Kanye, despite his publicity stunts, is regarded by many as a kind, compassionate individual. He often talks to his fans, and from all accounts is genuinely interested in what they have to say, what their life is like, and what their goals are. This is somebody who for the past nine years has been public enemy number one. It would be easy for him to go into absolute seclusion, and bitterly resent everybody, but he doesn't. He has a passion behind what he does, and it reflects in his music. Rick Rubin regards Kanye as the most influential and groundbreaking artist in hip-hop at the moment. Paul McCartney regards Kanye as a genius. He has won the love and respect of anybody who genuinely takes an interest in his music (Which has won 21 grammy awards, might I add). Despite the VMA incident, Kanye and Taylor Swift are good friends, and Swift herself has a deep respect for Kanye as an artist.
Not to mention, the dude has not had it easy. He slaved for years as a producer before finally making his big break on the production for Jay-Z's
Blueprint, with beats for
Ain't No Love (Heart of the City) and
I.Z.Z.O (Takeover). Despite his success as a producer, everybody told him he couldn't rap, and would never make it.
He eventually dropped
College Dropout in 2004, reinventing the game with an album full of incredible soul-beats at a time where everybody was still trying to copy the G-Funk West Coast vibe Dr. Dre's
2001 had left. The album had smash hits like
Through the Wire, where he rapped about his near-death experience in a car crash while STILL WEARING his reconstructive mouthgear; or his club-hit about Jesus in
Jesus Walks, at a time where you weren't going to get anything religious on the radio unless you're on country/gospel station in the South.
Late Registration debuted 2005, with a completely fresh Soul sound, and featuring the talents of Adam Levine (Maroon 5), Nas, Jay-Z, and of course Jamie Foxx in his smash hit "
Gold Digger". I don't care who you are, this song had everybody dancing and was played and still is played in every club from New York to Tokyo to Berlin. His other single "
Diamonds From Sierra Lione" touched on the issues of Blood Diamonds and the exploitation of Africans by Africans
"Over here, its the drug trade - we die from drugs/ Over there, they die from what we buy from drugs".
This album also has one of his most heart-felt songs Kanye has produced to date: "
Hey Mama", his tribute to his mother Donda West, who raised him as single black mother in Chicago, with all the trials and tribulations that brought. The song is a beautiful display of a man who has a deepfound respect for the one who gave him everything.
"I was three years old when you and I moved to the Chi/ Late december, harsh winter gave me a cold/ You fixed me up something that was good for my soul/ Famous homemade chicken soup, can I have another bowl?/ You worked late nights just to keep on the lights/ Momma got the training wheels so I could keep on my bike/ ... and it don't gotta be mother's day/ or your birthday for me to just call and say: 'Mama!' I wanna scream so loud for you/ cause i'm so proud of you."
2007 Kanye released
Graduation. This was a completely new sound to his previous Soulful works. This had a heavy techno/EDM inspiration, from artists such as Daft Punk, in addition to the influence of House Music with its Chi-town origins. His hit song "
Stronger", sampling the also famous Daft Punk song "Harder, Better, Faster" was played once again world-wide in every club from L.A. to London to Sydney. It was groundbreaking, as Kanye melded genres that nobody had been able to meld. He gave popularity to the Robotic Voice trope that many artists copy to this day, and re-purposed auto-tune. It was no longer for untalented hacks who couldn't sing: It was for artists who wanted to give a specific feel to their music.
Then by 2008, things really started going south for Kanye. His mother passed away due to complications with a cosmetic surgical operation, his relationship with his girlfriend was deteriorating, and he had a hatred of himself. It was in this despair and desperation that he produced his darkest work, "
808s and Heartbreaks", which is essentially his thesis on pop music, providing us with an incredible set of pop beats, all of which were phenomenal, and embracing the cold, detached Robot Voice that he had popularized as a way of reflecting the depression and lack of joy and humanity he possessed. The album provided him an avenue to channel the dark times he was going through. The track "
Coldest Winter" is directly about the passing of his mother, Donda
"It's 4am and I can't sleep/ Her love is all that I can see/ Memories made in the coldest winter/ goodbye my friend, will I ever love again/ If spring can take the snow away, can it wash away all our mistakes?/ Memories made in the coldest winter/ Goodbye my friend, I won't ever love again"