jay and big and pac.

and lyrics just a small part of the overall music, that's why i dont fuck with a lot of lame "deep" backpack rappers. hail mary is one of my favorite pac songs, it's magic. but have another rapper spit the same lyrics over a different beat and i probably wouldn't like it at all.

[12characters]

Nas and Jay are better lyricists than Kanye, but Kanye still has great lyrics on top of his artistic abilities. I'd put Kanye above Jay because of his overall package but I'd say Nas edges both of them.

Yeah I could see Jay > Ye lyrically, but imo the gap is a lot closer than Nas and Jay.

I also think guys like Slug and Budden are underrated as well, but that's neither here or there.

I thought we were talking lyrically? I get Ye's innovation and artistic talent. I even get his lyrical ability, but I don't see him being better than guys like Nas and Em. I think he's on par with Jay, Big and Pac though.

i am talking lyrically, whatever nas' best verse is in your opinion, i can find a kanye one just as good. obviously everyone has preferences, i 100% understand if someone likes em or nas better. but writing off kanye as lyrically awful is just stupid, you yourself said he is up there with jay and big and pac.

Yeah, dude. I think Kanye's great lyrically, but I also think there are lots of people better than him (and everyone I said he's on par with).

[Manly Moose]

OP, Kanye copy/pastes samples like everybody else, people that dont respect the hiphop community do not like him at all. If they really like those songs they would like several Em, Dre, 2pac, and Nas songs since there are several that are much more involved musically than the majority of Kanye songs. Especially since they have musically involved songs that dont use any samples which would make them in even more respected by those people. Let me repeat, people that dont respect hiphop hate sampling and feel artists should be making their own music, not digging through record bins to use music from a guy that didnt make it to big time. Kanye also has a habit of sampling very well known artists, taking even more away from his credibility in their eyes.

People that respect hiphop respect the lyricism and are not deluded into thinking their artist is a musician. Kanye has a good taste in music, but hes not a creative genius. There are producers that can be called genius' but they take samples and completely transform them, or dont use samples at all. Dre and Premier are good examples of this. If you listen to any of the parliament songs that Dre samples for the Chronic and Doggystyle the songs feel very different and usually dont sound anything like it at all due to the there being 5-10 samples used in that song. It should be noted that these guys are not nearly on the same level of artists that play all the instruments and compose their own music when it comes to musicianship.

Maybe I'm being a bit harsh on Kanye because of your dickriding and gross exaltation of his work compared to others. He is a great producer and fits into the two categorys above quite nicely sometimes. Though he has stuff like H to the Izzo that is utter shit just because he manages to make the original song so recognizable while detracting from the song instead of adding, making me want to go listen tot he original instead. What I'm saying is that Kanye is not a unique figure in the rap industry, there are several producers that are on and or above his level. His music is not respected above other rap artists by people who shun hiphop and he is definitely not more artistic than the rap artists listed. As an artist he is often very shallow in his thoughts, and as a producer he tends to overproduce and do very stupid things (Late Registration I'm looking at you) such as adding in these 3-5 minute orchestrations in his songs that build up to a dramatic peak for no fucking reason. He just randomly puts these after very uninspired verses (Devil in New Dress, a lot of Late Registration) and acts like its high art. However, when hes not doing the very bad things I've talked about and the many bad things I didn't talk about since I dont think I touched upon all the shitty lines that completely ruin the feeling and momentum of songs, he can be a great artist.

EDIT: I just read someone talking about Ye's "innovation and artistic talent." The dude has done nothing that is slighty innovative unless you count the vocoder blowing as a replacement for a guitar solo thing. Also, if your getting more meaning out of the lyrics to Jesus Walks over anything on Illmatic or Reasonable Doubt, then you dont get the lyrics on Illmatic or Reasonable Doubt.

tbh multis are the most overrated aspect of rapping, who cares? go on ANY rap forum and there's guys who can write "great" 6 syllable rhymes but couldn't make a good song to save their life. it's music, just make it sound good. of all the typical GOAT candidates, em is the only one who focuses on rhyming a lot. biggie, pac, jay, they often just rhyme one syllable. even nas isn't that focused on rhyming.

on topic, kanye is imo the best hiphop artist alive but that doesn't discount the artistry of others. yeah, em doesn't have crazy interludes and 'artistic' samples, but he isn't (or, wasn't i should say) any less creative than kanye.

The first part is a very valid argument and completely true. However "em doesn't have crazy interludes and 'artistic' samples"
Kanyes interludes are often very shitty and Em usually doesnt sample at all which automatically makes it much more artistic musically.

[Accor]

Nas and Jay are better lyricists than Kanye, but Kanye still has great lyrics on top of his artistic abilities. I'd put Kanye above Jay because of his overall package but I'd say Nas edges both of them.

Yeah I could see Jay > Ye lyrically, but imo the gap is a lot closer than Nas and Jay.

I also think guys like Slug and Budden are underrated as well, but that's neither here or there.

Nas > Jay > Yeezus based on pure lyricism imo but Kanye's music > Jay.

Joe Budden is my favourite rapper of all time, Slug is fantastic too.

[060877]

wow manly moose, you are blatantly ignorant on kanye and rap in general. i can't even point out how much is wrong with that essay, so here's a few things:

-dre is an AWFUL example of creatively flipping samples, he uses unchanges samples far more than kanye. i love dre too and don't hold that against him.
-kanye has "completely transformed" a shit ton of samples, guess you aren't very familiar with his production discography.
-kanye samples "very well known artists"? stronger and otis are the only songs like that, and maybe hell of a life if you include the iron man inspired hook. let's see, em sampled aerosmith (barely changed it), queen/paul rogers, ozzy osbourne (same as kanye haha), looks like they're equal in that regard.
-kanye isn't a unique figure? lol
-late registration has 0 "3-5 minute orchestrations", literally the only time he has done this is mbdtf
-devil in a new dress is incredibly inspired and is all about his personal life falling apart (amber), guess you don't listen well