Ranking Kanye's Albums

[WhiteMosɘs]

How would you do it? It's pretty tough. It's kinda daunting to even start haha. Like me ranking them as my favourites would look different than if I tried to be objective and rank them based on greatness. And I think greatness, based on the album as a whole, would look different then if you looked at each based individually on songs.

Like I think my favourites, which is craaaazy tough for me to do because I'm a huge Kanye stan, would probably look like:

1. The College Dropout
2. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
3. Late Registration
4. Graduation
5. 808s and Heartbreak

But I guess greatness, in my opinion, would look more like:

1. Late Registration
2. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
3. Graduation
4. The College Dropout
5. 808s and Heartbreak

I like The College Dropout because of the production, cuz of how young and hungry Ye sounds and because I can understand it as this landmark that was stylistically different than what was being done at the time. And I like it even more in hindsight because of how influential it's been.

But it falls on my 'greatness' list because of it's one 'dud', which I would consider Spaceship. It's not really a dud, because I love it, and it shows a very honest, emotional Kanye. But in terms of 'greatness', if I asked someone to name all the songs off College Dropout, more often than not I bet that one wouldn't be mentioned. That one song sets it apart from Late Registration, which has huge songs, from the intro right down to the bonus and hidden tracks.

Fuuuc k there's a lot of things to talk about, but I don't want to make a huge OP. Just two things I wanted to point out; obviously a lot of interchanging would make sense AND tho 808s goes that low on my favourites, it probably shouldn't for greatness. I know a lot of people don't, but I think it's an incredible album.

Tough to do, but what do you guys got?

[Rnbizzle]

My personal favorites;

Graduation
College Dropout
MBDTF
Late Registration
808

This is really difficult to me though, cuz I absolutaly love Late Registration for instance.

When it's all said and done Kanye is one of the GOATs in hiphop history.

[Who Cares]

1. College Dropout
2. Late Registration
3. Graduation
4. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
5. 808 Heartbreak

[WhiteMosɘs]

My personal favorites;

Graduation
College Dropout
MBDTF
Late Registration
808

This is really difficult to me though, cuz I absolutaly love Late Registration for instance.

When it's all said and done Kanye is one of the GOATs in hiphop history.

I know what you mean, I feel like I'm offending the cosmos or something if I don't make sure my list is exactly how I feel. :oldlol:

[Rnbizzle]

My favorite Kanye album is College Dropout with Late Registration being a close 2nd. College Dropout was just so soulful to me and Kanye's sampling was great. He was still kind of raw as an MC but could definitely hold his own. And he had what I consider to be his best song ever on College Dropout in Last Call.

I haven't listened to 808s & Heartbreak or My Beautiful Dark and Twisted Fantasy so I can't judge them. After Love Lockdown Kanye lost me.

So my ranking would go like this as far as the ones I've listened to:

1. College Dropout
2. Late Registration (You can switch this College Dropout as both of these are great imo)
3. Graduation (A solid album in my opinion just didn't like it as much as the first two.)
:cheers: I can listen to the full what, 10 minutes of that, even though the last part is shout outs and everything. I swear it had over 80 plays in my iTunes :lol

[Jailblazers7]

1. The College Dropout
2. Late Registration
3. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
4. Graduation
5. 808s and Heartbreak

[alwaysunny]

this greatness vs. favorites shit is ridiculous to me, how can your favorite not be what you think is best? anyways. and haven't listened to graduation or 808s enough to have an opinion.

mbdtf
late registration
college dropout

Your favorite basketball player doesn't necessarily have to be the best. Can't music be applied in same way?

[verylegit]

i fcking love kanye
1. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
2. The College Dropout
3. 808s and Heartbreak
4. Late Registration
5. Graduation

[Knicks101]

1. College Dropout
2. MBDTF
3. Late Registration
4. Graduation

1 and 2, and 3 and 4 are interchangeable respectively depending on my mood. Never listened to the 808's album.

[Rnbizzle]

Why not add to the topic what everyone thinks his very best song(s) is/are? For me it's Last Call, Family Business and I Wonder.

[WhiteMosɘs]

this greatness vs. favorites shit is ridiculous to me, how can your favorite not be what you think is best? anyways. and haven't listened to graduation or 808s enough to have an opinion.

mbdtf
late registration
college dropout

The basketball player examples are perfect. Just because I like a certain album the most doesn't mean it's the greatest album ever. I think you can detach from your taste and try and see it objectively.

[gigantes]

Ranking Kanye's Albums
1st one- narcissistic crap.
2nd- more of the same.
3rd- and yet more.
4th- crap.
5th- crap.
6th one- complete rubbish.
7th- crap.
8th- a warm pile of fresh dog feces.

did i miss any?

my dream scenerio is something along the lines of: LL-coolJ, chuck D and KRS-1 come along and pistol-whip this idiot until his ego comes down to earth and rejoins the land of the living. totally coincidentally, he starts making great music.

[JerrySteakhouse]

Damn 808 gets no love. I actually liked it. Obviously not his best work but it was solid.

[Meticode]

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
The College Dropout
Graduation
Late Registration
808s & Heartbreak

...even though their ranked they're pretty close together. I like 808 the least, but I still like the album and listen to it a lot.

[BRabbiT]

College Dropout
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Late Registration
Graduation
808s

[WhiteMosɘs]

i guess i just don't see a point in trying to look at music objectively when it is completely subjective.

Ok. But how do you not understand a difference between favourite and best?

Time Magazine requests from 'Al Thornton', their newfound go-to music analyst, a list of the Ten Greatest Rap Albums of All-Time. Do you list your ten favourite?

Your favourite movie is fu cking Taxi with Jimmy Fallon and Queen Latifah. Is it the greatest movie of all-time?

Kreayshawn is your favourite rapper. Is she the greatest musician of all-time?

The difference between your favourite and greatest doesn't seem like that difficult a concept to grasp.

[NastaMaverick]

Your order for favorites is how mine would look. and spaceship? thats a kick ass song...:confusedshrug:

[gigantes]

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc185/Strikeninja95/WTF.gif
i think that redneck cornholio would probably love kanye west. the sheer power of ignorance and allegiance... (good suggestion)

[L.Kizzle]

Y'all hating on 808's, shit was very different and creative.

Actually, since it's his only non-rap album, it's hard to rank.

[WhiteMosɘs]

Your order for favorites is how mine would look. and spaceship? thats a kick ass song...:confusedshrug:

I know, I agree. I tried to explain what I meant though, when considering it in a greatness argument against his other albums.

[WhiteMosɘs]

Y'all hating on 808's, shit was very different and creative.

Actually, since it's his only non-rap album, it's hard to rank.

Yeah for sure. That one really fu cks up my rank of what's his best.

[NastaMaverick]

I liked 808's when it came out, but I havent listened to a single song on that album in years...

[PowerGlove]

I liked 808's when it came out, but I havent listened to a single song on that album in years...
Welcome to Heartbreak, you listen, right now.

[alwaysunny]

I honestly tried to listen to 808 with an open mind, but that gayfish song always ruined it for me. I think south park was little too harsh on him :lol

[Jailblazers7]

I lkked 808's too. I might even bump it over Graduation and have it 4th. I never really got into Graduation like I did his other albums. I like a few songs a lot but the alubm as a whole was only decent/good to me.

[bdreason]

1. College Dropout
2. Graduation
3. Everything else

[Samurai Swoosh]

To me Kanye has two careers. One as a backpack type hip hop artist, and then as a mainstream pop artist in these later years.

1) College Dropout

By far the best of his stuff, and one of the best hip hop albums of all-time

2) Graduation

3) Late Registration

4) My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

5) 808 and the Heartbreakers

Very underrated, IMO ...

[Richie2k6]

i always thought Late Registration > College Dropout..

heard'em say, touch the sky, gold digger, drive slow, diamonds, roses, hey mama... >>> we don't care, all falls down, through the wire, spaceship, jesus walks, slow jamz

just my opinion though. sue me :confusedshrug:

[Samurai Swoosh]

heard'em say, touch the sky, gold digger, drive slow, diamonds, roses, hey mama... >>> we don't care, all falls down, through the wire, spaceship, jesus walks, slow jamz
No ...

[Go Getter]

I like Kanye and all, I rep the Chi so i try and support all my fellow Chicagoans but dude is way overrated.


1. He is VERY sample heavy and doesn't hide it well.....I mean how hard is it to bite a drum pattern from Dr. Dre and sample Curtis Mayfield for example?

2. He doesn't write his own lyrics.

3. His topics are limited and very boring. Lupe/Common/Twista rep the Chi better imo.

[Samurai Swoosh]

3. His topics are limited and very boring. Lupe/Common/Twista rep the Chi better imo.
You had credibility till you said that ...

Kanye has clearly influenced a generation

He's hardly overrated.

[Go Getter]

You had credibility till you said that ...

Kanye has clearly influenced a generation

He's hardly overrated.
Go to the West Side of Chicago and see who they identify with more.

Kanye and his "my home is too pretty for rap" or Twista from K-Town, gritty, and hasn't let fame change his music much.

NOTICE: I said reps CHICAGO BETTER....Twista, Do or Die, and Crucial Conflict are representatives of the West Side of Chicago and Chicago as a whole and from my experience the average AA Chicago resident identifies with them more than Kanye and his love for fancy expensive bullshit and whining about whores.

Kanye does not rep Chicago with this:

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c126/Ucantbserious/images-2.jpg

He is on some other shit (for better or worse)....and a lot of people from the Chi don't mess with Kanye like that....he is very influential and well respected in the music biz as a whole, but as far as with 'the people' acts like Snypaz, Triple Darkness, and Psycho Drama have WAY more respect in the hood.

And you are not one to scrutinize my credibility compared to you I'm OG Bobby Johnson in this bitch.

[Samurai Swoosh]

Go to the West Side of Chicago and see who they identify with more.
West Side of Chicago = All of Chicago? lol ... ugh, ok.

I don't even know a ton of people from Chicago that like Lupe Fiasco.

All you keep referencing is who reps the "hood". As if that means anything.

On the national stage, in terms of talent, Kanye represents us better than ****ing Twista. Whose terrible anyway.

Yes, Kanye went overboard in terms of being unique with his sense of dress. Especially when he became a pop icon.

I don't see how that discredits his worth as an artist. Of course people from the "hood" want to identify with fake machismo bull sh1t.

That's the same reason the "hood" isn't even really down w/ Lupe.

Unrelatable, and usually too intelligent.

[Go Getter]

West Side of Chicago = All of Chicago? lol ... ugh, ok.

I don't even know a ton of people from Chicago that like Lupe Fiasco.

All you keep referencing is who reps the "hood". As if that means anything.

On the national stage, in terms of talent, Kanye represents us better than ****ing Twista. Whose terrible anyway.

Yes, Kanye went overboard in terms of being unique with his sense of dress. Especially when he became a pop icon.

I don't see how that discredits his worth as an artist. Of course people from the "hood" want to identify with fake machismo bull sh1t.

That's the same reason the "hood" isn't even really down w/ Lupe.

Unrelatable, and usually too intelligent.
1. I said represents the West Side and Chicago as a whole better.
2. Kanye's talents are overstated...Rhymefest, GLC, and Cons write for him and he makes sample heavy beats that anyone with a pro tools set and a label to get it cleared can do.
3. Twista is a legend in the CHI.......Adrenaline Rush is a classic album in the CHI and highly revered. You would know that if you were from Chicago and not Naperville or something.
4. Kanye has PLENTY of fake machismo bullshit only he directs his angst towards women, public officials that aren't concerned with him, and poor people without the means to talk down to someone with money....when he gets on tracks with Jay-Z and the like he spits the same bullshit that they do only softer.


To summarize, I know Chicago, rap music, and AA with a depth that you will never know. You are a hoe stud (as we say) and if we were in Chicago the goons would J down on you something serious if they read all the garbage you type about blacks on here.

Luckily you can type all of this from your safe room in Aurora.

[Go Getter]

All you keep referencing is who reps the "hood". As if that means anything.




This is how I know you're a suckaduck.

As far as rap, 99.9% of the slang and style comes from the hood.

When a rapper gets his material from the hood, claims the hood, and "reps" the hood there is an unwritten rule that it has to be done the right way.

I think Kanye has a good ear for music and arrangements, but I also think he is overrated as he does not read or write music or lyrics.

I don't understand why you can't see that.

To me and mines when someone reps Chicago it is important that he represents us well. Kanye sometimes acts like a little bish with all the fashion stuff honestly.

[Go Getter]

"Never fix your face like collagen to say something when you gon end up apologin'"

:facepalm

Omg Kanye is on some next level...

[playtetris]

"Never fix your face like collagen to say something when you gon end up apologin'"

:facepalm

Omg Kanye is on some next level...

:roll:

and LMAO at college dropout being one of the best hip hop albums of all time. his production is nice - can be a little sample-heavy, but he also has some extremely nice chops - but as an emcee he falls short.

FRT:

lage registration
college dropout
graduation
MBT whatever/808s

[Go Getter]

:roll:

and LMAO at college dropout being one of the best hip hop albums of all time. his production is nice - can be a little sample-heavy, but he also has some extremely nice chops - but as an emcee he falls short.

FRT:

lage registration
college dropout
graduation
MBT whatever/808s
Agreed.....except for that they are REALLY sample heavy.

Touch the Sky is like Curtis Mayfield's original song to a tee. H-to-the Izzo sampled The Jacksons very similarly...

He admitted to only speeding up samples and biting drum patterns on a lot of tracks.

But to his credit anyone can do it but they don't (do it as well).

[playtetris]

Agreed.....except for that they are REALLY sample heavy.

Touch the Sky is like Curtis Mayfield's original song to a tee. H-to-the Izzo sampled The Jacksons very similarly...

He admitted to only speeding up samples and biting drum patterns on a lot of tracks.

But to his credit anyone can do it but they don't (do it as well).

just blaze produced touch the sky, not kanye.

if you listen to tracks like 'dreams' or even 'the people' (GREAT flip of 'we almost lost detroit' by GSH), you can tell how talented yeezy is as a producer. he flips the SHIT out of those records; maybe 5% of producers can chop that well.

[Go Getter]

just blaze produced touch the sky, not kanye.

if you listen to tracks like 'dreams' or even 'the people' (GREAT flip of 'we almost lost detroit' by GSH), you can tell how talented yeezy is as a producer. he flips the SHIT out of those records; maybe 5% of producers can chop that well.


Damn....'sho you right. (good call man)

I hate that freaking song and I hate the fact that people say Kanye is the best producer from Chicago when Curtis Mayfield is his superior in almost every way.

[ballerz]

Does anyone actually like 808's and heartbreak?

[Rnbizzle]

Does anyone actually like 808's and heartbreak?
Yes. Street Lights, Pinocchio story, Welcome to Heartbreak.. Still listen to those songs every once in a while.

[Birmingham1955]

1. The College Dropout
2. Late Registration
3. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
4. Graduation
5. 808s and Heartbreak
this

[Eat Like A Bosh]

1. Late Registration
2. MBDTF
3. College Dropout
4. Graduation
5. 808

[Lucifer]

1. College Dropout
2. graduation
3. Late reg

The other 2 were pieces of $hit, especially mbtdf. overrated garbage, TERRIBLE lyrics. if anybody thinks a song like " all of the lights" is great, you need to listen to more music

[playtetris]

if anybody thinks a song like " all of the lights" is great, you need to listen to more music

:applause: HATE that song

[WhiteMosɘs]

I like Kanye and all, I rep the Chi so i try and support all my fellow Chicagoans but dude is way overrated.


1. He is VERY sample heavy and doesn't hide it well.....I mean how hard is it to bite a drum pattern from Dr. Dre and sample Curtis Mayfield for example?

2. He doesn't write his own lyrics.

3. His topics are limited and very boring. Lupe/Common/Twista rep the Chi better imo.

Who writes his raps? And I don't understand that 'oh he had garbage flow back then' stuff. Give me an example from The College Dropout where his flow was 'clunky', or whatever other problem you have.

[NastaMaverick]

1. College Dropout
2. graduation
3. Late reg

The other 2 were pieces of $hit, especially mbtdf. overrated garbage, TERRIBLE lyrics. if anybody thinks a song like " all of the lights" is great, you need to listen to more music Graduation over MBDTF and especially Late registration? you're crazy. anyone who thinks a song like "Good Life" is great, needs to listen to more music. :rolleyes:

[Richie2k6]

and some of you are bashing Kanye for "sample heavy beats" like J Dilla didn't exist. some of his beats were ridiculously sample heavy, but that doesn't mean he wasn't one the greatest producers of all time. hell Madlib took one of the songs on Mos Def's Ecstatic album and just changed the time signature and made it a new song. sampling is a lost art today, and he makes amazing beats with it... so who really cares how sample heavy the beat is? it sounds good right? alright.

oh, and the Drive Slow remix with the violins.. is ****ing ridiculous

[Go Getter]

and some of you are bashing Kanye for "sample heavy beats" like J Dilla didn't exist. some of his beats were ridiculously sample heavy, but that doesn't mean he wasn't one the greatest producers of all time. hell Madlib took one of the songs on Mos Def's Ecstatic album and just changed the time signature and made it a new song. sampling is a lost art today, and he makes amazing beats with it... so who really cares how sample heavy the beat is? it sounds good right? alright.

oh, and the Drive Slow remix with the violins.. is ****ing ridiculous
My homeboy is on that song with him (GLC).

I love that cut esp the version with TI.

[bootsy]

obviously I'm in the wrong thread for this but I feel the urge to say

Kanye West is garbage.

his beats are overrated, flow is terrible, just a fake dude with no style.

I'm sorry for the interruption, go on
There's always one that doesn't know anything about music. Congratulations. If anyone is overrated it's that guy in your avatar. I still like him but that is where the word overrated applies. Let those who appreciate Kanye and his music enjoy this thread and stop shitting on it.

[RaininTwos]

808's

Late Registration

MBDTF

College Dropout





Graduation



All of them have good songs, but I rarely listen to graduation. CD is great, but I think that the production on his other albums were way stronger. His lyricism also was better on those other joints.

[miller-time]

wow i just realised i've never listened to late registration. i've heard the singles but i've never listened to the actual album.

personally i like

graduation
MBDTF
college dropout
808s

[RidonKs]

it's one of those truisms that the quality or at least consistency of an artist can sorta be gauged by major discrepancies in fan rankings of their best work. i think kanye falls nicely into that.

surprised you've got 808s > everythign else though r2s, lol i hated that album. though honestly i'd probably made up my mind about it even before my first listen, didn't give it much of a chance. then again i don't plan on offering it another any time soon.

graduation is a strange choice for best too imo. i like late registration best i think, college dropout and mbdtf are close but i'd probably lean latter, graduation and 808s i've listened to the least even though i killed graduation when it first dropped. had the bst club hits for sure, though again that might have just been a reflection of my phase when i first heard it.

[RaininTwos]

the beats on 808's were amazing dude. all of the criticisms people use against the dude, like how sample heavy he is and shit get's thrown out the window on this album. i used to be biggest 808's hater but i eventually softened up and saw how amazing this shit was. i just sit back and zone out to this album especially when i can identify with some of the themes present on this album.

[Alamo]

I love 808s and heartbreak. That was my shit

[RaininTwos]

I love 808s and heartbreak. That was my shit
http://gifsoup.com/view7/2662427/arnold-gerald-handshake-o.gif

[IGOTGAME]

I love 808s and heartbreak. That was my shit

this

[Bigsmoke]

1.Late Registration
2.The College Dropout
3. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
4.Graduation
5. 808s and Heartbreak "couldn't get into it"

[Cowboy Thunder]

1. Late Registration
2a. Graduation
2b. 808s and Heartbreak
4. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
5. The College Dropout

first albums are usually the best, just not for me on this one.

[highwhey]

1.Late Registration
2.The College Dropout
3. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
4.Graduation
5. 808s and Heartbreak "couldn't get into it"
this will be the "common" line-up, with LR being @ #1 and 808's being at the other end. apparently people feel that 808s is too much, sort of like an ice cone with too much flavoring concentrate(no such thing, unless you're white or a *****).

it's difficult for me to rank his albums since he's my favorite hip hop artist, but 808s is up there with late registration and dark twisted fantasy.

"he samples too much" "it's overly produced" i don't see yall complaining about witney houston singing too much on her albums, dumbfcks. what do you think kanye is? he's a producer 1st, rapper 2nd(very mediocre, so his beats carry him).

"bruce bowen plays too much defense, not enough offense" ?!!?!?!?!!? that's his specialty.

[T_L_P]

808s
Late Registration
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
College Dropout
Graduation
Yeezus

[Nastradamus]

Yeezy's album rankings depend a lot on mood to me. My Beatiful Dark Twisted fantasy and College Dropout are on top, in that order. After that, sometimes I like Late Registration, sometimes I like Yeezus, sometimes I need 808s and Heartbreak.

Where Watch the Throne fits in is an interesting discussion. That's basically a Kanye album that Jay happens to rap on a lot.

[ArbitraryWater]

this greatness vs. favorites shit is ridiculous to me, how can your favorite not be what you think is best? anyways. and haven't listened to graduation or 808s enough to have an opinion.

mbdtf
late registration
college dropout

this... and the basketball example is absolutely horrible :biggums:


Your favorite basketball player doesn't necessarily have to be the best. Can't music be applied in same way?

No, it can't be applied the same, its not remotely close...

you just focus on the work with movies/music, what else is there to like if you dont think its the best but somehow prefer it over what you consider to be superior work?

the best explanation I got was, one guy told me he could relate to that music more which is why he prefered it, but the other was better because he saw it as better project... but that in itself is pretty contradicting also, because it relating to him as better project, i mean, again, why isnt it your favorite then?

makes no sense to me, wont ever make sense.

topic:

MBDTF
CD
Graduation
Late Registration
808s
Yeezus

WTT might actually be just below CD

[Hamtaro CP3KDKG]

SHOCKED so many nikkas have 808s and taxbreaks so high especially at one its easily Yes worst.............

Late Reg
Fantasy (1a and b IMO)

Dropout
Graduation




Yeezus
808s

[tmacattack33]

I got 5 posts into this thread, before realizing that the reason nobody was even mentioning Yeezus was because this thread was from 2011. :oldlol:

I was just assuming that people thought it was so bad that it didn't even need a mention. :lol

[Alamо]

It's been awhile since I listened to Kanye. I've been listening to a bunch of other stuff lately.

Yesterday I started playing some of his stuff in my car and it just blew me away. I got so used to listening to other artists that it made me realize just how much better Kanye's music is than everything else. From the production to the lyrics, it's hard to define his music as hip-hop/rap/pop/r&b, it's just art.

Say what you want about the way he comes off in the media, the man is a genius. It's undeniable. 808's & heartbreak and Yeezus are underrated in my eyes as well. "Blood on the Leaves" is one of the greatest songs of this decade.




My ranking


Late Registration
College Dropout
MBDTWF
Watch The Throne
808s & Heartbreak/Graduation
Yeezus


Hard to rank them because they're all so good. Yeezus was an acquired taste and had some hits but there just weren't enough songs.

[That_Admiral]

College Dropout
Graduation
Late Registration
MBDTF

the other 2 had some great songs/singles but we're average overall

Kanye was so great, hopefully this album coming out is as great (but i have my doubts :( )