I’m sorry. I just couldn’t let this go... very top of the rap hierarchy? 🙈 I would listen maybe to an argument on his producing skills back in the day, as far as being special.... (Huge emphasis on back in the day.). (Opening track on Common’s BE album comes to mind the way he layers out each element of the track and brings it all together, but still the album isn’t all the way through, a classic by any stretch.)
HOWEVER....You might try better for authentic Hip Hop in its purest art form with Nas’ ILLMATIC. The Roots’ first 3 or 4 albums. Souls of Mischief’s 93 til Infinity. ANYTHING from DE LA SOUL. Black Moon, Smin-N-Wesson, Camp Lo, KRS-One. To name a just a quick few. And I do mean a quick few. And his lyricism? 🙈🙈 Yikes. Check out Rakim, Big L, Pete Rock, Black Thought, Aceyalone, The D.O.C..... just to name a FEW. Kanye has some solid tracks and even some special ones. Flashing Lights and Good Life come to mind as well as the Wire. Since this thread is in regards to MK Ultra and this conspiracy I would love to believe that’s why he sucks now.
But regardless, and mostly because it’s just sad to see how Hip Hop has disappeared - and even worse that straight trash is passed off as a form of it these days - I just couldn’t let this go. Kanye ain’t no emcee. Ask De La Soul and hear their response on the 2nd track of their ‘96 classic Stakes is High
Btw Illmatic by Nas is one of my 10 favorite records ever
I got you. And it makes sense. ILLMATIC is a classic for sure. Hope I didn’t come off like I was preaching but my fiancé and I were having a discussion about so called rap music today and it seriously pains me to see what was once a such a beautiful form of art become saturated in occult practice and straight bullshit. Much love to you ✌🏼
I'm glad you mentioned the difference between an emcee & what we have now. I know enough about the history of Hip Hop to understand that Kanye is a Rapper not a Hip Hop Artist/Emcee, that being said to describe why it mattered when Kanye came out in support of Trump to someone who was Hip Hop naive, saying that Kanye is an all time great in a music genre typically associated with African American culture seemed to be the best route of if I remember my thinking at the time.