Musical geniuses. Hell NO!!
Marketing geniuses. Definately!

Yes. Absolutely. Unquestionably.
Einsteins, the both of them.

genius that word gets attached to some like

lastdecember said:

i think you're right that, that term is over used but seriously there is something about Kanye West. perhaps he's no true genius but he sure as hell is pretty clever in terms of keeping himself out there.

bboy87 said:

i know tell me about it. look what i've started!

DarlingDiana said:

Spot on.

To paraphrase HL Mencken - 'No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the music buying public'.

No & No

Kanye is no smarter than some kid who sits in his room & samples a song & adds a drum loop to it. No genius in that at all.

50 Cent is just another Rapper that goes out of his way 2 either talk about how much money he has or how hard he is. I can go 2 any ghetto & find a rapper that does that.

So...no & No!

kanye makes music that seems to make people happy and he knows how to hype himself enough for people to buy his stuff. I personally do not think he is a genius and not even a marketing genius because I am still not interested in hearing his new album. The stuff I have heard from him over the years is, in my honest opinion, juvenile. The one song they are playing on the radio, something about prince and appollonia just makes me want to stick my finger down my throat.

Lothan said:

all hs lyrics sound like some teenage white kid imitating a 'rap'/ 'hip-hop' sound

Hell, yes, it's the same thing 50 did when the Game's first album came out.

There's no better publicity than a fight, just ask Linda Evans & Joan Collins!

how is a good marketing move qualify someone as a genius? wow.. that term is getting tossed around a lot lately..


think and breathe through this.. cause they are not genius.. and if they are, they have yet to show it.

missfee said:

Sdldawn said:

point taken, but Madonna may still rank as near genius in my mind despite my lack of interest in any of her music.

Genius is an overused word. Fifty is definitely not a good rap artist at all.
Kanye is a very good rap artist and he excels lyrically whether people like him or not. I think kanye is passionate about the rap game versus some like 50 who are only concerned about record sales because artistically he brings nothing to the game.

phunkdaddy said:

50 is a better rapper than kanye, and no offense to kanye but kanye rapping skills sounds like he learned how to finally rap on beat a month ago,

Get Rich or Die Trying and Power of Dollar gave 50 the hype that he has rode off these last three years, those two LP's are better than anything Kanye has ever done

its funny because peoples biggest problem with kanye is his use of samples yet on his new disc he has only what, maybe 4 samples on the whole cd? if you knew anything, you would know that kanye is stepping up the game as far as hip-hop production. go back through his discography and look at the growth. kanye evolved the sampling trade and made sampled beats a hot commodity in hip hop. by the time late registration came out, kanye realized that he needed to step up once again and started working with more complex melodies, rhythms and synths after hooking up with jon brion. now, on graduation, kanye has stepped even further away from straight sampling, and moved into more composed works using elements for certain parts of the songs such as the "Harder Better Faster Stronger" chorus.
if you dont like sampling, thats fine. but dont discredit the man for enhancing the artform

missfee said:

Be sure to let us know when that happens, ok?

qvgangsta18 said:

You cannot even understand what 50 is saying a lot of times because the music drowns him out. Kanye just learning to rhyme on beat? Seriously? Kanye is not even my favorite rapper but he is far better on the mike than 50. No disrespect but you must be a serious homer to believe 50 is better at rhyming than kanye.

What?! Kanye is NOT a better rapper than 50 cent. I like Kanye's music better overall but Kanye is not that great as an MC. He doesn't have a lot of skills really in that respect. 50 is a much better rapper.

Cinnamon234 said:

Exactly, what i am saying,

TheBoyfromtheBand said:

Ever heard of DJ Premier? HE uses samples far better than Kanye could even dream of. And was doing it looooong b4 him. SO Kanye didn't start some sampling trend. Its been here long b4 him. Hell, even P.Diddy was making hits with samples.

As far as him "..stepping further away from sampling" as U say. If I'm not mistaken every single he has released so far in this Album has a sample on it..not 2 mention he has studio Musicians(check the album credits). He's not some pioneer by no means. And he most certainly ain't makin no Albums Sample Free. But hey..different strokes I guess. If U dig that type of thing. Its cool.

Bishop31 said:

1. I didnt say kanye started sampling, i said he made it hot
2. I have heard of dj premier, him and ye worked together on "Classic"
3. Sampling, and using elements are 2 different things

vainandy said:

dancerella said:

we'll 50's first week sales this time around is about 200,000 less than his last 2 releases
those guys were going to do ok anyway