Line #38 YMMV/KanyeWest


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2	* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: Kanye's transition from being a known solely as a producer to becoming a rap star. At the time of his debut, rappers with socially conscious lyrics and everyman personas were largely relegated to [[AlternativeHipHop the underground]], whereas the mainstream was occupied by [[GangstaRap hardcore rappers]].
3	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
4	** The beat drop in "Blood on the Leaves". [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools Not that there's]] [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome a problem with that.]]
5	** ''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.
6	** In the middle of "Niggas in Paris", the entire song comes to a screeching halt in order to play an excerpt of dialogue from ''Film/BladesOfGlory''.
7	** "Pt. 2" includes a section with Caroline Shaw using a vocoder to say a meditative piece.
8	** The ending of "Blame Game" often comes across as one to new listeners with its long recording of a phone conversation between Chris Rock and a nameless woman, where he rambles about how much he loves having sex with her and her only responses are "Yeezy taught me" repeatedly, and "Yeezy reupholstered my pussy" once. As strange and even comical as it is, it might not technically be one since it is ''somewhat'' relevant to what the rest of the song is about.
9	** The ending of "30 Hours" has Kanye stop while recording his last verse because he gets a phone call from someone called Gabe (his publicist), which he answers, seemingly in a case of ThrowItIn. Then the song just ends.
10	* BrokenBase:
11	** Kanye's overall demeanor. There is no denying that he is a complete and total egomaniac, but whether you find said ego to be [[AwesomeEgo endearing]] or [[ItsAllAboutMe insufferable]] is another story.
12	** There's a huge division over ''which'' side of Kanye is better: the goofy and energetic persona he had from ''The College Dropout'' to ''Graduation'', or the more experimental, detail-oriented InsufferableGenius persona he stepped into starting with ''My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy''. Some are split, some enjoy either side and argue about each other, but [[TakeAThirdOption one just likes both sides evenly]].
13	** Initially caused by ''808s & Heartbreak'', mainly because of its sharp departure from the upbeat, pop-skewing "chipmunk soul" sound to a vastly colder, more introspective R&B-based sound. While [[VindicatedByHistory the rift has healed significantly thanks to its legacy]], there are still those who don't like how it marked the split mentioned above of Kanye's artistic approach, and opinions of the actual album on its own merits still remain varied.
14	** ''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 was VindicatedByHistory, thanks to the numerous improvements made to it after its original release.
15	** ''ye'' is pretty divisive, in large part because it places emphasis on its minimalist, introspective direction not seen since ''[=808s=]''. Whether this is a good or bad thing depends entirely on who you ask -- to some, it's a weakness that renders the album low on impact and feeling unfinished and unfocused. To others, it's a strength that accentuates the raw, intimate mood of Kanye exploring his mental health and showcases a rare and welcome moment of honesty from an artist known for being increasingly obtuse and divisive.
16	** ''Jesus Is King'' appears to be dividing fans even more, with some calling it a more cohesive album than ''ye'' and ''Pablo''. Others find that it suffers from being shallow, musically uninspired, and boasting a terrible mix.
17	* CriticalDissonance: He's ended up on both sides of the critic/audience disparity several times:
18	** ''808s & Heartbreak'' was praised by many critics (even appearing on many "Best of 2008" lists) but garnered a mixed reception from fans, who took issue with the album's heavily processed/mechanical sound and Kanye's subpar singing. Nonetheless, [[VindicatedByHistory it gradually rose in esteem,]] to the point where it's now considered a fan favorite. It's also credited with setting the course for hip-hop during the late-00's and early-10's, with many rappers adopting a similar R&B/hip-hop mix and synth-heavy sound.
19	** ''Yeezus'' was this upon release. It received more critical acclaim than ''808s & Heartbreak'' but the general public was divided on its industrial influences, with some unfavorably comparing it to Music/DeathGrips. The album, however, was eventually VindicatedByHistory (among fans, at least - critics loved it from the beginning), and it's now widely seen as one of the best hip-hop albums of the decade.
20	** ''ye'' got a tepid reaction by critics due to it seemingly lacking the ambitious and robust production and writing of previous projects, but is beloved by a majority of fans ''because'' of its lofi and personal nature.
21	** ''Donda'' was also hit by a big heap of this, with many review publications being broadly mixed, and the individual critical consensus sliding somewhere between SoOkayItsAverage to negative. Audiences, however, have been much more receptive, many calling the album Kanye's best body of work since ''The Life of Pablo''. [[https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/music/kanye-west-donda-review-why-you-should-ignore-the-critics/news-story/c63aac03d8820ca7e5aab8767167987f Some critics picked up on how]] the schism was a lot more political than previous cases of this for Kanye, with many of the negative-skewing reviews being [[OvershadowedByControversy more focused on his controversial acts than the actual music]] (''The Independent'' infamously gave the album 0/5 stars for the inclusion of [=DaBaby=] and Music/MarilynManson on the song "Jail Pt. 2"), which naturally clouded even further assessment on the album.
22	* CultClassic: ''808s & Heartbreak'' and ''Yeezus'' were too bizarre to achieve much mainstream success (outside of the boost that simply being Kanye West albums gave them) but found audiences in more offbeat musical circles.
23	* EndingFatigue:
24	** Some say "Last Call" could've done away with the eight-minute portion of Kanye talking about how he got discovered after a great four minute song.
25	** In a similar sense, some believe "We Major" would've also ended stronger without the final two minutes.
26	** The 3-minute skit of Creator/ChrisRock talking shit about watches and a girl talking dirty that closes "Blame Game" -- funny for some, grating for others.
27	** "Cold" (aka "Theraflu") also falls victim to this, with DJ Pharris shouting out pretty much every Chicago 'hood (even a few that don't exist anymore) in the final minute and killing the momentum from Kanye's verses.
28	** The Beenie Man sample at the end of "Send It Up" seems marginally tacked-on to the rest of the song.
29	** A recurring criticism of ''Donda'' -- even among fans and critics who like the album -- is that at 23 tracks covering almost an hour and a half of content (making it Kanye's longest album to date, which doesn't even include the [[BonusMaterial bonus sequel tracks]] or the deluxe album tracklist), it's a bit of an endurance. Whether or not that makes the album merely [[AlbumFiller padded-out]] or just plain incoherent seems to be a constant debate.
30	* EnsembleDarkhorse:
31	** Kanye's in-house vocalists are [[strike:ridiculous]] [[MemeticMutation fuckin' ridicklisss.]] Music/JohnLegend was able to turn his guest spots into a successful career, so the title of darkhorse belongs to Kanye's cousin Tony Williams. As Kanye says, "He sings quite beautifully, don't you agree?"
32	** Non-single tracks that nonetheless remain very popular among the fandom include "Family Business," "Street Lights," "Coldest Winter," "I'm in It," "Devil in a New Dress," and "Send It Up."
33	** As far as his albums go, ''808s & Heartbreak'', ''Yeezus'', ''ye'' have gained cult followings, both being [[VindicatedByHistory Vindicated By History]] as well as [[DarkerAndEdgier Darker And Edgier]] than the rest of his work.
34	* EvenBetterSequel: At the time of release, ''Late Registration'' was seen unanimously as a step up from ''The College Dropout'', with critics especially commending its more textured production (as in not relying on samples).
35	* FandomRivalry:
36	** Kanye fans and Music/TaylorSwift fans don't get along very well in large part due to the very complicated back-and-forth relationship between the two. Flames were the most fanned during 2016-2017 as the two figures made multiple barbed retorts against one another in their music -- "Famous" off of ''Music/TheLifeOfPablo'' really made his desire to provoke Swifties clear, while Swift's ''{{Music/Reputation}}'' was made in large response to the fallout of their beef. The general fandom trend is that Kanye fans echo the popular sentiment that Taylor Swift is [[ItsPopularNowItSucks a pedestrian pop]] DramaQueen, while Swifties echo the equally-popular sentiment that Kanye is an [[OvershadowedByControversy obnoxiously agitative]] AttentionWhore.
37	** Kanye's long-term beef with Music/{{Drake}} has also spilled over into their respective fanbases, Drake fans thinking Kanye is [[KnowNothingKnowItAll a pretentiously deluded provocateur]], Kanye fans thinking Drake is a [[{{Wangst}} laughable]] and [[ItsTheSameNowItSucks creatively sterile pop panderer.]] Once the beef went into overdrive in 2021 (turning Kanye's ''Donda'' and Drake's ''Certified Lover Boy'' into DuelingWorks), so did the antagonism between fandoms. Given that Ye and Drake seem to have more or less settled their beef and performed a benefit concert together in late 2021, perhaps this rivalry will end at last.
38	** 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 liberal elements of his fanbase by supporting UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump and antisemitic conspiracy theories, at the same time as Eminem alienated conservative elements of his fanbase by standing against Trump and campaigning for BLM and gun control, the rivalry became much more bitter as many people who were fans of both were forced into picking a side.
39	* FanNickname: His first three albums are often referred to as the "College Trilogy" due to all three having names that have something to do with college.
40	* 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]].
41	** Several fans extend this distinction to the entire "College Trilogy".
42	* FountainOfMemes: He was the first (and [[Memes/DeathGrips for a while]], only) musician to have his own [[Memes/KanyeWest meme page]].
43	* HarsherInHindsight:
44	** In 2005, on his song "We Major", Kanye rapped "Better than some head on a Sunday afternoon/Better than a chick that say 'yes' too soon/Until you have a daughter/That's what I call 'Karma'/And you pray to God she don't grow breasts too soon". Fast forward to 2013, when he has a daughter himself...
45	** "Wouldn't Leave" (2018), a song dedicated to his wife Creator/KimKardashian for staying by his side during public controversies, has unfortunately not aged well, as the two filed for divorce in 2021 -- namely, ''Kim'' filed for divorce from ''him''.
46	** "Blood On the Leaves", while a {{Tearjerker}} to begin with, is even harsher given that it tells a story about a marriage falling apart and ending in estrangement and divorce, which happened to his marriage to Kim in 2021. Even worse, the album it's on (''Yeezus'') ends with "Bound 2", a love song about Kim.
47	** Following his public descent into antisemitism and continual mental health-related episodes in 2022, [[OvershadowedByControversy which were seen as the straw that broke the camel's back for many]], an unfortunately large amount of Kanye's work has been cast in a much darker light, primarily the music that is [[CreatorBreakdown directly about his mental state and turbulent relationship with fame]]. Many moments in earlier songs have him display a level of self-awareness and prescience towards matters like his inability to control himself during manic episodes ("Yikes"), his turbulent relationships with his loved ones ("Real Friends", "Wouldn't Leave"), and fears of being alone and unloved ("Come to Life" and much of ''[=808s=] and Heartbreak''), so listening back on them with the knowledge that his fears have more or less come to fruition makes for an even darker experience than originally intended. Even relatively innocuous moments like the line "I hate these niggas more than the Nazis" from 2007's "Flashing Lights" comes off in a much more uncomfortable light following him declaring himself one in 2022.
48	* HilariousInHindsight:
49	** In "Hell of a Life" (2010), he sang "I think I just fell in love with a porn star.. [..] One day I'm gon' marry a porn star..". Fast forward to 2013 and he's expecting a second child with Kim.. who first got famous after a "leaked" sex tape by an ex-boyfriend.
50	** "Gold Digger" also had the line "My psychic told me she'll have an ass like Serena / Trina, Jennifer Lopez", which was later fulfilled when Kanye got with Kim ("Break the Internet", anyone?).
51	** Another common one related to Kim is the lyric "18 years, 18 years/She got one of your kids, got you for 18 years" from "Gold Digger" (2005); this is due to some people assuming Kim trapped Kanye with her pregnancy.
52	** When asked to "humanize" himself for a Series/SaturdayNightLive skit in 2013, [[http://www.missinfo.tv/index.php/kanye-west-rants-about-saturday-night-live-in-nyc/ Kanye retorted "I ain’t runnin’ for office. I ain’t kissin’ nobody’s muthafuckin babies. I drop your baby and you muthafuckin sue me and shit."]] Fast forward to his 2015 announcement of running for president in 2020...
53	** "Hey Mama" had the line "My mama told me go to school, get your doctorate / Somethin to fall back on, you could profit with / But still supported me when I did the opposite". Funny enough, Kanye eventually received an (honorary) doctorate [[https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6561282/kanye-west-honorary-doctorate-siac-george-bush in 2015]] — on the day after Mother's Day.
54	** With a combination of HypocriticalHumor, in the skit during the "Touch the Sky" music video, he is asked about President Nixon, West says he doesn't want to talk about it. WebVideo/TheMusicVideoShow {{lampshade\|Hanging}}s [[https://youtu.be/ape0bkg0W68 this]] by showing several instances of Kanye's controversial foot in mouth moments.
55	** The line from Stronger "Since OJ had Isotoners" becomes this given his later union with a daughter of OJ Simpson's lawyer.
56	** The music video for "Flashing Lights" (2007) shows a slow motion video of Rita G coming out of a car and, stripped to her lingerie, takes her clothes out, tosses them to the ground and lights them on fire before opening the trunk of her car, revealing [[PunkInTheTrunk Kanye]] getting BoundAndGagged, and then proceeding to take the shovel out of the trunk and beat him to death offscreen. 10 years later, Music/FallOutBoy would follow suit with the music video for "The Last of the Real Ones", with two llamas in place of Rita G and Pete Wentz in place of Kanye.
57	** "Skit #4" off the 2005 ''Late Registration'' includes the following line delivered in total sincerity: "I've called this private meeting today because [[VideoGame/AmongUs there is a imposter among us]]. ''[[MemeticMutation There is an imposter among us]]''."
58	* ImprovedByTheReCut: Or, in this case, the finished cut. ''The Life of Pablo'', after a series of "updates" within the first four months of its release, is looked at more favorably now than it was in early 2016. A number of critics even re-reviewed the fully updated album and found it to be a vast improvement over the original version.
59	* ItsShortSoItSucks: Between 2018 and 2020, a recurring talking point between critics about Kanye's albums (including ones he produced for other people) is that they never broke past a half hour long. While reception was greatly varied between projects (''Music/KidsSeeGhosts'' in particular being acclaimed in spite of its 24 minute runtime), ''ye'' and ''Jesus Is King'' were much more divisive, with critics citing their short length as a weakness. It wasn't until ''Donda'' that Kanye broke the streak with a robust length again, though some argued that it suffered [[EndingFatigue the opposite problem]] from being an hour and 40 minutes.
60	* MemeticMutation: Enough to warrant [[Memes/KanyeWest an entire page]].
61	* {{Narm}}:
62	** In his 2013 SNL performance of "New Slaves", Kanye half-heartedly censors the "nigga"s himself, resulting in him saying an odd, mumbled "nnnguh" noise.
63	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7Jkw6k54HA Kanye repeatedly screaming and throwing his mic at the end of a show]]: either [[TearJerker heartwrenching]] or hilarious.
64	** The infamous "Closed on Sunday, you my Chick-Fil-A" line from ''Jesus is King'', which had to have played at least ''some'' part in why [[PoesLaw many were questioning Kanye's newfound faith]]. The fact the rest of the song is played with utmost seriousness only exaggerates the goofiness of the metaphor.
65	** "Nah Nah Nah" contains a reference to, of all things, a "[[Website/{{Reddit}} prequel]] [[Memes/RevengeOfTheSith meme]]":
66	--->''I know you think Obi-Wan gettin' tired now\
67	Don't jump, Anakin, I got the higher ground''
68	* NarmCharm: There are a lot of corny-as-fuck lines in Kanye's songs, but let's be honest, they're memorable for that very reason.
69	* NightmareFuel:
70	** One of the "Flashing Lights" videos: a {{yandere}} abducts a terrified Kanye, drives him out into a desert, removes her clothes and sets them on fire for some bizarre reason, then stabs him to death with a shovel. And TheStinger? The music and video abruptly stop, followed by a BlackScreenOfDeath with a blood-red message - '''FLASHING LIGHTS'''. Yikes.
71	** The video for "Monster". It contains a large number of dead women and [[SarcasmMode other delightful scenes.]] No wonder why it got banned on MTV and removed from Kanye's [=YouTube=] channel.
72	** The part of "I Am a God" where the beat stops for a second so Kanye can belt out an ''ear-piercing [[CarefulWithThatAxe scream]]'' followed by nothing but very heavy breathing. Then ''another scream'' after some punctuated silence, followed by more screaming over the distorted, heavy beat from earlier in the song.
73	** "Blood on the Leaves." At first it's just slightly ominous, with Kanye singing about isolation and gold-diggers over a piano loop- nothing that hasn't been heard from him before. And then Nina Simone's voice pipes up in the background, ''"black bodies swinging in the southern breeze..."'' and it becomes clear that this is not "Gold Digger" part two.
74	** This [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuhl6Ji5zHM SNL performance]] might explain why Ben Affleck seemed so scared while introducing Kanye.
75	*** The actual music video for "Black Skinhead" isn't much better. Aside from the imagery of barking dogs and [[RuleOfSymbolism people wearing black pointed hoods]], it features a CGI model of Kanye who is either [[ShirtlessScene half-]] or [[MaleFrontalNudity fully naked]] between various shots, as well as baring whip marks and tribal tattoos towards the end. And then [[BodyHorror the animation glitches up...]][[https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/833514816211517490/872237818204815400/Screenshot_16.png?width=842&height=473 Jesus]]...
76	** The album covers for ''My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'' are all rather creepy looking, aside for the normal one with a grassy hill, a crown, and a sword. The other album covers are Kanye's mascot, the Dropout Bear, with multiple heads, the cover for "Power" is Kanye's head cut off, screaming...
77	** "I Thought About Killing You" from ''ye'' is arguably the most ''creepiest'' song Kanye's ever written. It's mostly a strange vocal mumble in the background with Kanye just...rambling about how he wishes to ''kill the listener'' while repeating the phrase "premeditated murder". [[spoiler:However, this promptly becomes a TearJerker when you realize this is directed at himself.]]
78	--->''[[ParanoiaFuel But I sometimes I think bad things...really, really.....REALLY bad things...]]''
79	** "Wash Us In the Blood" was released very closely to the start of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Floyd_protests the George Floyd protests]] [[note]][[https://pitchfork.com/news/heres-what-happened-in-kanye-wests-opera-nebuchadnezzar/ although it was performed almost half a year earlier]], meaning [[HarsherInHindsight it came at likely the most relevant time possible by complete accident]][[/note]], with the song being Kanye begging, ''imploring'' {{God}} to free black people from the chaos of violent racial injustice they've become trapped in. Combined with the noisy, paranoid, ''Yeezus''-esque beat, it's a harrowing listen, featuring [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0U2QUGKbSE an equally harrowing music video]] displaying the brutality to boot.
80	** For Kanye and The Game's collaborative track, "Eazy", its cover art is a very disturbing photograph of ''a flayed monkey'', screaming and in hellish red light. It's almost an inherent jumpscare of an image, and so graphic that PETA filed a complaint about it.
81	* ObviousBeta:
82	** ''Music/TheLifeOfPablo'' had an infamously rough initial release, having plenty of mixing errors and slapdash quality that it seem like it was assembled in a rush (the then-finale track, "Fade", was actually an early version of "Facts" that was uploaded by mistake). Kanye indirectly acknowledge that what had been released was effectively a rough draft, and that he'd be getting to work on "fixing" certain songs, describing the album as "a living breathing changing creative expression" -- nowadays, any version of the album you'll obtain through streaming services has been thoroughly patched and remastered.
83	** ''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''. It was suggested that the album would end up seeing further post-release developments, but this didn't come to pass, and due to Kano Computing (the producer of the Stem Player the album was released on) cutting ties with Kanye following his antisemetic episodes at the end of 2022, it's likely it will stay incomplete.
84	* OvershadowedByControversy: Without mincing any words: Kanye West is extraordinarily attracted to drama. From high-profile tabloid scandals like his clash with Music/TaylorSwift, 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. Some notable examples include:
85	** The 2009 MTV Video Music Awards are almost solely known for West interrupting Music/TaylorSwift's acceptance speech for Best Music Video by a Female Artist and saying Music/{{Beyonce}} should have won instead.
86	** 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 Latino), 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]]
87	** 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.
88	* 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.
89	* RetroactiveRecognition:
90	** Why yes, Kanye did have a verse on Music/JayZ's "The Bounce" back on ''The Blueprint 2: The Gift and the Curse''.
91	** Kanye also appeared in some music videos before his debut, such as Music/JayZ's "Izzo (HOVA)" and Talib Kweli's "Get By".
92	** For people Ye has given a ColbertBump to who have later become well-known in their own right - Music/LupeFiasco guested on Kanye's "Touch the Sky" from ''Late Registration''.
93	* SignatureSong: Either "Gold Digger", "Stronger", or "Power".
94	** Each album generally has a few that every hip-hop fan will instantly associate with the album.
95	*** ''The College Dropout'': "All Falls Down", "Jesus Walks" or "Through the Wire"
96	*** ''Late Registration'': "Gold Digger", "Touch the Sky" or the remix of "Diamonds from Sierra Leone"
97	*** ''Graduation'': "Stronger" or "Homecoming"
98	*** ''808s & Heartbreak'': "Heartless" or "Love Lockdown"
99	*** ''My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'': "Power", "All Of The Lights", "Monster" or "Runaway"
100	*** ''Watch the Throne'': "Niggas in Paris", "Otis" or "No Church in the Wild"
101	*** ''Good Music, Cruel Summer'': "New God Flow" or "Mercy"
102	*** ''Yeezus'': "Black Skinhead", "I Am a God", "New Slaves" or "Bound 2"
103	*** ''The Life of Pablo'': "Ultralight Beam", "Famous" or "Fade"
104	*** ''ye'': "I Thought About Killing You," "Yikes" or "Ghost Town"
105	*** ''Donda'': "Jail", "Hurricane", or "Praise God"
106	* SoBadItsGood: The music video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBAtAM7vtgc Bound 2]]".
107	** A lot of ''Yeezus'''s lyrics wholeheartedly embrace this by taking typical rap boasts and making them as insanely over-the-top as possible, with [[MemeticMutation incredibly quotable]] results.
108	* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: "Facts" is like Kanye's own remake of Music/{{Drake}} and Future's "Jumpman".
109	* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: While major critical consensus is still just as divided, ''Donda'' has had a generally more positive reaction among fans and casual audiences when compared to his previous projects. Compared to ''Jesus Is King'' especially, which was broadly mocked for its tepid, transparently vain attempt at a GospelMusic album, ''Donda'' has been considered an improvement for its more challenging and adventurous production, more expressive and honest lyrics and themes, and more robust tracklist after a string of conspicuously short projects. Considering it also retains the same general religious overtones, a lot of fans consider it ''Jesus is King'' done ''right''.
110	* TheyChangedItNowItSucks:
111	** The reaction to the heavily autotuned and instrumentally sparse album ''808s & Heartbreak''. #7 on [[http://www.avclub.com/articles/now-im-bored-and-old-27-deliberately-confounding-f,31695/ this list]].
112	** ''Yeezus'' is a choppy, blaring, rough album, and may mark more of a shift in Kanye's style than even ''808s''. Let the BrokenBase commence!
113	* ToughActToFollow: While Kanye's [=2010s=] discography was generally well-received, none of them reached the unanimous praise of ''Music/MyBeautifulDarkTwistedFantasy''.
114	* UnexpectedCharacter: Each album generally has at least one. ''Graduation'' involving Chris Martin, ''808s and Heartbreak'' involving Music/LilWayne and ''Cruel Summer'' involving Ma$e probably take the biscuit though.
115	** ''The College Dropout'' had [=DeRay=] Davis as the principal, poet J.Ivy on "Never Let Me Down" and Creator/JamieFoxx on "Slow Jamz".
116	** ''Late Registration'' had [=DeRay=] Davis (again), Music/LupeFiasco ("Touch the Sky" was his breakthrough), Adam Levine of Music/Maroon5, and - a major surprise considering Music/JayZ was in a major feud with him at the time - Music/{{Nas}}.
117	** ''Graduation'' had [[Music/{{Coldplay}} Chris Martin]], and -- dependent on how you viewed Kanye's music at the time -- Music/TPain.
118	** ''808s & Heartbreak'' had Lil Wayne and Young Jeezy, who despite both being involved in the production of ''Graduation'', few expected to feature on a breakup album.
119	** ''My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'' had Justin Vernon of indie rock band Music/BonIver (who few had even heard of at the time, let alone knew what to expect from them).
120	** ''Watch the Throne'' featured Otis Redding and Music/CurtisMayfield (both posthumously), alongside Elly Jackson of Music/LaRoux and Frank Ocean of Music/{{OFWGKTA}} fame. It also featured Swizz Beatz, to the chagrin of a sizable portion of West's fanbase.
121	** ''Cruel Summer'' had most of its cast like this. Music/RKelly, Marsha Ambrosius, Chief Keef, Jadakiss, MA$E... Few expected these collaborations.
122	** ''Yeezus'' involves Chicago rappers Chief Keef and King Louie, Music/DaftPunk, Justin Vernon, Kid Cudi, Frank Ocean, Evian Christ, and techno producers Brodinski and Gesaffelstein. West even used several of these people in unexpected ways, such as Chief Keef singing the hook on "Hold My Liquor", and Daft Punk basically producing horror sounds for "Black Skinhead" and "I Am a God".
123	** Kanye himself is this on GOOD Music labelmate Pusha T's "Hold On." Despite being uncredited, his incomprehensible, autotuned moaning is a big part of the beat.
124	* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: "Barry Bonds" off of ''Graduation'' respectfully compares Kanye's success in music to Barry Bonds' success as a baseball player. A mere two months after the album's release, Bonds was embroiled in a ''massive'' legal kerfuffle over allegations of steroid use[[note]]a controversy that would last a good ''eight years'', before finally being dropped[[/note]].
125	* VindicatedByHistory: People have been a ''lot'' kinder to ''808s & Heartbreak'' after the success of ''My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'' proved that [[ObfuscatingStupidity Kanye knew damn well what he was doing the whole time.]] To give an idea how far things have changed for the album, when the first single dropped back in 2008, the responses ranged between confusion to mockery, so much so that [[Series/TheColbertReport Stephen Colbert]] threw a ''very nasty'' pint-shot at Kanye over it. Now it's considered one of Kanye's best works outside of ''My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy''. It also doesn't hurt that it's Kanye's most influential album by far, more or less singlehandedly reinventing the modern R&B scene and influencing artists like Music/TheWeeknd, Music/{{Drake}} and Music/JCole.
126	* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic:
127	** Among other things in the film for ''Runaway'', the dinner party scene has exclusively black guests with white servants.
128	** The video for "Black Skinhead" is either this or full of FauxSymbolism.
129	* TheWoobie: Dropout Bear is portrayed as this in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CHs4x2uqcQ the video for "Good Morning"]], as he has a hard time trying to not be late for his college graduation ceremony, including his car breaking down, having to contend with a long line for the bus, missing the bullet train and being inexplicably [[BreadEggsMilkSquick eaten by a cloud monster]].

Context YMMV / KanyeWest