by Ed Masley - Jan. 31, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
So Kanye West says he wants to be better than Elvis.
http://www.azcentral.com/...tlist.html
Fair enough.

A lot of people are (unless you mean Elvis Costello).
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But does the singing rapper have the catalog to back up such audacious dreams?

Not yet. He's only done four albums.

But with Heartless hanging on at No. 4 on this week's Hot 100, he's off to a pretty good start.

Here's a look at the best of West, from Through the Wire to his reinvention late last year as America's second or third favorite rapper turned Auto-tuned crooner.

1. Stronger

Sampling French house music duo Daft Punk's Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger was a stroke of genius, possibly the most intriguing mainstream hip-hop sample of the decade. It topped the charts while sounding nothing like the other 99 songs in the Billboard Hot 100, an electro-funk throwback that felt like the future of rap. And the pop culture references are great, from "You could be my black Kate Moss tonight" to the part where he says he's been "on ya since Prince was on Apollonia, since O.J. had Isotoners." By far, his most inventive pop hit yet.

2. Gold Digger

The chart-topping classic that left no doubt that Kanye West was onto something special, it sets the stage with actor Jamie Foxx's best Ray Charles imitation, changing the words to I Got a Woman to suit the mood of Kanye's lyrics, as best summed up by the chorus hook: "Now I ain't sayin' she a gold digger, but she ain't messin' with no broke . . . " He isn't pulling any punches, either ("I know somebody payin' child support for one of his kids/His baby momma's car and crib is bigger than his"). But the tone is more comic than cutting, including a call and response of "We want prenup."

3. Through the Wire

Making the most of a pitched-up Alvin and the Chipmunks-worthy sample of Chaka Khan's Through the Fire, Kanye's breakthrough single was cut in the aftermath of a car crash while his jaw was wired shut and plays that up for all its worth, with references to reconstructive surgery and life support. It's all done with a welcome sense of humor, though, in couplets as inspired as "I drink a Boost for breakfast, an Ensure for dizzert; somebody ordered pancakes, I just sip the sizzurp."

4. Jesus Walks

The most intriguing moment on The College Dropout, it samples an actual gospel choir and kicks off with a chanting chain gang - you can even hear the chains - as Kanye raps about "the Devil trying to break me down." He clearly underestimated radio, though, with the lyric, "They say you can rap about anything except Jesus. That means guns, sex, lies, video tapes. But if I talk about God my record won't get played." The record did get played, though, finding commercial salvation at No. 11.

5. Diamonds From Sierra Leone

The leadoff single from Late Registration, Kanye's second album, Diamonds samples Shirley Bassey's theme song to the James Bond movie Diamonds Are Forever. Surprisingly, it wins best rap song at the Grammys despite him taking potshots at the Grammys in the lyrics ("I was sick about awards, couldn't nobody cure me. Only playa that got robbed but kept all his jewelry").

6. All Falls Down

It kicks off with Syleena Johnson's soulful reinvention of the chorus hook to Lauryn Hill's Unplugged track, Mystery of Iniquity, as Kanye raps about a girl who won't drop out of college because she's worried her parents will look at her funny. Most memorable lyric: "She couldn't afford a car so she named her daughter Alexis (a Lexus)."

7. Heard 'Em Say

Copping more of a jazz feel than usual, Heard 'Ém Say features a sample of Someone That I Used to Love (as recorded by Natalie Cole) But the soulful chorus hook is provided by Adam Levine of Maroon 5, who comes on here like the new Roberta Flack. Meanwhile, Kanye paints a fairly hopeless portrait of life on the Black side of town, where "the dope boys is the rock stars but they can't cop cars without seein' cop cars. I guess they want us all behind bars."

8. Touch the Sky

Sampling Curtis Mayfield's horn-fueled classic Move On Up but slowing it down until it really starts to groove, Touch the Sky features Lupe Fiasco flowing wild and free, an uplifting chorus and Kanye looking back on just how far he'd come, at one point exulting, "I think I died in that accident 'cause this must be heaven."

9. The Good Life

With an Auto-tuned T-Pain providing the hook and keyboards sampled from the Michael Jackson classic, P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing), this soulful smash took home best rap song at the Grammys. Lyrically, it's not his finest hour, an ode to materialism the chick in that Gold Digger song could've written.

10. Love Lockdown

Kanye's startling reinvention as an Auto-tune-abusing vocalist, Love Lockdown rocks an old-school synth-pop groove like Depeche Mode in heat - at least until the frantic tribal drumming kicks in. And though it may not make the strongest case for Kanye as a vocalist, the Auto-tune effect sounds great, and when his vocals start distorting, all the better.

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kanye and qtip have the best records of the year in my opinion

they did something like this in the new VIBE
and there was no "Impossible" (the one w/ Keyshia)
not even the ones to delete included this masterpiece

DirtyChris said:

im pretty sure they said "Impossible" was one to delete...

no hey mama?



"la la la la la, hey mama..."

punkofthemonth said:

itsshananaok said:

My own personal "Best of Kanye West":


































(like a hip-hop cover version of 4'33" by John Cage)