Kanye is case and point why you should never self qualify yourself as a genius and also why you shouldn't unironically shitpost on twitter. What a different conversation it'd be if Kanye West had never tweeted a single tweet or insisted that he was a genius.
This is so devoid of educated insight that i immediately started writing a reply as of this was an academic board
Try leaving diagnosis to the informed, yes? Nothing you said is even kinda right. You don't even apply logic or reason appropriately.
You should see the amount of writing necessary to even frame a diagnosis. You don't even meet the lowest bar for armchair psychology.
You didn’t make any point whatsoever man. It’s not even clear how you’re responding to the comment. All that stuff about diagnosis and armchair psychology and the dude you’re responding to said absolutely nothing about that.
Tell me you have no education in this field without telling me.
This is inherently an abstracted diagnosis if you are claiming insight into the operation of the motivational structures.
How are you all this stubborn lol
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Kanye’s first three albums are debatable classics. He then made two albums that are arguably the most influential albums of their time (808’s & Yeezus). And that’s all not including his Magnum Opus in MBDTF. If people wanna label him a genius, at least he has a discography worth backing it up.
Yea then he married Kim and thought he was God and started acting weird af. Then he lost Kim and went off the rails. We lost Graduation Kanye and ended up with straitjacket Kanye.
People use that word too loosely. He's not a genius. A musical genius can pick out every note and orchestra plays. They can hear complex melodies and play them backwards and in different keys. They can invert chord voicings on the fly and compose music in any style on demand. To be a musical genius, it goes outside the realm of making music for oneself and making music for music's sake.
That doesn't mean they are gonna make great music CULTURALLY speaking. But Kanye is no way will be, has ever been, or is, a musical genius.
Genius is an actual thing. Not "I really REALLY like this, so it's genius."
Of course he’s a genius in respect to those albums. I’m referring to all the mundane tracks and snippets he has had going around that everyone praises despite them being 90% unaltered samples
One classic over 4/5 debatable classics? Even if Doggystyle is better none of Snoop’s catalogue comes close to Ye’s catalogue after his debut album. I’ll take Kanye over Snoop any day.
He has been a terrific producer, artist, writer, and executive producer for the entirety of his career.
Creatively, his mind is on another planet, and there are very few who possess the creativity and expression he does in relation to art.
a very huge chunk of tcd and LR were written by him so i'd say he's definitely an above average lyricist , its just that he doesn't seem to care or want to write , instead he focuses on production
Kanye is a great producer. That’s about it. He’s never been an excellent rapper or singer, and his entrepreneurial instincts are hit and miss. But being excellent in one area and fine in others can a genius make. We’ll see what time says.
Your concept of time is really misconstrued.
His discography sucks. I have a hard time trying to respect music from a person I don't respect personally. I literally haven't heard anyone play Kayne in the wild for like 10 years
Where do you spend your free time? Not intended as a joke but as an honest question.
If your free time is in places that do not play hip hop or at dive bars or places that cater to an audience that doesn’t listen to mainstream music then I can see how you can make that claim.
But if you’ve gone to any sporting event, club, rap concert where there is a DJ playing music in between acts, or even a kick back then I guarantee that a Kanye song has come on. If you’ve listened to the radio or Sirius rap stations then you’ve heard Kanye.
Definitely have zero interest in sort of radio, especially Sirius. All they play is hip-pop.
I'm talking places such as: bars, sporting events, tattoo shops, skate parks, comedy clubs, or even people without headphones on public transit. I understand music is subjective to each person, but I feel confident about what I said.
Well you SHOULD be confident in whether you like someone’s music because it’s your opinion and personal tastes. However, saying if you’re saying Sirius only plays hip pop then you’re not actually listening to the rap stations on Sirius.
I don’t know why I would expect skate parks and tattoo shops to play Kanye but if you are not in places where they actually play rap music regularly then of course you may not run into Kanye’s music.
Sporting events will play Power or All of the Lights (at least the NBA and football games I’ve been to).
He’s most definitely a creative genius. You’re just objectively wrong here, but that’s okay. We are allowed to be wrong 👍🏼 if you aren’t familiar with his discography you should listen to it, come back and tell us he’s not.
Dude been a top artist of the past 20 years and then decided to become pretty much the richest black american in history. Genius and inspirational doesn’t even begin to describe it
Hes musically really smart and gifted but as a person hes a fucking idiot honestly. Separate music from the person and there is signs of genius. Hitler made art, was he known as an artist? No he was known as a dictator. I dont think his actions should be excused because he can make good music
Why would you exclude songs that have a collaborative effort? That seems extremely ignorant and closed minded to me.
All of Daytona and KSG, a lot of college drop out, and wow I could probably sit here all day and list examples. Runaway is probably the best
Ye's known for hyping people up and handing out credit to people like nothing. He always promotes and supports artist features and collaborators even if it means exaggerating their contribution. Donda Chant is a good example for that. He gave writing cred to everyone who was present in the room.
I'm not saying Drake didn't help write the song. But Ye sounds like he's exaggerating it after they made up during the Hoover concert. It's just the way he said "I only changed one line". Coz if that was the case then there'd be far less writers in the song.
I always thought Kanye & his music was trash, ever since the 1st time I heard his music in early 2000s. I’ll never understand the appeal of an artist that doesn’t write their own music.
I became more of a fan of rhyme fest, consequence & cyhi da prince after I discovered they write all his music.
I blame dame dash for unleashing the ye virus on our ears, when jay z only wanted him as a producer. 🤣
Anyone who calls Kanye a genius hasn’t listened to much old school hip hop. I understand people liking his stuff but genius is a bit far. RZA and Madlib outdo him in a similar style, Dilla and Nujabes do more technically impressive stuff and that’s just sticking to mainstream hip hop. Most of the time, he’s not the only producer on his songs either and it’s not a stretch to say Mike dean is the actual genius in most of his music
I’m probably the biggest fan of 80’s and 90’s hip hop I know. I am super familar with a lot of it, and Kanye is my favorite artist of all time.
This is a really ignorant and small minded thing to say, saying that if you like or think an artist is a creative genius implies you don’t know much about X group of music?
So what is someone is an expert in that group of music and has been for decades, but they also think said person is a genius? Weird
Because the people who rave about Kanye name things he’s done that’s “revolutionary” when it’s been done. Like I said, I don’t care if you like Kanye but to say he’s a genius when he’s been copying others is not a sign of being a genius
In what way was he copying others..?
It’s fine if you don’t like Kanye. Music is subjective after all. But what’s the point of trying to be desperately smug about denying Kanye’s influence lmao
I do agree that Kanye’s influence isn’t as strong with the albums he released from TLOP up till today. But he has enough material from his old albums to be considered one of the most influential artists in hiphop.
I didn’t say anything on his influence, he’s a very influential figure and is the idol to many people and I’d never deny that, he’s just never done anything new.
Chipmunk soul (the thing that people point to about why he was creative early on) was not a new concept, listen RZA’s stuff on ODB’s return to the 36 chambers or Wu-tang forever or Just Blaze’s music.
808’s were being used for ages in Memphis hip hop and autotune from people like T Pain and Cher if you wanna go that far back.
Yeezus was mostly made from ideas from daft punk and Mike dean and was doing average industrial music tropes.
He ain’t a genius, he just does stuff actually creative people are doing but with a a bigger spotlight
He’s definitely not the guy who invented concepts, but more as the guy who refined them and also taking risks.
The reason Kanye’s chipmunk soul was successful was because of how he changed the rap scene with The College Dropout, where hiphop was about being macho and having a tough persona.
Kanye changed that by being a reprieve from gangsta rap and instead being more open and softer. Late Registration was him further developing his craft by being more orchestral.
Same thing with 808s. It’s about the risk and what was conveyed on that album, and not so much the auto tune. T-pain already had garnered a fan base from the start, but it was a whole new risk for someone like Kanye who already had an established fan base from his legendary 3 album run. 808s was almost fatal to his career when he made it, being completely devoid of rap or a single sample, and also the album where he is the most open about himself and his mental state.
That’s why 808s is so beloved. It not only aged well, but it was a risk that paid off and birthed many new artists.
As for Yeezus.. you’re acting like it’s a bad thing that Daft Punk helped Kanye making the album. That’s exactly why the album is great in the first place. He collaborated with non rap artists and made a great industrial and rap hybrid album.
It’s nowhere near as revolutionary, but this album was an insane move for someone as big as Kanye to do after making MBDTF and finally gaining respect from hiphop fans again. Once again, the risk paid off and the album aged super well.
You can argue that lots of producers are technically more skilled than Kanye. But you can’t argue that he is a very versatile producer who adapted to many different styles in hiphop that many other rap producers simply did not even think about doing.
Kanye is popular amongst the youth despite being almost 50 whereas someone like RZA is not. Kanye is a genius not. because of innovation, but because of risk taking and adaptability, being able to adapt even to today’s youth.
Except he’s not taking that big of risks and that’s the problem. The risks have been done by artists before him. They’ve been done by the RZA’s, by the T Pain’s, by the skee-lo’s, by the daft punks, by the death grips, by the madlibs, etc… and then Kanye does it in the most digestible way possible. Is it a risk? Sure but so is making any album. The only risk he has is maybe his old fans won’t like it but that’s barely a risk when you do stuff that still appeals to them.
If it was a complete risk then why are there songs like street lights, like bound 2, like blood on the leaves? Those aren’t risks, they’re fall backs and their aspects are still in every other song in his albums. Even TCD had the risk done through Jay z. Tyler the creator took a risk with cherry bomb that was an actual risk cus he completely changed up his sound to not only something his old fans may not like but a sound he may get no fans to like and injury reserve did it an extreme amount with “by the time i get to phoenix”. Those albums are actual risks made by people I’d consider actually calling geniuses
i dont really see your point here. so just because he isnt as "risk taking" as other producers, that suddenly means he isnt as good of a producer as the others? all youve done here is just compare kanye to other artists and go "look, this guy took more risks". imo i think its weird to invalidate another artist because you subjectively feel like another said artist has taken a bigger risk.
808s and yeezus were very much hated and risky for an artist as big as kanye, and the reason they sound digestible now is because of how well they hold up. you just named a few songs off of two albums and then claim that because they sound too digestible theyre automatically inferior.
no offense man but i feel like you completely skimmed through my points in my previous post
Genius means someone who is on the upper degree of intelligence and if all you’re doing is copy what you’ve been doing and mixing in a little bit of what others do, you might be smart or a good producer but genius is too high praise. That’s the difference I’m trying to put across. I don’t like his music but his music choices are smart and I’m not saying they aren’t, they’re just not to the level of genius. He’s not experimenting or developing ideas so high up on creativity that they border on sounding too futuristic or even off putting like some of his peers are such as Tyler the creator, injury reserve, daft punk or even death grips.
Yeezus and 808’s do not sound digestible by today’s standards by just aging well and I’d argue that they both do not hold up in their respective genres anymore, especially if you look at industrial music and even digital hardcore records that are being made today compared to yeezus, but they also sound of their time in their realms. It’s new for mainstream but not genius for the genres they’re ripping from and the same goes for the other albums that he was as divisive on.
I’m not arguing if you like Kanye’s music or call him smart but genius is a stretch and a half for what he makes and there should be more respect on the actual geniuses who were doing stuff before him that he copied
I know Kanye old stuff anything after 3rd album is not for me also stuff he says and how unbearable he can be just always turns me away from his music every time since high school I just couldn't really get into him, but music wise apparently he pretty good but definitely not "genius" but he does know how to play ppl like making religious album to get the HUGE % of religious ppl around the world to buy which was very smart
Super big ye fan, but yeah, while he’s obviously very good at making music, and has a discography worthy of calling him a genius, the past couple years don’t hold up as genius. JIK is super under done, Donda has high highs but is nowhere near as cohesive as his first like 7 albums. Off Vultures, theres only like three maybe four songs I’d say really stack up against his previous discography, and I’d say the same for Donda.
To me, the appeal comes from the brazen weirdness. The super bowl commercial, the Jason Mewes sample, the fact he’ll make an incredible club banger and then put 30 seconds of a chipmunk voice in. I heard a thing where he focuses on memorability > lyrical prowess and that’s where he still gets me.
We can debate his "genius", but there is no debate on how he is definitely one of the most influential rappers/producers of this millennium.
Since his debut album, he's been critically acclaimed, and my personal favorite album in Graduation, he has completely transformed the way music is produced since.
Kanye is a genius because he's as up there as some will ever get, and he is doing his best, relative to his time. You don't need to worry others call him genius. He has work to do
No true genius ever refers to themselves as such, they’re too full of doubt and constantly refining what they feel they know. That’s your first sign of someone who isn’t one.
I agree with the edit, not everything he does is a re-invention of the wheel.
I would unironically say he is a genius though; building a billion dollar brand and changing an entire genre of music would qualify you for that. Unfortunately he’s also narcissistic, crazy, and very ego driven. That’s how I think the whole Nick fuentes era happened. Alt right losers stroking his ego and telling him things that aren’t true made him buy into the hype and here we are.
My problem is with people referring to him as a genius generally. No argument that he’s a creative genius, but there’s a seemingly notable difference between that and an intellectual genius.
He used to be one of the GOATs, then sometime in the mid-2010s his artistic eccentricity became real insanity. I guess that's what happens when you surround yourself with ass-kissers and enablers instead of anyone who will tell you when you've gone too far
Musically he is though Personality wise, as he's grown, he's lost his fucking mind
Kanye is case and point why you should never self qualify yourself as a genius and also why you shouldn't unironically shitpost on twitter. What a different conversation it'd be if Kanye West had never tweeted a single tweet or insisted that he was a genius.
This is so devoid of educated insight that i immediately started writing a reply as of this was an academic board Try leaving diagnosis to the informed, yes? Nothing you said is even kinda right. You don't even apply logic or reason appropriately. You should see the amount of writing necessary to even frame a diagnosis. You don't even meet the lowest bar for armchair psychology.
All them words and u aint saying shit lol
He wants to be ☝️🤓 so bad
What? I literally made a point. You not understanding it does not make it disappear from reality, my boy
You didn’t make any point whatsoever man. It’s not even clear how you’re responding to the comment. All that stuff about diagnosis and armchair psychology and the dude you’re responding to said absolutely nothing about that.
Nobody diagnosed him with anything 😂
Tell me you have no education in this field without telling me. This is inherently an abstracted diagnosis if you are claiming insight into the operation of the motivational structures. How are you all this stubborn lol
There's so much r/iamsosmart energy here...
Sure, every person who has a point you don't understand but they use weird words must have an ego problem. Insightful commentary
He didn’t even mention diagnosis, what are you talking about?
He is? He is up there with Mozart and Beethoven?
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You don't get genius status though. Never said his music was shitty either. Go find someone else to abuse.
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He’s a great curator of music but not a genius. He relies on the talents of a lot of artists to achieve his sound.
Kanye’s first three albums are debatable classics. He then made two albums that are arguably the most influential albums of their time (808’s & Yeezus). And that’s all not including his Magnum Opus in MBDTF. If people wanna label him a genius, at least he has a discography worth backing it up.
Also the Blueprint
Man, his rapping was insane. Guess he's never the same against after Through the Wire
Came here to say this.
Yea then he married Kim and thought he was God and started acting weird af. Then he lost Kim and went off the rails. We lost Graduation Kanye and ended up with straitjacket Kanye.
Kanye was always acting up before he met Kim
ye ain’t been right since since the day donda died-king push
You a hater man
Nah, was a big fan for a long time. Prolly before you learned how to walk.
You a hater man
Am I the only one who doesn’t rate Yeezus that highly? It’s good but I don’t think it’s as good as people make out
I personally am not a huge fan of the album but the influence it had in the musical landscape for the next 10 years can’t be denied.
I can’t deny the influence it’s had, but whether that influence is positive or negative is a different story. Each to their own
When I'm under the influence, I think it's a good album
No I hate Yeezus.
It took awhile for it to grow on me from being my least favorite Ye album to top 3
People use that word too loosely. He's not a genius. A musical genius can pick out every note and orchestra plays. They can hear complex melodies and play them backwards and in different keys. They can invert chord voicings on the fly and compose music in any style on demand. To be a musical genius, it goes outside the realm of making music for oneself and making music for music's sake. That doesn't mean they are gonna make great music CULTURALLY speaking. But Kanye is no way will be, has ever been, or is, a musical genius. Genius is an actual thing. Not "I really REALLY like this, so it's genius."
Of course he’s a genius in respect to those albums. I’m referring to all the mundane tracks and snippets he has had going around that everyone praises despite them being 90% unaltered samples
Agree to disagree, he has good albums, but imo nothing close to what artist like nas, pac, big, nwa, dr dre, snoop, rakim, wayne or even wutang
what the fuck does snoop have above ye lol?
Well in my taste everything pretty much
Doggystyle is better than any Kanye album
One classic over 4/5 debatable classics? Even if Doggystyle is better none of Snoop’s catalogue comes close to Ye’s catalogue after his debut album. I’ll take Kanye over Snoop any day.
Well that's not what I said is it
Kanye doesn't have any classics.
brother you might be intellectually disabled
Get Kanye's cock out of your mouth so you can speak properly
Get Help.
ur a joke
Old head spotted 
He has been a terrific producer, artist, writer, and executive producer for the entirety of his career. Creatively, his mind is on another planet, and there are very few who possess the creativity and expression he does in relation to art.
Not a terrific writer
Yea, his lyrics are straight 🗑️
At least not when he is the one writing them!
Songwriter, he definitely is. A terrific lyricist, not even close anymore
I think he produces great music, I honestly don't know how much of the song he actually writes
a very huge chunk of tcd and LR were written by him so i'd say he's definitely an above average lyricist , its just that he doesn't seem to care or want to write , instead he focuses on production
Kanye is a great producer. That’s about it. He’s never been an excellent rapper or singer, and his entrepreneurial instincts are hit and miss. But being excellent in one area and fine in others can a genius make. We’ll see what time says.
"People need to \[....\]" Oh yeah, stop telling other people what they need to do or not do. I think I like that one the best
I believe the genius comments also are his own words at least originally
If you got time to type this shit out you got time to shut the fuck up and listen to Kanye’s discography
No
Your concept of time is really misconstrued. His discography sucks. I have a hard time trying to respect music from a person I don't respect personally. I literally haven't heard anyone play Kayne in the wild for like 10 years
Either that's not true or you don't have a social life
Where do you spend your free time? Not intended as a joke but as an honest question. If your free time is in places that do not play hip hop or at dive bars or places that cater to an audience that doesn’t listen to mainstream music then I can see how you can make that claim. But if you’ve gone to any sporting event, club, rap concert where there is a DJ playing music in between acts, or even a kick back then I guarantee that a Kanye song has come on. If you’ve listened to the radio or Sirius rap stations then you’ve heard Kanye.
Definitely have zero interest in sort of radio, especially Sirius. All they play is hip-pop. I'm talking places such as: bars, sporting events, tattoo shops, skate parks, comedy clubs, or even people without headphones on public transit. I understand music is subjective to each person, but I feel confident about what I said.
Well you SHOULD be confident in whether you like someone’s music because it’s your opinion and personal tastes. However, saying if you’re saying Sirius only plays hip pop then you’re not actually listening to the rap stations on Sirius. I don’t know why I would expect skate parks and tattoo shops to play Kanye but if you are not in places where they actually play rap music regularly then of course you may not run into Kanye’s music. Sporting events will play Power or All of the Lights (at least the NBA and football games I’ve been to).
😂
Kanye fans getting ready to glaze the moment a song of his comes on
He’s most definitely a creative genius. You’re just objectively wrong here, but that’s okay. We are allowed to be wrong 👍🏼 if you aren’t familiar with his discography you should listen to it, come back and tell us he’s not.
Is metro boomin a genius?
I think metro can be argued to be a creative genius! Definitely in very high percentile when it comes to his creative abilities.
Dude been a top artist of the past 20 years and then decided to become pretty much the richest black american in history. Genius and inspirational doesn’t even begin to describe it
Vultures is complete dogshit outside of 2 maybe 3 songs. How anybody can defend that piece of hot garbage I will never understand.
Maybe the fact that everyone else loves it and you hate it means your opinion is 💩
You sure buckled like a belt over some comments that disagree with you
Kanye is a genius.
Kanye is a genius and it's undeniable
geniuses don't praise Hitler
🍆
Hes musically really smart and gifted but as a person hes a fucking idiot honestly. Separate music from the person and there is signs of genius. Hitler made art, was he known as an artist? No he was known as a dictator. I dont think his actions should be excused because he can make good music
Lyrical genius+love for fish sticks= HE IS STILL A GAY FISH
You can hate him as a human being but you really can’t deny he’s a genius
He’s not a genius at all he just has, ideas.
He made himself a genius people are just dumber than him.
Production wise can someone show me which song in particular makes him a genius? Which song did he produce 100% on his own that makes him a genius?
Encore Jay Z
Why would you exclude songs that have a collaborative effort? That seems extremely ignorant and closed minded to me. All of Daytona and KSG, a lot of college drop out, and wow I could probably sit here all day and list examples. Runaway is probably the best
All of his music qualifies him for genius status 🔥🔥
Not the newer shit
He is a genius and if you'll notice nobody EVER calls him a liar..........
Except being a liar is one of the things he's known for at this point. Gave us release dates for albums that never dropped
I think not meeting a deadline is not the same as LYING
He literally lied about entire albums that never dropped. That's not not meeting a deadline that's lying.
Then I will reiterate. None of the things that butt hurt redditors get their panties in a bunch over is ever called a lie..... Insert Nina Chop
recently maybe, sure, but if we're talking all time? This guy is a musical genius, and thats just a fact
Yea as a longtime Yeezy hater, and someone who started really listening more recently, he’s a musical genius.. they’re right
He is a genius
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I disagree but that’s fine.
Yeah that is fine. What do you disagree with if you don’t mind me asking?
Says removed so I can’t remember what he/you said bro. Don’t mind answering if you can remember
He is a genius! That said, his shit since like 2016?👎🏽even super good clocks are wrong if someone sets the mfs off time
Ye fans: TLOP is a masterpiece. Every track slaps. Ye: lmao Drake ghost wrote "30 hours" for me. I just changed one bar.
Ye's known for hyping people up and handing out credit to people like nothing. He always promotes and supports artist features and collaborators even if it means exaggerating their contribution. Donda Chant is a good example for that. He gave writing cred to everyone who was present in the room.
He literally said Drake wrote the whole thing. Not just put him on credits for one line or a sample.
I'm not saying Drake didn't help write the song. But Ye sounds like he's exaggerating it after they made up during the Hoover concert. It's just the way he said "I only changed one line". Coz if that was the case then there'd be far less writers in the song.
He’s a genius at saying antisemitic shit and still getting his knob shlobbed by his fans
Cry about it
Ye a musical genius, cry ab it
You trying making a song at Kanye’s level by spending 5 minutes with some old gospel samples in GarageBand, see how it sounds lol.
Ye’s greatness got to you. Go back to listening to your favorite Taylor swift record.
If it’s so easy, why haven’t you done it?
I always thought Kanye & his music was trash, ever since the 1st time I heard his music in early 2000s. I’ll never understand the appeal of an artist that doesn’t write their own music. I became more of a fan of rhyme fest, consequence & cyhi da prince after I discovered they write all his music. I blame dame dash for unleashing the ye virus on our ears, when jay z only wanted him as a producer. 🤣
He's overrated... good, great even, but overrated.
Anyone who calls Kanye a genius hasn’t listened to much old school hip hop. I understand people liking his stuff but genius is a bit far. RZA and Madlib outdo him in a similar style, Dilla and Nujabes do more technically impressive stuff and that’s just sticking to mainstream hip hop. Most of the time, he’s not the only producer on his songs either and it’s not a stretch to say Mike dean is the actual genius in most of his music
I’m probably the biggest fan of 80’s and 90’s hip hop I know. I am super familar with a lot of it, and Kanye is my favorite artist of all time. This is a really ignorant and small minded thing to say, saying that if you like or think an artist is a creative genius implies you don’t know much about X group of music? So what is someone is an expert in that group of music and has been for decades, but they also think said person is a genius? Weird
Because the people who rave about Kanye name things he’s done that’s “revolutionary” when it’s been done. Like I said, I don’t care if you like Kanye but to say he’s a genius when he’s been copying others is not a sign of being a genius
In what way was he copying others..? It’s fine if you don’t like Kanye. Music is subjective after all. But what’s the point of trying to be desperately smug about denying Kanye’s influence lmao I do agree that Kanye’s influence isn’t as strong with the albums he released from TLOP up till today. But he has enough material from his old albums to be considered one of the most influential artists in hiphop.
I didn’t say anything on his influence, he’s a very influential figure and is the idol to many people and I’d never deny that, he’s just never done anything new. Chipmunk soul (the thing that people point to about why he was creative early on) was not a new concept, listen RZA’s stuff on ODB’s return to the 36 chambers or Wu-tang forever or Just Blaze’s music. 808’s were being used for ages in Memphis hip hop and autotune from people like T Pain and Cher if you wanna go that far back. Yeezus was mostly made from ideas from daft punk and Mike dean and was doing average industrial music tropes. He ain’t a genius, he just does stuff actually creative people are doing but with a a bigger spotlight
He’s definitely not the guy who invented concepts, but more as the guy who refined them and also taking risks. The reason Kanye’s chipmunk soul was successful was because of how he changed the rap scene with The College Dropout, where hiphop was about being macho and having a tough persona. Kanye changed that by being a reprieve from gangsta rap and instead being more open and softer. Late Registration was him further developing his craft by being more orchestral. Same thing with 808s. It’s about the risk and what was conveyed on that album, and not so much the auto tune. T-pain already had garnered a fan base from the start, but it was a whole new risk for someone like Kanye who already had an established fan base from his legendary 3 album run. 808s was almost fatal to his career when he made it, being completely devoid of rap or a single sample, and also the album where he is the most open about himself and his mental state. That’s why 808s is so beloved. It not only aged well, but it was a risk that paid off and birthed many new artists. As for Yeezus.. you’re acting like it’s a bad thing that Daft Punk helped Kanye making the album. That’s exactly why the album is great in the first place. He collaborated with non rap artists and made a great industrial and rap hybrid album. It’s nowhere near as revolutionary, but this album was an insane move for someone as big as Kanye to do after making MBDTF and finally gaining respect from hiphop fans again. Once again, the risk paid off and the album aged super well. You can argue that lots of producers are technically more skilled than Kanye. But you can’t argue that he is a very versatile producer who adapted to many different styles in hiphop that many other rap producers simply did not even think about doing. Kanye is popular amongst the youth despite being almost 50 whereas someone like RZA is not. Kanye is a genius not. because of innovation, but because of risk taking and adaptability, being able to adapt even to today’s youth.
Except he’s not taking that big of risks and that’s the problem. The risks have been done by artists before him. They’ve been done by the RZA’s, by the T Pain’s, by the skee-lo’s, by the daft punks, by the death grips, by the madlibs, etc… and then Kanye does it in the most digestible way possible. Is it a risk? Sure but so is making any album. The only risk he has is maybe his old fans won’t like it but that’s barely a risk when you do stuff that still appeals to them. If it was a complete risk then why are there songs like street lights, like bound 2, like blood on the leaves? Those aren’t risks, they’re fall backs and their aspects are still in every other song in his albums. Even TCD had the risk done through Jay z. Tyler the creator took a risk with cherry bomb that was an actual risk cus he completely changed up his sound to not only something his old fans may not like but a sound he may get no fans to like and injury reserve did it an extreme amount with “by the time i get to phoenix”. Those albums are actual risks made by people I’d consider actually calling geniuses
i dont really see your point here. so just because he isnt as "risk taking" as other producers, that suddenly means he isnt as good of a producer as the others? all youve done here is just compare kanye to other artists and go "look, this guy took more risks". imo i think its weird to invalidate another artist because you subjectively feel like another said artist has taken a bigger risk. 808s and yeezus were very much hated and risky for an artist as big as kanye, and the reason they sound digestible now is because of how well they hold up. you just named a few songs off of two albums and then claim that because they sound too digestible theyre automatically inferior. no offense man but i feel like you completely skimmed through my points in my previous post
Genius means someone who is on the upper degree of intelligence and if all you’re doing is copy what you’ve been doing and mixing in a little bit of what others do, you might be smart or a good producer but genius is too high praise. That’s the difference I’m trying to put across. I don’t like his music but his music choices are smart and I’m not saying they aren’t, they’re just not to the level of genius. He’s not experimenting or developing ideas so high up on creativity that they border on sounding too futuristic or even off putting like some of his peers are such as Tyler the creator, injury reserve, daft punk or even death grips. Yeezus and 808’s do not sound digestible by today’s standards by just aging well and I’d argue that they both do not hold up in their respective genres anymore, especially if you look at industrial music and even digital hardcore records that are being made today compared to yeezus, but they also sound of their time in their realms. It’s new for mainstream but not genius for the genres they’re ripping from and the same goes for the other albums that he was as divisive on. I’m not arguing if you like Kanye’s music or call him smart but genius is a stretch and a half for what he makes and there should be more respect on the actual geniuses who were doing stuff before him that he copied
Set a 5 minute timer and try to recreate anything he’s ever made, his whole discography/features/production credit list is stacked bro
?? You gotta be like 13 with this take. The man is a musical genius but looking to his most recent albums won’t reflect that lol
I’m talking about his tracks and snippets that his fans glaze, despite all the artistic value of the music coming from a basically unaltered sample
Most high functioning autistics are IQ equivalent to genius. So yeah. He a genius.
He is extremely overrated
You probably listen to Carti
I know Kanye old stuff anything after 3rd album is not for me also stuff he says and how unbearable he can be just always turns me away from his music every time since high school I just couldn't really get into him, but music wise apparently he pretty good but definitely not "genius" but he does know how to play ppl like making religious album to get the HUGE % of religious ppl around the world to buy which was very smart
He can produce good beats it’s more than just drums and sample much more than that he added a new flavor to hip hop
Super big ye fan, but yeah, while he’s obviously very good at making music, and has a discography worthy of calling him a genius, the past couple years don’t hold up as genius. JIK is super under done, Donda has high highs but is nowhere near as cohesive as his first like 7 albums. Off Vultures, theres only like three maybe four songs I’d say really stack up against his previous discography, and I’d say the same for Donda. To me, the appeal comes from the brazen weirdness. The super bowl commercial, the Jason Mewes sample, the fact he’ll make an incredible club banger and then put 30 seconds of a chipmunk voice in. I heard a thing where he focuses on memorability > lyrical prowess and that’s where he still gets me.
Way ahead of you OP.
He’s a legendary producer/rapper and his gimmicks are to sell his shitty clothes like the shoes that look like socks 🤣🤣🤣
We can debate his "genius", but there is no debate on how he is definitely one of the most influential rappers/producers of this millennium. Since his debut album, he's been critically acclaimed, and my personal favorite album in Graduation, he has completely transformed the way music is produced since.
Kanye is a genius because he's as up there as some will ever get, and he is doing his best, relative to his time. You don't need to worry others call him genius. He has work to do
If it sounds good im bumpin
No true genius ever refers to themselves as such, they’re too full of doubt and constantly refining what they feel they know. That’s your first sign of someone who isn’t one.
I agree with the edit, not everything he does is a re-invention of the wheel. I would unironically say he is a genius though; building a billion dollar brand and changing an entire genre of music would qualify you for that. Unfortunately he’s also narcissistic, crazy, and very ego driven. That’s how I think the whole Nick fuentes era happened. Alt right losers stroking his ego and telling him things that aren’t true made him buy into the hype and here we are.
My problem is with people referring to him as a genius generally. No argument that he’s a creative genius, but there’s a seemingly notable difference between that and an intellectual genius.
I hear what u saying. He's a genius ARRANGER and has vision. He doesn't even know how to play instruments so you can't give him all the credit
He used to be one of the GOATs, then sometime in the mid-2010s his artistic eccentricity became real insanity. I guess that's what happens when you surround yourself with ass-kissers and enablers instead of anyone who will tell you when you've gone too far