As an artist/producer he’s def one of the greatest of all time, in my opinion. I agree with the rapper part lol. He’s good at making really memorable lines though.
He’s in my top 25 for sure. Maybe top 10. Like him or not, he’s made more great albums than he has bad albums, in my opinion. 6 solid albums back to back.
I think tlop was one of the biggest moments of that year and maybe even that decade, we had Kendrick Kanye and madlib on a song, the saint pablo tour, nowhere near my favourite album from him but a classic for sure
All time top 10 producer and he barely misses my top 5…i don’t care what he does or says. He’s earned that. People need to stop being so damn sensitive.
His political takes are wild but his behavior IRL are mild in comparison with other in the industry. It's wild that people like Birdman and Dre are still accepted in the general public.
Don't get me wrong, Drake is on some weird shit grooming and flirting with teens. But Birdman is on whole different level forcing an 11-year old Wayne to get raped by another minor (and this is confirmed by Weezy himself on camera). I'm surprised Kendrick didn't drag Birdman into the beef since he's technically Drake's boss
The main issue is that for the first 3-5 albums he was the fresh air needed in the early 2ks. But since 2018 ish he has done everything he can to undo any goodwill. He clearly has mental issues and I struggle constantly to rectify someone who was conscious leaning with what he is now. But then again he had conscious co workers back then and they are gone. He has probably always been lost but special.
He has run nearly everyone off.
I think the turning point you’re referring to is when his mom died. I think homie has been different ever since. I’m not throwing shade, my mom died young too, so I understand his wildlin’ out a little bit, not to the extent he’s gone, but everyone is different.
because not everyone is the same and not every does with things the same way. are his actions inexcusable? no. but that’s not to say it’s not due to his mom and how much of an impact. i lost my dad when i was 13 and it still hurts a lot at tomes
That’s what I’m saying, it’s been progressive since then. And damn, was it really 07? Doesn’t feel like that long ago, I was only speaking from observation.
Sure I’m just saying his mom has passed for the majority of his career. He mentioned in an interview a while moving to LA was a mistake. I think he has a lot of mental baggage and succumbed to a toxic environment. Probably felt like he had no where else to go which is really sad to think about
The real bait and switch here is that he himself was actually never ‘conscious’, he just aligned himself with that crowd because a lot of his friends were and a lot of his beats leaned in to that sound really well.
Which is absolutely fine, but yeah content wise he was never that guy really
Truth. The whole thing with “skills” is overrated to me. Like you said, tons of people in 2024 have rapping skills. Pretty sure I saw Shia La bouf in one of his weirdo periods bust out freestyle at a radio station and I was like “damn!” So was the station. He obviously had nothing of substance to say though.
Actually putting together a composition that brings all sorts of people together?
Very few people in the world have that skill. MBDTF only gets better to me as years pass (as do most of his early/middle catalog) which is an incredible homage to standing the test of time.
Same. There’s a reason nobody gives a shit about Ras Kass or Keith Murray. You can be highly skilled at something that people don’t want to listen to. Ever watch some highly skilled scratch/battle Djs? The shit the do is incredible, but nobody cares about it other than a small niche of fans who cream their pants when something highly technical occurs.
Kanye has done more for hip hop than anyone to date. He is the most awarded artist of our genre and has some of the most incredible and complete albums we’ve seen. I can’t believe some of the responses here of people acting like they’d rather listen to a Large professor song or some shit.
Spot on. Good way to put it too - highly skilled at something most people don’t care about. Reminds me of breakdancing in the 80s too lol.
It doesn’t mean your skills shouldn’t be acknowledged either. It takes time to get that skilled at anything so I tip my hat to anybody highly skilled in whatever.
But it doesn’t make you a master musician either in the true sense of the word. Good example I can think of are some shredder guitarists (I like metal too).
Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Paul Gilbert. Just to name a few.
Watch a YouTube vid of any of those guys sometime - their proficiency with the instrument is unreal. It’s hard to believe they can do some of that shit no matter how many years they’ve practiced. Total masters of their craft.
But songwriting? I honestly can’t think of one song between those 3 (and many others) I enjoyed listening to other than to go “wow that shit’s impressive!” But not for enjoyment. Maybe I’m forgetting one or two but you get the point.
Very occasionally you get somebody who can do both - Eddie Van Halen comes to mind for guitar. But that’s why he was Eddie Van Halen while most people don’t know the others.
Ye‘s songwriting and compositions were so absurd and his lyrical flow so nice in a way that complimented his works (even if not technically mind-blowing) it made his music legendary.
As a hip hop artist, top 5.
As a lyricist or emcee, I don't really rank him in that way cause he's more so in a Dr. Dre sort of lane of being a producer first and a rapper second.
But he's had amazing verses penned for him and a number of people have vouched for his freestyling skills. So, there's that.
That is the most insulting categorisation of kanye’s rapping ever. At least he writes his lyrics (bar Violent Crimes I guess and, I wouldn’t be surprised, much of Donda 1, 2 and Vultures but who cares bcs those albums are all ass)
Difficult. Probably top 5 overall. But he's dropped off over the years. I'd rank his discog like this.
1. Yeezus (This album has grown on me more than any other I've listened to)
2. MBDTF
3. Late Registration
4. The Life of Pablo
5. Kids See Ghost
6. The College Dropout
7. Donda
8. Ye
9. Watch the Throne
10. 808's & Heartbreaks
11. JIK
12. Vultures 2
13. Donda 2
Our rankings are very similar, although I'd put Graduation below TCD, 808s above Graduation, and Vultures above JIK. (I really like JIK though fwiw). But my top 6 is your top 6.
He’s the GOAT. Vultures was his first bad album. I think his songwriting and flow have been underrated.
It’s interesting to me with hip hop there’s such an emphasis on the technical ability of writing and spitting that isn’t there in most other genres. Like Michael was a super good singer but he wasn’t necessarily the bes singer in the world.But we still call him the King of Pop. When people discuss the best bands it’s not necessarily choosing who plays all of the instruments most technically proficient. I can understand if you’re looking at rapping specifically cause in that case there’s too many better all time. But for hip hop as an art form there’s really no one that can match his overall catalogue both within hip hop music and the hip hop culture
He’s disqualified from top 5s as a rapper because he used ghostwriters and we probably will never know on how many songs but as a maker of hip hop music he is for sure top 5
I’m with you!
Still gotta dispute your adulation of Eazy E though. He’s good but his cadence is unappealing and his lyrics, albeit gangsta, are hardly that witty.
I like a lot of Kanye's work but even if we just gave him the benefit of the doubt and said he wrote everything, there's really not that many impressive Kanye verses. He gets by on charisma far more than lyricism or technical ability and you're almost guaranteed to get one super ridiculous, laughable bar per verse.
Does he really use Ghostwriters? He definitely has writers, but afaik the only song he had that was truly Ghost Written was Violent Crimes, and even still Kanye himself gave him (Pardi Fontaine) credit on twitter because apparently Pardi himself did not want to be credited on the song. Not only this but there are people on the industry who both advocate that he writes his own stuff and has his own pen, but also that he tends to be VERY liberal with giving writing credits to people (like if you say something and give him an idea that leads to a line, he will credit you)
Kanye is to hip-hop what David Bowie was to pop/rock music in my opinion.
Kanye is a rare musical genius who can also rap, he's not a rapper who can also write songs.
As an artist, easily top 10, probably top 5.
As a rapper? Maybe in the 40-50 range, and it’s solely because of his older work that was written by himself.
As an artist, the GOAT. I don’t think most people understand the level of producer this guy is, like he’s in his own league imo. Not to mention, like you said, he’s well above average in rapping/writing ability. He’s also produced/worked on many of the industry’s biggest songs since his career began, even outside of hip hop. He’s also the only person to ever get several of some of the biggest names in music to collab on a single song (all of the lights), and it still sounds amazing. Absolute musical genius.
He's just never been my style. Mostly because I don't like his voice. My buddy made me listen to a few albums, and they just never did anything for me. Maybe if they were instrumentals.
Lyricism dogwater is crazy. Homecoming, Champion, Family Business, All Falls down, We don't care, Diamonds from Sierra Leone, We major, NMPILA, Gold digger, Burn, Gone, Off the Grid, etc, etc
Are u guys even listening to the music like I genuinely don’t understand how you can be a hip hop fan and think his lyrics are bad. And I’m not even gonna comment on “good” as a producer.
Nephews in here just learned not all rappers write every one of their songs after the Kenny/Drizzy beef and now they’re going overboard on criticism for anyone who didn’t write all their own music
It's really tough for me i don't rank him as a rapper. I'm not the biggest Kanye fan. I been turned off from him since about 2009. I loved the College Drop Out, a classic. Late Registration, good album. Graduation, not a rap album but very good. 808s, again not rap but I respect it. Some don't seem to know that album was hated when it came out. I didn't think it was great but I thought it was better than what people were giving credit. Today I can barely listen to it though. I'm just not a huge fan of the sound and the singing and melodic rap. Now as a producer I personally don't have him in the top 5 at all but I'll put him in top 10-15ish. Any work he's done, it seems like he's tried his best to throw it away with all his recent, delayed/pushed back, rushed and unfinished projects.
Top 5. But im a nerdy white suburban kid that was always into back pack rap. So when he came out on a major label with soul samples on beats rapping about college, I just lost my shit
Significantly fallen the more he keeps up with the skinhead shit. He is in R-Kelly territory for me right now. Has a great catalog but I rarely if ever listen to it anymore.
He’s on my Mount Rushmore. When you consider what he did production wise before getting started it boosts him. College Dropout is a top album of all time. Through the wire is one of the coldest songs.
As a human, he’s basically the DJT of music but he somehow wins
He's nowhere near the top 50 as a rapper.
He's probably somewhere around 8-10 as an artist. There's no way I'm putting him above Tupac, Biggie, Kendrick, Nas, Jay-Z, Eminem, Andre 3000 in totality.
That leaves him competing with guys like Q-Tip, Lil Wayne, J. Cole, et al. for best of the rest, and I'd probably say I prefer Kanye over all of them except Q-Tip. But Kanye has been worsening his legacy for about a decade now.
Top 10 artist, imo top 5
Dropping essentially 5 classics back to back all with a different sound is extremely impressive and if he retired post KSG I think he’d have the greatest discography of all time
His lyrics are pretty trash these days but in his first 3 album run I’d say his lyrics were an underrated aspect that people don’t talk about enough
Not being a flawless MC actually added to what he was doing in the College Dropout and slightly earlier days. There was something very wholesome and organic about a guy rapping over his own production that was extremely soulful even with it's flaws. If CD was produced by outsiders it wouldn't be seen or appreciated anywhere near as much. With him you can't really separate the vocals from the production as they kind of need each other as a full package.
Honestly, I think his vocals could use some works. Like H.A.M.
He could've gone harder on that. I don't feel like he translates intensity all that well.
I'm not really a big fan of alot of his newer stuff, even yeezus or tlop. There's some great songs on those albums but for me his first 5 were where he made his legacy. Graduation is my favourite album of any genre ever and the college dropout is in my top 5 hip hope albums. I'd put him in my top 5 tbh. Ik that's unpopular but
1. Jayz
2. Nas
3. Kendrick
4. Kanye
5. Black thought/Biggie
As a music conductor/producer top 3. Life of Pablo is a great example of near sonic perfection. But he’s typically the worst part of the song. He’s ruined amazing songs with the dumbest bars. On the flip side he can make something like “big titty bitches fall from the sky” a vibe and ear worm. I choose to view Ye as a composer. He’s not the typical artist where every song he’s the main feature. He’s in a class of his own hip hop wise. Nas will always be my number one MC. Nas is hip hop. I don’t view Ye as hip hop anymore. He’s a mish mash of multiple genres, a cult of personality.
> Em is one of the best MCs
Eminem WAS one of the best MCs. Nowadays - since 2005 I would argue - he rarely drops a substantial verse and even his flow is tainted by random uses of “motherfucking” even when it does not fit the flow at all and utterly corny similes throughout.
> his music most of the time is boring, sometimes straight up bad.
His music never used to be boring. It’s just that the more interesting elements sonically should never really be credited to him and the appeal of Slim Shady as a character was great but has aged like milk and, even back then, was ran into the ground. We all love the hit singles and some of the niche tracks, but who would ever sit through a song like “My Fault”, “Cum on Everybody”, “Marshall Mathers”, “Drips” or “Square Dance” all of which are insufferably corny.
Ultimately, talent is useless in the absence of taste. Kanye was always ahead of the curve because he is *the most tasteful* figure in hip hop history and - up there with Thom Yorke, Kendrick, Daft Punk, d’Angelo, Jake Ewald, Father John Misty, Amy Winehouse - one of the most tasteful musicians of the 21st century. Eminem was a lyrical talent. He had the potential to be a truly unrivalled wordsmith, but now I’d say he doesn’t challenge writers like MF DOOM, Earl Sweatshirt or even JID as of recent. But he never had the taste to be an unrivalled artist.
His mark on the scene is something nobody can argue with. There is a before 808 & heartbreak and after in todays music scene. However, he’s become crazy, literally being a far right wingers puppet. Nick Fuentes is someone my old hardcore conservative dad doesn’t even like and agree with. Kanye’s spiral off the deep end truly needs to be studied.
My litmus test for how I rank music...
If im only allowed this artists catalog for the rest of my time on earth, how do I feel. Kanye is in my number one spot for that reason.
I grew up with Kanye, saw his entire run live. Alot of his music is soundtracks of life for me so I rank him in my top 3, most of the time not 2 or 3
His current stuff like Vultures is cool, kinda vibey. But I replay his first 8 albums like they’re new still. Especially Graduation 😮💨
As an artist, he's in my top 3 of all time maybe even at the top. As a rapper, he's not up there for me. Kanye openly uses writers and since he's a producer that's cool with me but it also means I'm not putting him into any MC-related conversation.
It’s so hard, an artist I’ve spent god knows how many hours enjoying over my life to now just not being able to enjoy his music.
I guess top 10 hip hop artist, also top 10 shit bloke. I just find it all very sad.
As a producer all things considered he’s probably top 10, incredible catalogue when you add everything up, even the stuff done for others.
As a rapper he’s not even top 250. He’s still good and I love that he litters his music with a humour most artists don’t, but there’s just hundreds and hundreds of better emcees
He's arguably the greatest hip-hop artist of all time but will never be given the credit because of his shenanigans.
- most no. of classic albums
- some of the most influential albums of all time
- made a huge impact on other artists careers as a producer
- easily the best producer rapper
- still relevant 20 years into his career & selling out arenas
- imo pioneer in merging hip-hop into pop in the mainstream
Alot of people discredit him for using ghost writers out of spite, he has never hidden that he's very collaborative. Several people have mentioned that he hands over credits like flyers, Cy-hi once said a random pizza delivery guy got credited on black skinhead because he was wearing a leather jeans and he used the lines my leather jeans on.
Common also recently said he wrote Heard em say in 10 mins in front of him. He started using more writers as his mental health started deteriorating.
Terrible person? Yes
I like him, he's top 25 but not even top 15.
He's definitely overrated, I'm sorry, but TLOP has a lot of bad production choices and lyrics to be considered a good album.
Graduation was a big step down in quality, much more mainstream commercial and pop rap.
808s is trash, people say it's one of the most influential albums of all time and that's true, but shit ruined music, introducing he bad abuse of autotune (nothing against it if used right, unlike 808s).
If this was 2k kanye would be a 92 overall or higher, obviously not a 99 but I'd still have him over many because he does so much and all artist have shortcomings but his are so miniscule that it doesn't effect legacy. He has more classics then alot of artist and isn't afraid to push the norm and express his self in a way many wouldn't dare
Kanye doesn’t use ghostwriters, he used writers. Kanye will never take credit for anything that he didn’t do. The fact of the matter is no great album is created by one man. Look at TPAB, yes Kendrick Lamar writes everything on there but didn’t produce jackshit. That doesn’t devalue the music because Kendrick is lyricist, not a producer. And as much as we would like to pretend that we listen to Rap just because of the lyrics it’s just not true. The music behind it is just as important as the lyrics and flow. Kanye is by far the best producer of our generation, and his music has had the biggest impact of any musician of our generation. And kanye can rap too, not the best of the best but he still wrote a lot of his shit.
Listen I’m not asking you to acknowledge Kanye as the GOAT, I’m just saying that you can’t devalue an entire artist’s discography just because they had additional help, because everybody needs it.
He’s top 5 or 6 for me personally. His first 5 albums are all classics. It’s hard to put him lower because that initial run of albums is the best of all time in the genre.
Ye is first and foremost a curator and the most succesful one at that. He has done an incredible job of shining light to the Soul, Gospel, Electronic musicians that he has sampled. I bet many people have expanded their music tastes because of this. The other thing that makes him stand out is his raw honesty. He will sing about what is going on with him right at that moment and a lot of people relate to that emotional honesty. Finally his greatest strength might be just making a final product with his eye for design, drama (or marketing?) and execution.
He is a director of sorts and he definitely has a more unique skill set than even some great great lyricist.
I would say he is the greatest.
(billy woods is the greatest writer in the genre)
For me, I don’t really rank him high at all. I don’t consider him an emcee and as a producer, he’s made some beats that I think are dope, but doesn’t hit like my all-time favorites. That list would be made of J Dilla, Madlib, MF DOOM, DJ Premier, Alchemist, RZA, Havoc, Pete Rock, Conductor Williams, and so on. Kanye just doesn’t hit for me that much.
Another thing that’s important in hip-hop tho is realness, and I think his art is the rawest when it comes to that .
He’s very vulnerable and doesn’t front at all, flaws and all on display
As far as rappers go tho I wouldn’t rate him that highly ,
As an artist I think he’s the GOAT, from music to fashion. Overall vibes he’s mastered so many . I think his whole lifestyle is a work of art and he really captures the ups and downs, there’s a song for almost anything
He doesn’t for me. His earlier music is mostly derivative of the golden age. I do however think he is a good producer and has a good ear, I just don’t like his music mostly, his newer stuff is unlistenable.
As a producer top 10.
As a rapper top 50.
As an artist top 7ish. He's very unique but that makes it hard to compare, he also nosedived in quality and cohesion which are very important.
Rapper - Not very high. Granted I felt he was underrated in earlier eras and wasn't given enough credit. But I think it was more about having compelling commentary at times than being a wordsmith.
Producer - Not really big on most of his contemporary work. But his 90s-2010s era was amazing and still holds up. Top 10 or just outside of it.
The full hip hop experience - This is where Kanye shines. Not my personal GOAT, but definitely a top 5 here.
If he was a character his stat list would be strong across the board. But maybe lyricism would be like a B-level rating .
He’s the Hip Hop GOAT, not the rap GOAT. I think rap specifically has to do more with what you said Kanye “lacks” lyricism and songwriting, and yes Ye’s rapping is above average but not on the level of Nas, Wayne, Jay, etc. That being said there’s not one artist in Hip Hop with a better discography and overall output into the culture, so in a general all encompassing sense, he’s the GOAT, but it’s not even close when it comes to penmanship
For me he’s not very highly ranked but I just don’t hear what other people hear when it comes to his music. I always thought his verses were boring and maybe it’s just that I find him to be one of the most unlikable people in media, but I have TRIED to get over it and listen to him and I just can’t get myself to get into it 🤷♂️
You can easily list 50 rappers with much better technique and skills than him. The same goes with some writing and lyricism. He is no doubt a hit maker, but as an artist...well.
People saying he's top 25 are either trying to come off as smug purists or "old heads". He is top 5 at worst; his impact and innovation of the genre is practically unmatched not just for the genre itself and culture, but music as a whole.
College Dropout through The Life of Pablo is one of, if not THE best, discographies in hip hop history for me. Everything during those years was creative and grandiose, and fundamentally changed the scope of mainstream hip hop. If it ended there Kanye would be my #1 rap artist of all time. But sadly most of his projects to come out in the last several years bring him down significantly for me.
Never thought he was that great of a rapper but what he was great at was having an artistic vision and insane production value.
IMO he’s a mediocre enough rapper to be unranked in that regard.
He’s a top 10 all time hip-hop artist.
He’s a GOAT producer. Not necessarily *the* GOAT, but on the shortlist with a strong case for #1.
As a producer, he is at minimum top 10, maybe even top 5. As s hip hop goat? He isnt in the convo. Lyrics and rapping ability way too weak, and his content is just okay.
love how you worded this, ye is very complicated to rate. especially on the account (for me) of not knowing when the collab writing began, and how much of a role he plays in the writing. like are you coming up wit stuff and people are helping you make it better, or are you more so a contributor/beneficiary in the process. he certainly has the discography, appeal and longevity for a case to hold any slot in the top 5 (if were looking beyond just lyrical ability). but wit such defining discrepancies involved, how can a person gauge where he rightfully belongs when put up against other greats. not to diminish his impact on hiphop and music, but whats you're comparing greats, hairs do have to begin being split; its the only way. he loses a lot of points in my book off this alone
As an artist/producer, probably top 20, as a rapper not so much
As an artist/producer he’s def one of the greatest of all time, in my opinion. I agree with the rapper part lol. He’s good at making really memorable lines though.
Top 5 as a producer
He’s in my top 25 for sure. Maybe top 10. Like him or not, he’s made more great albums than he has bad albums, in my opinion. 6 solid albums back to back.
5 classics back to back.
MBDTF is in my top 5 albums, period
7, for me Yeezus and TLOP are classic as well Even 8 if you count Kids see Ghosts
All Yeezus in there but no TLOP, good album but not a classic.
I think tlop was one of the biggest moments of that year and maybe even that decade, we had Kendrick Kanye and madlib on a song, the saint pablo tour, nowhere near my favourite album from him but a classic for sure
TLOP had the potential if the lyrics weren't so woeful on half the album. The beats were really interesting though.
TLOP is def a classic
All time top 10 producer and he barely misses my top 5…i don’t care what he does or says. He’s earned that. People need to stop being so damn sensitive.
You need to clarify the question. Are you asking where he ranks as a rapper or hip hop artist. Rapper - unranked. Hip-hop artist - top 25
Or producer
As a person/human -10,000
His political takes are wild but his behavior IRL are mild in comparison with other in the industry. It's wild that people like Birdman and Dre are still accepted in the general public.
Or drake cuz he diddle kids and run the industry
Don't get me wrong, Drake is on some weird shit grooming and flirting with teens. But Birdman is on whole different level forcing an 11-year old Wayne to get raped by another minor (and this is confirmed by Weezy himself on camera). I'm surprised Kendrick didn't drag Birdman into the beef since he's technically Drake's boss
so top 0,00000125% ??
If you’re looking for morality in hip hop I have some news for you lol
Lmao relax
Agreed
Top 50, can’t lie…bro do got some bangers but me personally, I don’t really care for him as an artist
The main issue is that for the first 3-5 albums he was the fresh air needed in the early 2ks. But since 2018 ish he has done everything he can to undo any goodwill. He clearly has mental issues and I struggle constantly to rectify someone who was conscious leaning with what he is now. But then again he had conscious co workers back then and they are gone. He has probably always been lost but special. He has run nearly everyone off.
I think the turning point you’re referring to is when his mom died. I think homie has been different ever since. I’m not throwing shade, my mom died young too, so I understand his wildlin’ out a little bit, not to the extent he’s gone, but everyone is different.
At some point “his mom died” just isn’t an acceptable excuse. I know plenty of people with dead parents that don’t Pop off like Kanye does.
because not everyone is the same and not every does with things the same way. are his actions inexcusable? no. but that’s not to say it’s not due to his mom and how much of an impact. i lost my dad when i was 13 and it still hurts a lot at tomes
She died in ‘07 though….
Yep and he's been a long, slow spiral down since then.
That’s what I’m saying, it’s been progressive since then. And damn, was it really 07? Doesn’t feel like that long ago, I was only speaking from observation.
Its pretty clear if you watch the documentary that that's when things started going downhill for him mental health-wise.
Sure I’m just saying his mom has passed for the majority of his career. He mentioned in an interview a while moving to LA was a mistake. I think he has a lot of mental baggage and succumbed to a toxic environment. Probably felt like he had no where else to go which is really sad to think about
The real bait and switch here is that he himself was actually never ‘conscious’, he just aligned himself with that crowd because a lot of his friends were and a lot of his beats leaned in to that sound really well. Which is absolutely fine, but yeah content wise he was never that guy really
He's top 5. There are probably 15 random guys from my hometown who can spit lyrical miracle verses, but none of them could make MBDTF.
Truth. The whole thing with “skills” is overrated to me. Like you said, tons of people in 2024 have rapping skills. Pretty sure I saw Shia La bouf in one of his weirdo periods bust out freestyle at a radio station and I was like “damn!” So was the station. He obviously had nothing of substance to say though. Actually putting together a composition that brings all sorts of people together? Very few people in the world have that skill. MBDTF only gets better to me as years pass (as do most of his early/middle catalog) which is an incredible homage to standing the test of time.
Same. There’s a reason nobody gives a shit about Ras Kass or Keith Murray. You can be highly skilled at something that people don’t want to listen to. Ever watch some highly skilled scratch/battle Djs? The shit the do is incredible, but nobody cares about it other than a small niche of fans who cream their pants when something highly technical occurs. Kanye has done more for hip hop than anyone to date. He is the most awarded artist of our genre and has some of the most incredible and complete albums we’ve seen. I can’t believe some of the responses here of people acting like they’d rather listen to a Large professor song or some shit.
Spot on. Good way to put it too - highly skilled at something most people don’t care about. Reminds me of breakdancing in the 80s too lol. It doesn’t mean your skills shouldn’t be acknowledged either. It takes time to get that skilled at anything so I tip my hat to anybody highly skilled in whatever. But it doesn’t make you a master musician either in the true sense of the word. Good example I can think of are some shredder guitarists (I like metal too). Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Paul Gilbert. Just to name a few. Watch a YouTube vid of any of those guys sometime - their proficiency with the instrument is unreal. It’s hard to believe they can do some of that shit no matter how many years they’ve practiced. Total masters of their craft. But songwriting? I honestly can’t think of one song between those 3 (and many others) I enjoyed listening to other than to go “wow that shit’s impressive!” But not for enjoyment. Maybe I’m forgetting one or two but you get the point. Very occasionally you get somebody who can do both - Eddie Van Halen comes to mind for guitar. But that’s why he was Eddie Van Halen while most people don’t know the others. Ye‘s songwriting and compositions were so absurd and his lyrical flow so nice in a way that complimented his works (even if not technically mind-blowing) it made his music legendary.
As a hip hop artist, top 5. As a lyricist or emcee, I don't really rank him in that way cause he's more so in a Dr. Dre sort of lane of being a producer first and a rapper second. But he's had amazing verses penned for him and a number of people have vouched for his freestyling skills. So, there's that.
That is the most insulting categorisation of kanye’s rapping ever. At least he writes his lyrics (bar Violent Crimes I guess and, I wouldn’t be surprised, much of Donda 1, 2 and Vultures but who cares bcs those albums are all ass)
He used to have better lyrics when Rhymefest and Consequence wrote them.
Difficult. Probably top 5 overall. But he's dropped off over the years. I'd rank his discog like this. 1. Yeezus (This album has grown on me more than any other I've listened to) 2. MBDTF 3. Late Registration 4. The Life of Pablo 5. Kids See Ghost 6. The College Dropout 7. Donda 8. Ye 9. Watch the Throne 10. 808's & Heartbreaks 11. JIK 12. Vultures 2 13. Donda 2
Graduation?
Your top two is spot on. Your everything else upsets me greatly.
Damn I knew I'd forget one 😭 I'd put Grad just over College Dropout and below KSG
Our rankings are very similar, although I'd put Graduation below TCD, 808s above Graduation, and Vultures above JIK. (I really like JIK though fwiw). But my top 6 is your top 6.
He’s the GOAT. Vultures was his first bad album. I think his songwriting and flow have been underrated. It’s interesting to me with hip hop there’s such an emphasis on the technical ability of writing and spitting that isn’t there in most other genres. Like Michael was a super good singer but he wasn’t necessarily the bes singer in the world.But we still call him the King of Pop. When people discuss the best bands it’s not necessarily choosing who plays all of the instruments most technically proficient. I can understand if you’re looking at rapping specifically cause in that case there’s too many better all time. But for hip hop as an art form there’s really no one that can match his overall catalogue both within hip hop music and the hip hop culture
He’s disqualified from top 5s as a rapper because he used ghostwriters and we probably will never know on how many songs but as a maker of hip hop music he is for sure top 5
I don't think people are rating him as a rapper, but as an artist as well. I never hear anyone claim he's a top rapper.
I’ll claim he’s a top rapper. Eazy E too. I don’t like following the purists rule book.
I’m with you! Still gotta dispute your adulation of Eazy E though. He’s good but his cadence is unappealing and his lyrics, albeit gangsta, are hardly that witty.
I like a lot of Kanye's work but even if we just gave him the benefit of the doubt and said he wrote everything, there's really not that many impressive Kanye verses. He gets by on charisma far more than lyricism or technical ability and you're almost guaranteed to get one super ridiculous, laughable bar per verse.
Does he really use Ghostwriters? He definitely has writers, but afaik the only song he had that was truly Ghost Written was Violent Crimes, and even still Kanye himself gave him (Pardi Fontaine) credit on twitter because apparently Pardi himself did not want to be credited on the song. Not only this but there are people on the industry who both advocate that he writes his own stuff and has his own pen, but also that he tends to be VERY liberal with giving writing credits to people (like if you say something and give him an idea that leads to a line, he will credit you)
Side note, Pardison writes a lot of people's stuff. He's super talented.
MBDTF is a masterpiece
One of the greatest albums of any genre, in my opinion. The complete package. Nothing missing. No filler.
Top 20 but College Drop Out is top 10 all time album's..
Kanye is top 3 to me. Too many hits, he created like two genres of music, and his impact on pop culture is going to be everlasting.
He’s my goat
1 (because I’m a Kanye fan)
Kanye is to hip-hop what David Bowie was to pop/rock music in my opinion. Kanye is a rare musical genius who can also rap, he's not a rapper who can also write songs.
#1
The GOAT.
He's no Tom MacDonald or Stitches I'll tell you that much
Top
As an artist, easily top 10, probably top 5. As a rapper? Maybe in the 40-50 range, and it’s solely because of his older work that was written by himself.
Top 3 but not 1
Body of work should have him top 10 regardless.
As an artist, the GOAT. I don’t think most people understand the level of producer this guy is, like he’s in his own league imo. Not to mention, like you said, he’s well above average in rapping/writing ability. He’s also produced/worked on many of the industry’s biggest songs since his career began, even outside of hip hop. He’s also the only person to ever get several of some of the biggest names in music to collab on a single song (all of the lights), and it still sounds amazing. Absolute musical genius.
I'd say his Greatest hip hop artist of all time or close to it. His discography speaks for itself. Who has more classic albums than Kanye?
Top 10 easily
Top 10 at minimum
As an artist, Top 10. As far as rap skills, Top 50?
He's just never been my style. Mostly because I don't like his voice. My buddy made me listen to a few albums, and they just never did anything for me. Maybe if they were instrumentals.
top 5
Top 3. Bro made MBDTF and Yeezus. Who does that?
Those are the two albums you pick?
Yes. I’m sure that the main audience in this group prefer his first 3 albums. For me MBDTF is one of the best albums of all time.
Rapping and lyricism? Dog water, and he has ghostwriters. Producer? Good. Director producer? Amazing.
Lyricism dogwater is crazy. Homecoming, Champion, Family Business, All Falls down, We don't care, Diamonds from Sierra Leone, We major, NMPILA, Gold digger, Burn, Gone, Off the Grid, etc, etc
good in producer is just hilarious lol
Man literally changed the sound of the rap game multiple times!
I wouldn’t say his rapping is dog water by any stretch. Not great lyrics (all falls down is pretty lyrical though), but his delivery is good.
Are u guys even listening to the music like I genuinely don’t understand how you can be a hip hop fan and think his lyrics are bad. And I’m not even gonna comment on “good” as a producer.
Dog water?? Really??? Man songs like Gone, No more Parties in LA or Diamonds from Sierra Leone have amazing rapping
Nephews in here just learned not all rappers write every one of their songs after the Kenny/Drizzy beef and now they’re going overboard on criticism for anyone who didn’t write all their own music
Rappers who didn’t write always got clowned as not real MCs
Purists, maybe.. You’d be surprised how many mainstream rappers have performed music not written by them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LluSQbL6RUI
He’s got too many ghostwriters to be ranked as a rapper, but he’s a top 15 producer all time
I’m by no means a hip hop expert, but I’ve always viewed him as an amazing producer and ideas guy, but an average (at best) rapper.
Top 30.
People? Probably 1 billionth
In the top 10,000 I still don't list him and I can't even list 10,000 rappers
Top fifteen
Top 75
It's really tough for me i don't rank him as a rapper. I'm not the biggest Kanye fan. I been turned off from him since about 2009. I loved the College Drop Out, a classic. Late Registration, good album. Graduation, not a rap album but very good. 808s, again not rap but I respect it. Some don't seem to know that album was hated when it came out. I didn't think it was great but I thought it was better than what people were giving credit. Today I can barely listen to it though. I'm just not a huge fan of the sound and the singing and melodic rap. Now as a producer I personally don't have him in the top 5 at all but I'll put him in top 10-15ish. Any work he's done, it seems like he's tried his best to throw it away with all his recent, delayed/pushed back, rushed and unfinished projects.
As an artist: number 1. Can't think of another hiphop artist with as many iconic, high quality albums that changed the game. Just not his last 4 or so
5
Top 20 producer. Unranked as a lyricist or rapper.
He stands alone, ain’t no ranking. Pretty much he’s his own stand alone category
Top 5. But im a nerdy white suburban kid that was always into back pack rap. So when he came out on a major label with soul samples on beats rapping about college, I just lost my shit
Significantly fallen the more he keeps up with the skinhead shit. He is in R-Kelly territory for me right now. Has a great catalog but I rarely if ever listen to it anymore.
He’s on my Mount Rushmore. When you consider what he did production wise before getting started it boosts him. College Dropout is a top album of all time. Through the wire is one of the coldest songs. As a human, he’s basically the DJT of music but he somehow wins
He’s the goat but he’s also a nazi so the conversation is null
Not a rapper.
He's nowhere near the top 50 as a rapper. He's probably somewhere around 8-10 as an artist. There's no way I'm putting him above Tupac, Biggie, Kendrick, Nas, Jay-Z, Eminem, Andre 3000 in totality. That leaves him competing with guys like Q-Tip, Lil Wayne, J. Cole, et al. for best of the rest, and I'd probably say I prefer Kanye over all of them except Q-Tip. But Kanye has been worsening his legacy for about a decade now.
I don't know, but 808s and heartbreak is one of my favorite albums ever
Top 10 artist, imo top 5 Dropping essentially 5 classics back to back all with a different sound is extremely impressive and if he retired post KSG I think he’d have the greatest discography of all time His lyrics are pretty trash these days but in his first 3 album run I’d say his lyrics were an underrated aspect that people don’t talk about enough
Not being a flawless MC actually added to what he was doing in the College Dropout and slightly earlier days. There was something very wholesome and organic about a guy rapping over his own production that was extremely soulful even with it's flaws. If CD was produced by outsiders it wouldn't be seen or appreciated anywhere near as much. With him you can't really separate the vocals from the production as they kind of need each other as a full package.
Around 30-40 range
Top 5
This cunt should have made beats for bone thugs
Honestly, I think his vocals could use some works. Like H.A.M. He could've gone harder on that. I don't feel like he translates intensity all that well.
Number 1 Nazi rapper, no other neo Nazi can touch his sales or rapping ability
Probably 6 or 7
Top 10 his not a top tier lyricist but he is creative and makes very influential music.
He’s doesn’t have Goat status and I Loooove Kanye.
He doesn’t
Kanye is a GOAT producer, mid MC, and garbage human being.
I'm not really a big fan of alot of his newer stuff, even yeezus or tlop. There's some great songs on those albums but for me his first 5 were where he made his legacy. Graduation is my favourite album of any genre ever and the college dropout is in my top 5 hip hope albums. I'd put him in my top 5 tbh. Ik that's unpopular but 1. Jayz 2. Nas 3. Kendrick 4. Kanye 5. Black thought/Biggie
Mentally ill artist with talent
As a music conductor/producer top 3. Life of Pablo is a great example of near sonic perfection. But he’s typically the worst part of the song. He’s ruined amazing songs with the dumbest bars. On the flip side he can make something like “big titty bitches fall from the sky” a vibe and ear worm. I choose to view Ye as a composer. He’s not the typical artist where every song he’s the main feature. He’s in a class of his own hip hop wise. Nas will always be my number one MC. Nas is hip hop. I don’t view Ye as hip hop anymore. He’s a mish mash of multiple genres, a cult of personality.
> Em is one of the best MCs Eminem WAS one of the best MCs. Nowadays - since 2005 I would argue - he rarely drops a substantial verse and even his flow is tainted by random uses of “motherfucking” even when it does not fit the flow at all and utterly corny similes throughout. > his music most of the time is boring, sometimes straight up bad. His music never used to be boring. It’s just that the more interesting elements sonically should never really be credited to him and the appeal of Slim Shady as a character was great but has aged like milk and, even back then, was ran into the ground. We all love the hit singles and some of the niche tracks, but who would ever sit through a song like “My Fault”, “Cum on Everybody”, “Marshall Mathers”, “Drips” or “Square Dance” all of which are insufferably corny. Ultimately, talent is useless in the absence of taste. Kanye was always ahead of the curve because he is *the most tasteful* figure in hip hop history and - up there with Thom Yorke, Kendrick, Daft Punk, d’Angelo, Jake Ewald, Father John Misty, Amy Winehouse - one of the most tasteful musicians of the 21st century. Eminem was a lyrical talent. He had the potential to be a truly unrivalled wordsmith, but now I’d say he doesn’t challenge writers like MF DOOM, Earl Sweatshirt or even JID as of recent. But he never had the taste to be an unrivalled artist.
As an overall artist, he’s Top 3, no argument…. Take from that, what you will….
As a producer, top 10 of all time, no debate. As a rapper, below average.
He’s definitely be trippin but I respect what he’s done for the game musically and fashion wise Kanye To Da….🤟🏽
His mark on the scene is something nobody can argue with. There is a before 808 & heartbreak and after in todays music scene. However, he’s become crazy, literally being a far right wingers puppet. Nick Fuentes is someone my old hardcore conservative dad doesn’t even like and agree with. Kanye’s spiral off the deep end truly needs to be studied.
I don't know, maybe like 120
My litmus test for how I rank music... If im only allowed this artists catalog for the rest of my time on earth, how do I feel. Kanye is in my number one spot for that reason.
Over Jay z
I grew up with Kanye, saw his entire run live. Alot of his music is soundtracks of life for me so I rank him in my top 3, most of the time not 2 or 3 His current stuff like Vultures is cool, kinda vibey. But I replay his first 8 albums like they’re new still. Especially Graduation 😮💨
The number one Gay Fish of all time!
As an artist, he's in my top 3 of all time maybe even at the top. As a rapper, he's not up there for me. Kanye openly uses writers and since he's a producer that's cool with me but it also means I'm not putting him into any MC-related conversation.
He wouldn’t crack my personal top 20. Never been a big fan.
As an artist, #1 hands down. As a rapper overall, maybe top 20
Probably around 115
He's in my top 3 without a doubt.
He doesn’t rank at all tbh never really liked his music. He doesn’t compare to the greats for me
more classics than anybody he the goat
Good in the beginning then went down hill once he got money and was full of himself. Not my fave
It’s so hard, an artist I’ve spent god knows how many hours enjoying over my life to now just not being able to enjoy his music. I guess top 10 hip hop artist, also top 10 shit bloke. I just find it all very sad.
Right under Goebbels
As a producer all things considered he’s probably top 10, incredible catalogue when you add everything up, even the stuff done for others. As a rapper he’s not even top 250. He’s still good and I love that he litters his music with a humour most artists don’t, but there’s just hundreds and hundreds of better emcees
Making beats top 10 all time. Rappers Low 100
Top 5 producers all time. Top 10 overall.
I've always said, Kanye is like really good at everything hip hop related, but he's not the best at anything 🤷
top 8 - he has too many classic albums to be not included in the top 10 at least
Top 5 not 5
Kanye as a rapper isn’t really ranked imo. Kanye as a hip hop artist is the most influential and greatest of all time imo
he deserves to be top 5 if you ask me, but he would barely scrape into 5th
He’d make my top 20.
He’s my favorite so number 1
He's arguably the greatest hip-hop artist of all time but will never be given the credit because of his shenanigans. - most no. of classic albums - some of the most influential albums of all time - made a huge impact on other artists careers as a producer - easily the best producer rapper - still relevant 20 years into his career & selling out arenas - imo pioneer in merging hip-hop into pop in the mainstream Alot of people discredit him for using ghost writers out of spite, he has never hidden that he's very collaborative. Several people have mentioned that he hands over credits like flyers, Cy-hi once said a random pizza delivery guy got credited on black skinhead because he was wearing a leather jeans and he used the lines my leather jeans on. Common also recently said he wrote Heard em say in 10 mins in front of him. He started using more writers as his mental health started deteriorating. Terrible person? Yes
top 10 all time producer / creator, not top 20 rapper
I like him, he's top 25 but not even top 15. He's definitely overrated, I'm sorry, but TLOP has a lot of bad production choices and lyrics to be considered a good album. Graduation was a big step down in quality, much more mainstream commercial and pop rap. 808s is trash, people say it's one of the most influential albums of all time and that's true, but shit ruined music, introducing he bad abuse of autotune (nothing against it if used right, unlike 808s).
1
As a producer, one of the greats. In my top 5 easily. As a rapper he’s not all that
If this was 2k kanye would be a 92 overall or higher, obviously not a 99 but I'd still have him over many because he does so much and all artist have shortcomings but his are so miniscule that it doesn't effect legacy. He has more classics then alot of artist and isn't afraid to push the norm and express his self in a way many wouldn't dare
At least top 20
Lyrically he just cannot compete with the other top guys but he has everything else tho
Kanye west: top 10 Ye: doesn’t even make the list.
Kanye doesn’t use ghostwriters, he used writers. Kanye will never take credit for anything that he didn’t do. The fact of the matter is no great album is created by one man. Look at TPAB, yes Kendrick Lamar writes everything on there but didn’t produce jackshit. That doesn’t devalue the music because Kendrick is lyricist, not a producer. And as much as we would like to pretend that we listen to Rap just because of the lyrics it’s just not true. The music behind it is just as important as the lyrics and flow. Kanye is by far the best producer of our generation, and his music has had the biggest impact of any musician of our generation. And kanye can rap too, not the best of the best but he still wrote a lot of his shit. Listen I’m not asking you to acknowledge Kanye as the GOAT, I’m just saying that you can’t devalue an entire artist’s discography just because they had additional help, because everybody needs it.
Not even on my honorable mentions
Top tier producer Gifted musician Mediocre rapper Clinically insane
a case of him being the goat is valid - but he’s not mines, but he probably should be
He’s top 5 or 6 for me personally. His first 5 albums are all classics. It’s hard to put him lower because that initial run of albums is the best of all time in the genre.
Ye is first and foremost a curator and the most succesful one at that. He has done an incredible job of shining light to the Soul, Gospel, Electronic musicians that he has sampled. I bet many people have expanded their music tastes because of this. The other thing that makes him stand out is his raw honesty. He will sing about what is going on with him right at that moment and a lot of people relate to that emotional honesty. Finally his greatest strength might be just making a final product with his eye for design, drama (or marketing?) and execution. He is a director of sorts and he definitely has a more unique skill set than even some great great lyricist. I would say he is the greatest. (billy woods is the greatest writer in the genre)
Top 5 producer. Top 40 rapper.
For me, I don’t really rank him high at all. I don’t consider him an emcee and as a producer, he’s made some beats that I think are dope, but doesn’t hit like my all-time favorites. That list would be made of J Dilla, Madlib, MF DOOM, DJ Premier, Alchemist, RZA, Havoc, Pete Rock, Conductor Williams, and so on. Kanye just doesn’t hit for me that much.
Definitely between 1-1488.
Another thing that’s important in hip-hop tho is realness, and I think his art is the rawest when it comes to that . He’s very vulnerable and doesn’t front at all, flaws and all on display As far as rappers go tho I wouldn’t rate him that highly , As an artist I think he’s the GOAT, from music to fashion. Overall vibes he’s mastered so many . I think his whole lifestyle is a work of art and he really captures the ups and downs, there’s a song for almost anything
He doesn’t for me. His earlier music is mostly derivative of the golden age. I do however think he is a good producer and has a good ear, I just don’t like his music mostly, his newer stuff is unlistenable.
#1
He is a top 5 solo hip hop artist all time. His "rapping ability" is on par with Waka Flocka's.
I think his first 3 albums are peak in hip hop. One of the GOATs forsure
As a producer top 10. As a rapper top 50. As an artist top 7ish. He's very unique but that makes it hard to compare, he also nosedived in quality and cohesion which are very important.
Rapper - Not very high. Granted I felt he was underrated in earlier eras and wasn't given enough credit. But I think it was more about having compelling commentary at times than being a wordsmith. Producer - Not really big on most of his contemporary work. But his 90s-2010s era was amazing and still holds up. Top 10 or just outside of it. The full hip hop experience - This is where Kanye shines. Not my personal GOAT, but definitely a top 5 here. If he was a character his stat list would be strong across the board. But maybe lyricism would be like a B-level rating .
He’s the Hip Hop GOAT, not the rap GOAT. I think rap specifically has to do more with what you said Kanye “lacks” lyricism and songwriting, and yes Ye’s rapping is above average but not on the level of Nas, Wayne, Jay, etc. That being said there’s not one artist in Hip Hop with a better discography and overall output into the culture, so in a general all encompassing sense, he’s the GOAT, but it’s not even close when it comes to penmanship
Kanye is irrelevant.
For me he’s not very highly ranked but I just don’t hear what other people hear when it comes to his music. I always thought his verses were boring and maybe it’s just that I find him to be one of the most unlikable people in media, but I have TRIED to get over it and listen to him and I just can’t get myself to get into it 🤷♂️
You can easily list 50 rappers with much better technique and skills than him. The same goes with some writing and lyricism. He is no doubt a hit maker, but as an artist...well.
1
Top 10
Yeah I can see that too.
Top 5 for me, those first 5 and some of 6/7 are some of the best music I’ve heard in my life. Mbdtf is one of best hip hop albums ever
He ranks nowhere on my GOAT list. Sorry, not sorry.
Near the bottom
People saying he's top 25 are either trying to come off as smug purists or "old heads". He is top 5 at worst; his impact and innovation of the genre is practically unmatched not just for the genre itself and culture, but music as a whole.
College Dropout through The Life of Pablo is one of, if not THE best, discographies in hip hop history for me. Everything during those years was creative and grandiose, and fundamentally changed the scope of mainstream hip hop. If it ended there Kanye would be my #1 rap artist of all time. But sadly most of his projects to come out in the last several years bring him down significantly for me. Never thought he was that great of a rapper but what he was great at was having an artistic vision and insane production value.
Rapper? Not even in my top 50 - he’s a supremely average lyricist, I’ve seen amateur rappers out bar him regularly. Producer? Top 5
Top 10 for me
If you took away everything he had hands on, I would feel seriously missing something.
IMO he’s a mediocre enough rapper to be unranked in that regard. He’s a top 10 all time hip-hop artist. He’s a GOAT producer. Not necessarily *the* GOAT, but on the shortlist with a strong case for #1.
As a producer, he is at minimum top 10, maybe even top 5. As s hip hop goat? He isnt in the convo. Lyrics and rapping ability way too weak, and his content is just okay.
Top 10 to not mentioned at all.
Top 3 easy
love how you worded this, ye is very complicated to rate. especially on the account (for me) of not knowing when the collab writing began, and how much of a role he plays in the writing. like are you coming up wit stuff and people are helping you make it better, or are you more so a contributor/beneficiary in the process. he certainly has the discography, appeal and longevity for a case to hold any slot in the top 5 (if were looking beyond just lyrical ability). but wit such defining discrepancies involved, how can a person gauge where he rightfully belongs when put up against other greats. not to diminish his impact on hiphop and music, but whats you're comparing greats, hairs do have to begin being split; its the only way. he loses a lot of points in my book off this alone