by DanielsonTHAGOAT » Sep 22, '15, 1:31 pm
In no specific order.
#1
Flashing Lights - To me, this is easily Kanye's magnum opus. The way the song opens up with the strings and the beat drops, I get goosebumps all the time. The way Kanye was able to create that chopped up synthesizer sound during the chorus was so genius. Meanwhile, Kanye's flow allows him to coast over the beat.
#2
Lost In The World - Arguably one of the greatest closers to any album in any genre. Bon Iver helps out by creating an eerie vibe with his vocals before the beat drops. The melodies, instruments, etc are so damn detailed and textured. I always hear a new sound every time I listen to this song. The outro is also really awesome with the African vocal samples.
#3
New Slaves - This is arguably the most aggressive Kanye's ever sounded on a song. He takes a minimalist beat and proceeds to rant about systematic oppression and institutionalized racism. The message of this song is very powerful and it's a big fuck you to white supremacy/white America. This song is awesome because it captures the energy that Punk music in the 60s had. It's introspective because of the subjects Kanye is tackling but it has that grittiness when Kanye exclaims "fuck you and your Hampton house".
#4
Touch The Sky - Kanye is the king of self confidence. You play this song and you feel like you can do anything. The horns and drums are hypnotic.
#5
Can't Tell Me Nothing - If you ever needed a song to motivate you to shut your haters up, this is it. Kanye takes three verses to address every critique he had faced in his career at that point.
#6
All Falls Down - Mainstream hip hop before Kanye was filled with gangster rap and pushed hyper masculinity. Kanye took a huge risk and released this song talking about how he is insecure and how his obsession with material items is to compensate for his self confidence.
#7
Welcome To Heartbreak - 808s and Heartbreak received a lot of backlash when it first was released but now that album is the foundation for a lot of the music that's popular today. Kanye perfected emotional songwriting over minor chords and distorted drums. Without this album we probably wouldn't have artist like Drake, Frank Ocean, Kid Cudi, etc. Kanye made depression and sadness sound so beautiful on Welcome To Heartbreak.
#8
Crack Music - The drums, the vocal melodies and the horns all come together to produce one of Kanye's brilliant hits. Kanye calls out Ronald Reagan for destroying the black community, he evaluates the black community and takes some serious political stances on this song. This is the type of music Public Enemy would be proud of.
#9
Diamonds from Sierra Leone - Once again, Kanye takes the subject of materialism (specifically diamonds) and shows the ugly side of how those diamonds are produced. I really have no idea how Kanye took a James Bond song and was able to produce this song. The way the strings build during the chorus >>
#10
Gone - This song is perfect in every way imaginable. It starts off really light hearted with a very warm soulful sample. The real genius of this song comes from the strings, specifically the strings on the outro of this song. The way the strings synchronize with Kanye's flow at the end is so fucking perfect.
#11
Devil In A New Dress - Kanye shows off his lyrical dexterity in this song. The Smokey Robinson sample is so damn smooth and Rick Ross helps Kanye out by dropping the best verse of his career on this song. You can feel this song in your soul.
#12
Runaway - The English language cannot explain how perfect this song is.
#13
Power - It boggles my mind how this song was such a radio single because of how lyrical it was. I never would expect a song with such sophisticated lyrics to be so popular on mainstream radio. It's a testament to Kanye's genius, the way he can make music accessible to everyone whilst dropping jewels in his rhymes is incredible.
#14
Jesus Walks - I'm going to use a Jay-Z quote to summarize my thoughts on this song. "They play this record at the club. It's genius".
#15
Through The Wire - Shortly after suffering a car accident that nearly ended his life, Kanye recorded this song. One of Kanye's close friends told a story of how he went to visit Kanye right after his accident in the hospital. As soon as he saw him, Kanye began to spit the verses of this song acapella with his jaw wired SHUT. That's the type of character and passion Kanye has. How many musicians have the passion to write a song after almost losing their life and having their jaw wired shut.
#16
Last Call - The song is filled with witty wordplay and memorable one liners. The best part of the song is Kanye's heart warming story of how he got discovered and all the obstacles he had to overcome to release his first album. One other memorable thing is that Kanye pretty much crowned this album a success on this song way before it even released to the general public. He really spoke his success into existence. This song is humbling to listen to because it shows that Kanye was a common man who used his passion to get to where he is at today.
#17
Hey Mama - This song is such a heart warming ode to his mother. It's nostalgic, genuine and emotional. Kanye expresses his gratitude for his mother and thanks her for making him the man he is today.
#18
Blood On The Leaves - This song is an emotional rollercoaster. The way the horns build up, the way the song slows down and the horns come in again. The autotune on Kanye's voice really does give more texture in the song.
#19
Gorgeous - While Kanye has talked about racism and the plight of black Americans all throughout his career, he has never did it with such in depth lyrics like Gorgeous.
"Is hip hop just a euphemism for a new religion?
The soul music of the slaves that the youth is missing
This is more than just my road to redemption
Malcolm West had the whole nation standing at attention
As long as I’m in Polo smiling, they think they got me
But they would try to crack me if they ever see a black me
I thought I chose a field where they couldn’t sack me
If a nigga ain't shootin' a jump shot, running a track meet"
Just straight brilliant and unfortunately the lyrics hold a lot of truth behind them.
#20
Coldest Winter - This song is Kanye's most emotional. With his fiancee breaking up with him and the tragic death of his mother, Kanye screams that he'll "never love again". Although he didn't live up to that promise, it's an incredibly emotional ballad. The eerie synthesizer in the background with the booming drums helps compliment Kanye's emotional distress.
It was really hard to narrow down his career to 20 songs. All of them are so good and full of so much quality. It's remarkable.