Kanye West wants $1 Billion loan.

[J.M.]

His earlier music was much better, but one of his latest tracks called Real Friends is pretty good imo.

This is probably a media stunt for his latest album lol

[soloracer]

He's an idiot and he can't fade into history soon enough. How can anyone who uses auto tune be considered talented?

[tirebob]

[ercchry]

Originally posted by That.Guy.S30
But what I think what people don't know is how much he produces for other people. His vision is amazing. Him not so much.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cate..._by_Kanye_West

[rx7_turbo2]

Originally posted by RealJimmyJames
He's no Deep Purple, that's for sure.

Oh hush

A lot of people saying how good his early stuff was. I guess that's part of it for any artist? Would i feel differently about this guys music if he had died before the whole marry a Kardashian saga? Interesting question.

Part of it is the narsasistic personality, it's really tough to see any substance filter through that. I watched his SNL performance this past weekend, I'm just left going WTF was that? Weird lights, a shit ton of auto-tune combined with mostly just monotone rambling. The people on stage with him look like they're so privileged to be there but it just comes off as really silly since the reality was most of them were exhibiting far more talent than he was at the time.

[D'z Nutz]

I enjoy his first three albums and still listen to them from time to time, but even then he was a terrible rapper. Where he excels is his production. His rapping skills are average at best.

[[GaGe]]

Originally posted by D'z Nutz
I enjoy his first three albums and still listen to them from time to time, but even then he was a terrible rapper. Where he excels is his production. His rapping skills are average at best.

Yeah he's a great producer with a great vision, but a terrible rapper and singer.

He produced a bunch of Jay-Z's biggest hits around 2000ish. Tried to start a rap career but no one would sign him except for Jay-Z. His first album (College Dropout) was awesome - rapped about school, family, life choices, etc. while everyone else was rapping about money and bitches. After a while, he turned into a dbag and start releasing shit albums.

He did have a big part in John Legend's success too.

[max_boost]

Originally posted by JRSC00LUDE
Oh man, if anyone were to end up homeless and forgotten.... Brothers let us pray.

oh yes and that entire k klan lol

[finboy]

For better or worse, his career has steered the direction of modern rap, and the style changes every album. I suspect part of the douchebaggery is an act to grab attention in the over saturated pop market, and part of it is mental in some way (on the spectrum wouldn't surprise me, the guy has always been known as crazy emotional and impulsive). A lot of people struggle to get past the persona, but the music is quite good. From a production standpoint, yeezus was amazing, Lou reed wrote a glowing review of it before he died. My beautiful dark twisted fantasy was an interesting experiment in the complete opposite way, throwing everything and the kitchen sink on a record.

I think what I find most interesting about kanye's work is that his albums have caused his older albums (and others from that era) to sound dated. I love college drop out, but listening to that album NOW is weird as it still has some elements of early 2000 rap with sound very outdated, and that album was groundbreaking when it came out compared to cash money, rockafella, shady/aftermath, etc. The same can be said for pre-808 albums compared with where rap has gone since he made that album.

Even if you don't like the direction rap has moved in, it's impossible to say he hasn't influenced it's direction with the albums he has made. I would argue that jay-z hasn't even put out a relevant record since Kanye came around (the black album) with the exception of watch the throne (which collaborated with Kanye, and was probably his weakest effort).

With all that said, I am not holding my breath on this album, it seems rushed and it took Rick Rubin to save yeezus, thought I hope I'm wrong.

Originally posted by D'z Nutz
I enjoy his first three albums and still listen to them from time to time, but even then he was a terrible rapper. Where he excels is his production. His rapping skills are average at best.

Agree with this, I would say Kanye (and his production team) are great at what they do, and have a great sense of songwriting (structure, phrases, etc.) but Kanye as a rapper is meh. People buy his album for the whole package, not because he is rakim 2.0

[danno]

You cant even buy his new album you have to join tidal, which i imagine is a sinking ship and kanye thinks he is going to save it. Im just guessing though, as i dont like streaming music anyway.

[flipstah]

WTF is Tidal?

[egmilano]

Man he cannot sing or rap but his production is on point.

[finboy]

Originally posted by flipstah
WTF is Tidal?

Some BS streaming service jay-z bought, it has flopped hard so far despite all attempts to use celebrities to promote it. Even jay-z is distancing himself from it at this point.

Originally posted by egmilano
Man he cannot sing or rap but his production is on point.

He has had a few moments as a rapper, but he is definitely better at putting together a solid, cohesive album. He is like dr dre in that he can work with some great studio guys to make a great album, get some quality collaborations, and can bring the whole thing together. Unlike dre, he can actually write his own lyrics, albeit they are pretty average.

[dandia89]

kanye is most likely one of the best producer rappers of our generations, he was known for revitalizing jay-z's career with the blueprint. he's an average rapper at best, but produces incredible beats/lyrics. look at his earlier albums, college dropout, late registration and graduation.

he definitely has a stronger message with his more recent albums, and he will do it at the risk of having good sounding music. yeezus was probably the toughest album to ever listen to, but it was merely a 'message' to the current music standards

[JRSC00LUDE]

^

What was the message?

[rx7_turbo2]

Originally posted by dandia89
he definitely has a stronger message with his more recent albums, and he will do it at the risk of having good sounding music. yeezus was probably the toughest album to ever listen to, but it was merely a 'message' to the current music standards

Ya, I have to ask, what exactly was/is the "message"?

I understand the point, a guy like Dylan had a very unique voice, and the arrangement of his songs was at times unconventional. However his message was always pretty clear and relatable.

[dandia89]

yeezus was about about current hollywood, typical famous standards and it's challenges against current societal norms and corporations.

i.e. "new slaves" "i am god" "black skin heads" "bound 2 (the video)"

you know what i could be completely wrong and i wouldn't be surprised either. his messages were unclear. but i do know that album was meant to challenge the current hip hop musical standards and to deliver something new

[finboy]

Originally posted by dandia89
yeezus was about about current hollywood, typical famous standards and it's challenges against current societal norms and corporations.

i.e. "new slaves" "i am god" "black skin heads" "bound 2 (the video)"

you know what i could be completely wrong and i wouldn't be surprised either. his messages were unclear. but i do know that album was meant to challenge the current hip hop musical standards and to deliver something new

Further to the point of yeezus was the drive to be anti-pop in a way similar to lou reeds metal machine music. Cluttered among the shifting moods, noises, screams, etc. Were influences from early Chicago house music, industrial, acid house, and dance hall music. His production team (mostly Rick rubin) was able to bring a cohesive idea out of he lyrical themes by jolting the themes back and forth, dead stopping songs, cutting to seemingly different songs, etc. To add to that, the song had no official singles, was sold in a very cheap cd case, and had no album artwork, etc. The sample use was really interesting, (mixing Marylyn Manson with Gary glitter, using a throwaway sound from a chemical brothers track, etc.), but how much production was Kanye vs. Daft punk, Rick Rubin, mike dean, etc. Who knows.

That contrasts with mbdtf which had a huge amount of artwork, a half hour music video, double Lp vinyl offering, and was an album with a focus on maximizing everything, and having the album flow together song by song.

[sputnik]

Originally posted by BensonTT
His music sucks anyways.. I wouldn't even torrent it lol

His performance on SNL was bizarre and confusing.

[HiTempguy1]

Originally posted by finboy


Further to the point of yeezus was the drive to be anti-pop

So basically "Throw shit at the wall and see if it sticks" is what I am getting from your post. Ride your success to put out whatever garbage you want. Yes, "art".

Or maybe he just has no idea wtf he is doing and made some shit music that he thought was good at the time. Just like you are never supposed to confuse malice with stupidity, don't confuse genius with stupidity either. And also, what is this "omg his production quality is amazing!" crap? WGAF? That's like saying Transformers is a good movie series because the CGI is awesome

I don't think Mindless Self Indulgence is GOOD music, but it DOES entertain me and I do (for the most part) understand the message. It's wonderful entertainment, but shit art. Just by it's shear over-the-topness does it highlight the problems with modern day music. But that's the point, it's not "good". It's awful. And that's why I like it. So at least be honest with yourselves