Kanye West is an Asshole

Kanye West is an asshole. He has presented himself to the media as such, and has succeeded with a successful marketing strategy on the basis of there is no such thing as bad publicity. Even if it is just a gimmick--I believe he is in fact, an asshole.

Having said that, Kanye West is also a musical genius. His music is incredible and he is extremely innovative and unique.

I liked Kanye West since his first album, The College Dropout. This actually surprises me--I have never stuck with a rap artist as long as I have with Kanye. I heard "Jesus Walks" and I was like, "oh no he di-int!". It was ridiculous. No one in rap ever did something like this. And I knew I had found a friend.

I burned copies of singles off of Kanye's first album from a girl who lived in my freshman dorm. We were not really friends but after walking by her door so many times, hearing the music she was playing, I finally stopped in her doorway and asked if I could burn some of her stuff. I sat at her computer and created a mixed tape, so to speak. To this day, on my mp3 player, "The New Workout Plan" comes up under the album, Meg iTunes.

Then Late Registration came out in 2005 and that came with "Gold Digger." There was not a dance party, house party, bar, or club that did not play that song. This was a great example of sampling older songs and remixing it. Excellent choice. "We want prenup!"

Graduation came out in 2007. And then we were introduced to the amazing Kanye sunglasses. I wanted a pair so bad but thankfully, supportive friends and family talked me out of it. It was another great group of songs. It was only 4 years later that i finally bought myself a pair of those glasses.

The first full album of Kanye's actually got was 808s & Heartbreak. I have to say, I think this album is his best. All the tracks on the album are completely different.

I spoke with someone about that album when it first came out. This guy was also a strong Kanye fan. He explained that he did not like this album because it was too "rock;" too "hard." Well, that is exactly what I love about the album. It is hard and dark and spooky.

The singles from the album, "Heartless" and "Love Lockdown" are not even the best tracks on the album. "Say You Will," "Robocop" and "Amazing," are . . .well . . .amazing. The best track however goes to "See You in My Nightmare" featuring Lil Wayne. It is so creepy and dark. But awesome. The lyrics are about letting someone go and being SO over it. "Ok I'm back up on my grind/ you do you and I'm just going to do mine/you do you cause Im just going to be fine/OKay, I got you out my mind." An unexpectedly great break up song. TRUST Me!

Then Kanye closed out the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards. Let me tell you, when that song started, I was already googling when the album was coming out. Are you serious? Wearing a sleazy red suit with gold chains, toasting douche bags and assholes. Are you serious? Can you be more brilliant? I'm sorry, that was brilliant and I don't care who disagrees. After the whole Taylor Swift debacle, he could not have made a smarter move, business-wise. There he is, completely dedicating a song to all the assholes, including himself in the mix, it was just so musically creative.

I pre-ordered My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy after that. Then "Power" came out as another single on the album. What a great song. It was an anthem. There is no one who can't get pumped with this song. "Screams from the haters/got a nice ring to it/I guess every super hero need his theme music."

I have been known to get really into one song and when I do, I listen to that one song an obscene amount, just on repeat. Well, I can still go hours on the treadmill with "Power" on repeat.

Twisted Fantasy is another amazing album. Came out only 3 days after Pink Friday (that was a good November). "Dark Fantasy" and "All of the Lights" are the gems on the album. The album also has "Runaway," a version a little better than the single version that came out before the album. The album version sounds more like the performance on the VMAs. Also, don't listen to the version of "All of the Lights" on the radio, they cut out a great part of the song that is worth hearing. You should also listen to the "All of the Lights (interlude)" that is purely instrumental. It is quite beautiful.

Kanye's most recent project was Watch The Throne with Jay-Z. Long before the release of the album, they released "H.A.M" together. For those who don't know, H.A.M stands for Hard As a Motherfucker. Now, I saw this single on the new singles list in January and I just bought it without listening to it. I had learned by January of 2011 that anything with Kanye is going to be awesome and Jay-Z too!?!? It's going to be gold.

I was right. It is an awesome single and I feel it was overlooked. People heard "Otis" before they heard "H.A.M" even though "Otis" came out after. Might be time to revisit.

So Watch The Throne is unique but still has the classic flavor of Jay-Z. Jay keeps it steady and less off-color than Kanye's solo projects. "New Day" is the best track. It is so smooth and easy. It's butter, baby.

Any songs that have Kanye West as a featured artist, I would call Kirs, like the cocktail. This would stand for Kanye Infused Rhythms. The songs are fine on their own, but you add a twist of Kanye and it is just that much more luscious. Exhibit A: Katie Perry's "E.T." I bought that single, sans Kanye, in August of 2010. No one cared about it then. No one had heard it when I mentioned it. The single featuring Kanye came out all the way in February 2011 and blew up. She could have saved 6 months by just adding Kanye to begin with.

So, as much as Kanye is a total douche bag (even Obama called him an idiot), we should always give credit where credit is due. So . . .

Let's have a toast for the douche bags.






10 Best Kanye Songs:

1. See You In My Nightmare ft. Lil Wayne
2. Runaway ft. Pusha T
3. H.A.M with Jay-Z
4. Made in America with Jay-Z ft. Frank Ocean
5. Power
6. Robocop
7. New Day with Jay-Z
8. Jesus Walks
9. Say You Will
10. Dark Fantasy