Best Hip-Hop Album of 2010? I think so. "All of the Lights," "Power," "Hell of a Life"... so many good songs on this one.

They are a big part of the genre for some people but not for others. I guess it's just me that has written off most of Kanye's lyrics and don't expect lyrical prowess from him.

When it comes to Power there is a specific line that I can relate to but other than that....I don't like his lyrics on Power overall and they showcase his weakness.

My childlike creativity, purity and honesty
Is honestly being prodded by these grown thoughts
Reality is catchin’ up with me
Takin’ my inner child, I’m fighting for it, custody

It seems his lyrical weakness is well attested. Surely, for something to be a rap classic, the lyricism must also be of a 'classic' nature. Perhaps, on the other hand, the spectrum of 'hip-hop' as opposed to simply 'rap' can be given a broader scope. DJ Shadow, for example, is often classified under the notion of 'instrumental hip-hop'. This album is certainly a classic in terms of beats, arrangements and sampling. But a 'rap' classic is is NOT. I defy anybody to claim that the rapping on this record is (on the whole) brilliant in terms of delivery, flow, rhymes and content. Any such assertion would be ludicrous beyond anything I can conceive of.

For good actual rapping of 2010, see Big Boi.

It is a great pity that Kanye cannot sing. He could have been the greatest contemporary R&B artist ever to exist.

ok, you're right. in terms of rapping, i'd say that as a whole this doesn't even compare to Kanye's older material much less more heavyweight contemporaries. some of his older stuff, like "All Falls Down", "We Don't Care", and "Last Call", i think reflect some of his best lyrical writing, and even then that doesn't make him the greatest rapper/lyricist.

But as for being some of the worst lyrics you've heard in hip hop, like you stated in an earlier post, it's not nearly as bad as some of the completely vapid sh*t in mainstream hip hop being passed off as lyrics.




so yeah, i'd say that you could do MUCH worse, and seeing as Kanye himself is one of the most mainstream artists today, i'd say his stuff is miles ahead of alot of the crap on the radio/tv. now i know this doesn't make him some kind of legendary rapper like Nas or what-have-you, but his stuff has gotta be worth something in current mainstream hip hop, doesn't it?

so yeah, i wouldn't say it's a great rap album either, but as a hip-hop album as well music in general, it's definitely something all it's own, so i'll agree with you on that as well.

Ok, I take that back. As you demonstrate, it clearly gets a *lot* worse.

But it sure damn well is tempting to overexaggerate Kanye's lyrical shortcomings where you have crazed fanboys waving their arms around calling him a "rap god".

haha yeah, but i say ignore the fanboys, cause fanboys usually tend to over exaggerate in areas where they clearly don't know anything. :hphones:

I honestly do not find the lyrics on this album to be weak at all, they're one of my favorite things about it. Please point out some undeniably weak lines (by Kanye).

Yeah I must be missing something. Even what he pointed out earlier wasnt really weak and there are x2 the amount of excellent lyrics on the album.

x2 the amount of excellent lyrics over and above what I quoted. That suggests the album has about 7 or 8 lines of excellent lyrics, which is probably a reasonable estimate.

To be fair, there are some nice lines scattered around the record. But the "wow" moments (words-wise) are few and far between. On the other hand, there are enough "wtf" and "no he did not" moments to keep me cringing for some time. Compare this to a real classic like, I dunno, Ready2Die or Illmatic, where virtually any two lines are just freakin' gold.

Yeah I get that you were just being funny but... You know what I meant! :/