History YMMV / KANYEWEST

* FirstInstallmentWins: There's still, to this day, many people who consider ''The College Dropout'' to be his best project. AllMusic also has this sentiment, as they not only gave it [[https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-college-dropout-mw0000326741 5 out of 5 stars, but also named it an album pick]].

** Kanye fans and Music/{{Eminem}} fans have a rivalry that is inexplicable, since both rappers are huge fans of each other and have collaborated a few times. While some of it stems from [[AwardSnub arguments about Grammy awards]] and SlobsVersusSnobs debates, it's mostly a political proxy -- Eminem comes from a working class background and is more popular with blue-collar listeners, and Kanye comes from a lower middle class background and is more popular with college-educated audiences. When Kanye alienated his liberal fanbase by supporting UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump and antisemitic conspiracy theories, at the same time as Eminem alienated his conservative fanbase by standing against Trump and campaigning for BLM and gun control, the rivalry became much more bitter as undecided fans were forced into picking a side.

** Kanye's overall demeanor. There is no denying that he is a complete and total {{Narcissist}}, but whether you find his ego [[AwesomeEgo endearing]] or [[ItsAllAboutMe insufferable]] is another story.

* FirstInstallmentWins: There's still, to this day, many people who consider ''The College Dropout'' to be his best project. Several fans extend this distinction to the entire "College Trilogy".

** ''Yeezus'' has a few of them: the break in "On Sight" where the song stops and changes tempo for a short excerpt of a children's choir singing, then goes back to the original tempo like nothing happened. The ending of "New Slaves" also has an abrupt change without anoy warning to a sample of Hungarian prog rock band Omega, and then the song just ends.

** ''The Life of Pablo''. The complaints don't seem to be about the quality of the songs but more so its bloated tracklist, apparent lack of construction compared to previous albums, and generally weak lyrics. Reviews have ranged from saying it's his second best album next to ''MBDTF'', to mid-tier, to his worst yet. Fortunately, the record does appear to be on the verge of being VindicatedByHistory, thanks to the numerous improvements made to it following the original release.

** ''Donda 2'' was released in an even messier state -- appearing to have been crunched to make a "2.22.22" release (bear in mind, ''Donda'' was released less than a year earlier and been years in the making, including over two years of missed release dates), ''2'' has some very shoddy production, lyrics, and vocal delivery, which comes off as unfinished even compared to [[StylisticSuck the intentionally stark and raw sound]] of the first ''Donda''. Once again, it's been suggested that the album will end up seeing further post-release developments.

** In early-to-mid 2018, he attracted backlash after posting several pro-[[UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump Trump]] tweets. This was a deep problem as Trump is overwhelmingly unpopular among the African-American community, which also makes up a large chunk of rap and hip-hop artists. To make matters worse, he then made comments implying that he considered slavery a choice, suggested the abolishment of the 13th amendment, which abolished slavery, met with Trump in the Oval Office, and made an announcement that he planned on running for president in either 2020 or 2024[[note]] he would run in 2020 and concede defeat a few days before UsefulNotes/JoeBiden won, but he has indicated that he will run again in 2024.[[/note]] (though said announcement predated the aforementioned events). This caused even those who tolerated West to turn their backs on him. He has sometimes gone back on his Trump support and related comments, though.[[note]]It's worth observing that several other rappers who endorsed Trump, like Music/LilWayne (who is black) and Music/LilPump (who is white), did not face the same backlash for it as Kanye did -- it's largely assumed Wayne was just sucking up to Trump to get a presidential pardon, and nobody respected Lil Pump enough to be disappointed by his actions.[[/note]]

** Particularly, his unapologetic support of UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump has caused quite a stir among his fans. Opinions of this are so varied that it's probably best to just not list them here.

** But even then, that was ''nothing'' compared to 2022. The earlier parts of the year saw West in a bitter feud with his ex-wife Creator/KimKardashian's new boyfriend Creator/PeteDavidson, wherein West openly harassed him, including leaking private text messages on his Instagram, and released a music video for his Music/{{The Game|Rapper}} collaboration "Eazy" (which had previously attracted controversy for its cover art of [[NightmareFuel a skinned monkey]]) wherein Davidson gets ''buried alive and decapitated'' by West. The resulting album released during that time, ''Donda 2'', which was released exclusively on Kanye's Stem Player in an unfinished nature, primarily focused on his divorce from Kim and his bitterness towards Davidson. In early October 2022, West faced further controversy after donning a shirt with the "White Lives Matter" slogan during Paris Fashion Week, and even moreso from that month onward with antisemitic comments (including praising UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler and denying the Holocaust), resulting in terminations with many of his sponsorships and collaborations with companies such as Vogue, CAA, Balenciaga, Gap and Adidas and major demand to remove all of his music from streaming services online a-la Music/RKelly.* PoorMansSubstitute: Before he blew up, Kanye was usually described as "the cheaper Just Blaze". The roles have since been reversed; you won't hear anyone calling Just a low-rent Kanye nowadays, but it's definitely a lot easier to get a beat from him than from Kanye.

** ''Yeezus'' has a few of them: the break in "On Sight" where the song stops and changes tempo for a short excerpt of a children's choir singing, then goes back to the original tempo like nothing happened. The ending of "New Slaves" also has an abrupt change without any warning to a sample of Hungarian prog rock band Omega, and then the song just ends.

* OvershadowedByControversy: Without mincing any words: Kanye West is extraordinarily attracted to drama. From high-profile tabloid scandals like his clash with Music/TaylorSwift, to his political comments during UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump's presidency, to the many, many accounts of strange, reckless actions motivated by anything from his mental health, to his ego, or even just a desire to get a rise out of people, Ye's public profile is astonishingly polarizing. The fact that he himself invites adversity to a significant degree ([[WriteWhatYouKnow having made his provocative life a central focus in nearly all of his work]] since ''My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'') pretty much ensures that his scandals are nigh-unavoidable even if you're trying to just be a fan of his music, and perhaps even if you aren't.
%%Yes, we know Kanye is antisemetic. We still have a Administrivia/NoRecentExamplesPlease 6-month waiting policy on adding OvershadowedByControversy.
* PoorMansSubstitute: Before he blew up, Kanye was usually described as "the cheaper Just Blaze". The roles have since been reversed; you won't hear anyone calling Just a low-rent Kanye nowadays, but it's definitely a lot easier to get a beat from him than from Kanye.