The most unreliable artist in hip-hop has been rumoured to have been releasing a collab album with Ty Dolla $ign anytime now but signs aren’t looking good. Regardless i’ve tried to somewhat futureproof the thread if a standalone Kanye album is released which is also rumoured.

Depending on how much time I invest my might cover collab albums but they aren’t included in the poll.




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What is your favourite Kanye album and why?

The College Dropout
(2004)

Track list: (Hip-Hop track lists are a nightmare)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_College_Dropout

One of the greatest debut albums of all time, after a career of producing for major artists (most notably Jay Z) Kanye hits it out of the park with an incredible album that’s self-produced and a fun ride all of the way through. Every track on this (sans skits) sounds like it could a hit single so it’s no surprise it spawned 5 of them according to the world’s most reliable website.

I wasn’t super into hip-hop at the time but remember it mostly Eminem and gangsta rap (Get Rich or Die trying’ being a prime example released a year prior) so it’s a breath of fresh air listening to an album that’s mostly about the struggles of getting started as a young adult & the struggles, a much more exciting version of every day normal guy:



Even the skits (which I normally hate) are fun and the Bernie Mac impersonator is spot on that I thought it was really him (until researching this).
Having contracts from being a producer also leads to some great features with the likes of Talib Kweli, Jamie Foxx and Hov himself.



Jesus Walks, Through the Wire,All Falls Down are all career defining tracks so to have them all be on the same album with some personal favourites such as Spaceships and Never Let Me Down just goes to show what a juggernaut this album is.

If you’ve never heard this album and just of Kanye’s antics and infamy this is a great look back at his more joyful care free days.

Rating
10/10

Late Registration
(2005)

Kanye returns only a year later with the follow up Late Registration, moving to an orchestral style rather than the soul samples from College Dropout. Despite being shorter than College Dropout this always feels much longer to me, as I’ve listened to a Tool album (next discography?).

I think the main reason is the album is very top heavy, my favourite tracks are all packed into the first half with Heard ‘Em Say,Touch The Sky, Gold Digger and Drive Slow with nothing blowing me away until Diamonds from Sierra Leone (remix) which is a brilliant track with Jay Z ironically pulling a Renegade and besting Kanye on his own song



However it’s really odd putting it as “remix” before you even hear the OG version later on the album, I’d honestly have just left the original off the album.

Gone & Late are some highlights late in the album but nothing else stands out though the only track I’m not a fan of is “crack music” but other than that this is a bloated album with quite a few diamonds in the rough but not as fun as The College Dropout.

Rating
7/10

Graduation
(2007)

“If you’re a Kanye West fan, you’re not a fan of me, you’re a fan of yourself. You will believe in yourself. I’m just the espresso.”

If you’re not a fan of Kanye West due to his ego, stay far away from this album.
However if you need motivation and want to feel like you could bowl a perfect game after coming first in a marathon, being elected mayor and securing the girl of your dreams in the same day this is definitely for you.

This album is incredibly uplifting and an absolute delight to listen to, with the second track “champion” really setting the tone from here on out. Even the more introspective tracks like “Everything I Am” is really still dismissing critics that dare say anything bad about Kanye.

Big Brother is the only huge difference which is a sweet track about how Jay Z took him under his wing when he was a producer and how that partnership has gone,
which they’ll be much more on later.

“Drunk & Hot Girls” is way longer than it should be and has aged like milk and Lil Wayne is wasted on the mediocre track “Barry Bonds” but other than this album is a fantastic pep talk in musical form.

Rating
9/10

808s and Heartbreak
(2008)

Despite being only a year apart the ego-driven celebration that is Graduation is worlds apart from this album, recorded after the death of his Mother (Donda) and split from his fiancé Alexis Phifer this is a melancholy and introspective album that is worlds apart from Kanye’s discography thus far.

It reminds me of Marilyn Manson’s Eat Me,Drink Me that is conveys similar themes and is worlds apart from his previous album “The Golden Age of Grotesque” which was a huge rock success. Album was much derived until it got to the 10 year mark and people seem to be a lot more favourable towards it.


The same with this album, despite average reviews (for Kanye) this album was incredibly influential and I think Kanye does an incredibly job of keeping up the cold heart broken atmosphere even with the album being ironically recorded in Hawaii and California. The features aren’t wasted with lil Wayne’s talents not being wasted and Kid Cudi adding immensely to “Welcome to Heartbreak”.

This is definitely the outlier in the catalogue but I think was a bold and successful attempt at a new sound for Kanye and complete 180 from his usual Kanye-isms.

While Graduation is a motivator this album is perfect for those occasions when you need to wallow in your own sadness before pulling yourself together.



Rating
10/10

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
(2010)

When I was living with my dad in Tennant Creek in late 2010 I was reading online articles and came across that MBDTF had been named the #1 album of the year by Rolling Stone magazine. Having only listened to the singles you’d see on VH1/MTV when they played videos (“the day that you play me, Will be the same day MTV played videos”) I was curious to hear it.

He didn’t have TV channels at the time as this was the time when Australia was switching to digital TV. So we’d play hours of Donkey Kong Country Returns, listen to music (this being in heavy rotation) and rent movies from the video store.

Side note: The video store had 10 DVDs a week for $10 which is a great deal, so we utilised it and watched all movies because again no TV channels. The video shop owner accused me of pirating his movies because of hiring 10 movies every week, a deal he offered! His boyfriend got a job at my work & I found indirectly he was talking shit about me too. He also brought this mother into said work I worked out and was in tears because they made her sign in with ID (which is compulsory in all Australian clubs if you aren’t a member). What does this have to do with Kanye West? Nothing but fuck that guy.

Anyway…


I pulled out the record player & stereo just for this one. This is not only the best Kanye album but one of the greatest albums of all time.




After said infamous event Kanye goes on a self-imposed exile and returns with this.
Much unlike the last album (and the album after this) this is album is the definition of Maximalism. Everything is turned up to 10, samples and features everywhere and is a huge glossy production.

Everyone was required to wear suits and they went into this album with the stated intention to make a masterpiece and they pulled it off. I could write paragraphs on end about how good this album is but if you haven’t already, just listen to it:

youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzMq4yH_FvVa5kPgtKmgdzPssfmBUtO2C&si=tbhkQAuhfkW0esou

Rating
10/10

BONUS STAGE



Watch the Throne
(2011)

I was a fan of Jay Z before Kanye so this was incredibly exciting news for me and I was beyond amped for this and gave it a listen for the first time the day Mortal Kombat IX arrived in the mail for me (which was banned in Australia :lol:). Out of all the Kanye projects this is the one I’ve listened to most. Have fond memories of walking to work listening to this on my IPod classic while I still lived in Tennant Creek.

I absolutely love this album so I was devastated when their relationship seemingly soured. I thought this was a fantastic collaboration album that complimented each other well so I was incredibly surprised by the good to mixed reviews at the time she. I thought it was great.



Is an iconic track in not only Kanye’s discography but in hip-hop.
Plus this is an incredibly interesting track now Kanye and Jay are both fathers:

Cruel Summer
(2012)

Back in the area I live now and with my own car this album got heavy rotation in my Toyota Corolla :lol:. Some were disappointed that Kanye isn’t on every track but it’s a compilation of GOOD music artists and tracks. It’s not a cohesive album but it has some great singles sprinkled throughout, one or two forgettable tracks but nothing bad. Great track:

Yeezus
(2013)

I remember picking this up from Sanity, a no defunct CD store and the girl at the counter explaining to me that this ^ was the cover and she wasn’t ripping me off :lol:.



The original cover was much better, if IIRC it’s a melted Jesus chain so maybe to avoid controversy or some other artwork issues. Anyway at least the artwork or lack thereof matches the minimalist concept the album is going for.

Much like 808s and Graduation are nothing alike, the same goes with this follow up to MBDTF as this a much more aggressive stripped back sound.
Not Kanye’s fault but it annoys me how this album gets cited as being influential and creating a new sound when it just borrows heavily from expiremental hip-hop acts that are much lesser known, such as Death Grips (at the time at least)

The punk rock attitude of “down with all the corporations & capitalism” vibe of all this album is more than a contradiction from Kanye who’s always talking about the finer things in life and loving designer brands (and with Kim Kardashian at the time).

The album is all over the place sonically too, cutting from aggressive almost industrial sounding music back to classic Kanye style samples which threw a lot of people off who weren’t accustomed to the music this album is influenced by, but this was right up my alley.

The shortest Kanye album thus far and having no album cover, this is a raw minimalist album that is much more appealing to fans of expiremental hip-hop than your average audience. If you like the style of this album check out “The Money Store” or “No Love Deep Web” by Death Grips.

Rating
8/10

The Life of Pablo
(2016)

ORIGINAL VERSION

Is this the first album to be patched? :lol:

As this was never released physically it has been changed with added verses, tracks etc on streaming services. Thankfully my lovely partner sandylea burnt the 1.0 onto a CD for me and I can review the OG version.

I was at the peak of my Kanye fandom at this point, travelling to Sydney just to watch the listening party at the cinema and desperately trying to get Yeezys and never having any luck.So it’s no surprise I loved this album at the time but can recognise some the faults now.

The opening track “ultralight beam” is incredible and the start of Father stretch my hands part 1 is so legendary it obtained meme status.

There’s some of Kanye’s worst lyrics on hand here, some of which are used multiple times that don’t get any better each time you hear them. Kanye described this as a “gospel album with a lot of cursing on it” and while the swearing doesn’t bother me it definitely doesn’t help the tonne this album was going for in the beginning with a very
soulful and religious feeling then cutting to something like “Freestyle 4”.

Waves was one of my favourite tracks before it got changed and I like both version of Wolves so it still picks up at the end and in my opinion Kanye had a better verse than Kendrick Lamar on “No More Parties in LA” which is saying something as Kendrick’s verse is fantastic.

Probably the least focused of the discography as every main studio album so far has had a focused them and idea but this is still a great collection of tracks .

Rating
8/10

Ye
(2018)

Kanye was on fire during this period in terms of output, producing several other albums (DAYTONA by Pusha T being my fav), his joint album with Kid Cudi and of course releasing this.

The shortest album in Kanye’s main discography, this is another introspective album documenting Ye’s mental health problems and issues surrounding his life. There’s still some typical Kanye stuff happening like the opening track “I Thought About Killing You” ‘s final act feeling like a different song entirely :lol:

Ghost Town is a highlight of the album as is “Wouldn’t Leave” although now he’s divorced from Kim Kardashian it doesn’t have the same effect.

Violent Crimes is a fantastic opener then the album ends.
Doesn’t overstay it’s welcome gets it central theme across and goes.

Rating
7/10

BONUS STAGE



KIDS SEE GHOSTS
(2018)

Copy paste from Fantano 10’s thread:

Of all the Kanye projects this gets a 10? I’m a huge fan of his music and this definitely wouldn’t to be my first pick. Not saying it’s bad but Ye has an amazing first half of his discography. I’ve tried to get into Cudi but nothing I loved except Stars in the Sky from the Sonic 2 movie 😂.
I’ve unfortunately listened to Speedin’ Bullet to Heaven all the way through though.

This a fun project and I enjoy its brevity although neither Ye or Cudi really get to shine their individual styles much through the music (with the exception of Reborn with four features on a seven track album this definitely isn’t Watch the Throne where Ye played off Hov’s energy perfectly. The features are well placed though, Pusha T always delivers and it was great to hear Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) on the project.

There’s no real flow to the album thinks just switch up on a whim and I wouldn’t be surprised if this was just leftover tracks stitched together from other works. Again the music is enjoyable but in my opinion (and many others) Kanye’s earlier work was incredible so I was expecting brilliance as usual from him at this stage.


I enjoyed this time period where Good music was releasing short bursts projects rapidly but Pusha T’s Daytona is my go to pick for the best album of that period.

Jesus is King
(2019)

Released after the delay of Yandhi, a much hyped album that was ultimately shelfed (a lot of unfinished versions leaked on the internet) people were disappointed that it was never released and instead we got Jesus is King.

Some people had issues with the gospel sound of the album, I don’t and wish he would have gone further with it and fully committed to the concept (at the time)
rather than this album that doesn’t live up to its potential.

There’s still some great tracks here like “Every Hour” and “God Is” + I was amazed to see Clipse (Pusha T and No Malice) working together in a capacity but there’s nothing great here that really sticks out.

If this was just a surprise release instead of the release in place of a much hyped and cancelled album I think it wouldn’t have been as panned as it is.

Rating
6/10

Donda
(2021)

Fuck “New Again” “Tell the Vision” and “Lord I Need you” off completely, put the pt 2s on the deluxe version only or make them longer with each verse and maybe tell the artists not to swear/curse ahead of time and you have a near perfect album. For whatever reason Kanye decided he didn’t want coarse language on his albums (despite having such language on albums prior from his own mouth) resulting in this album being censored and there’s no explicit version in existence to listen to.

Anyway I’m not here to review a hypothetical album I’m reviewing it at its current state, which like “The Life of Pablo” has been patched and fucked around with constantly. I’ve lost count of what was originally there and what wasn’t but this is also the standard version as there is a deluxe version that is even longer.
(Standard: 108:48, deluxe: 130: 52)


While not a gospel album this is a much better attempt at the religious themes Jesus is King was going for and it’s reflected not only musically but in most of the features, The Weeknd’s part in “Hurricane” is breathtaking, Fivio Foreign’s verse on “Off the Grid” is amazing and I completely marked out hearing Jay Z on Jail as all reports were Kanye and Jay Z weren’t on speaking terms anymore.

I was also admittedly excited to hear what Manson contribution’s were, which is just backing vocals that were hardly audible on the original version but luckily that has been fixed.

While I rarely listen to this all the way through, I’ve had several tracks from this in heavy rotation which is ironic as my original PW post I stated I forgot most of this album when 2 years later I can remember several tracks and verses with ease.

This didn’t need a deluxe version with more content, it needed someone to cut the filler out and still have a long album but one that was a banger all the way through.


Rating
8/10

Posting the MBDTF cover triggered a Proboards TOS warning. :lol:

Good writeups! I think I draw a much clearer line in the sand with Kanye's career than you do, I think his first 5 albums are as good as it gets but then the wheels started to fall off with TLOP ushering in his unfinished, unedited era where you get occasional highs mixed in with a lot of bleh.

My Kanye plays have dropped off pretty dramatically over recent years as his personality has become increasingly difficult to support



but he'll always be my gateway to hip hop. I remember stumbling across the video for Diamonds from Sierra Leone on TV one day and just being instantly hooked on how he flipped the Shirley Bassey sample to make something that sounded so fresh and new. I was obsessed from there and The College Trilogy appropriately became the soundtrack to my uni years. 

BONUS STAGE

DONDA 2

much like Donda 2 itself, this is a work in progress and will be edited in here eventually. In no rush as by all accounts this is an unfinished mess.

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Vultures 1
¥$
(2024)

Hopefully the emoji is enough to circumvent the TOS bot.
All the albums reviewed in this thread I’ve listened to at least 10+ times and have had years for them to either grow on me or grow tired of.

That being said my initial reaction to this is that isn’t not very good. A collaboration between Ty Dolla $ign and Kanye I have nothing really to say about the former as nothing stood out to me good or bad. The only good feature on this album is from North, a child. There’s bits and pieces of each song that I like and then it just goes in a strange direction, ends abruptly or there’s a horrible bar by Kanye.

I think this Kanye at his worst lyrically and making jokes about his current scandals just falls flat in a way it didn’t on The Life of Pablo and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Either stand by your words and the repercussions of it or sincerely apologise and leave it at that, rather than keep switching between apologising and joking.
Lyrics aren’t available yet but I might edit some of the worst bars In on this as there were plenty.


Favourite tracks were Beg Forgiveness, Do it and the already released Vultures. So many tracks that I want to like but are just ruined like the soccer fan chants in Carnival or the chipmunk effect at the end of Fuck Sumn.

The production on this sounds horrendous, listened to a lossless version and it sounds like a YouTube leak. May re-listen through a stereo rather than earphones but shocking for a Kanye project considering being a producer is his original claim to fame.



Also “everybody” with the backstreet boys sample is gone, at least that sound is good!

Ozzy is suing him for sampling Iron Man without permission. Said he does not want an anti-semite using his music.

Would expect a second release of this with that track changed.

Feb 10, 2024 15:14:45 GMT c said:

Ozzy is suing him for sampling Iron Man without permission. Said he does not want an anti-semite using his music.

Would expect a second release of this with that track changed.

Don’t worry Kanye has solved the problem and replaced it with audio from Kanye’s 2010 track “Hell of a Life”



Which features an already cleared sample of

Iron Man by Black Sabbath.

🤣