I didn’t realize SMG read that magazine. After all:
I understand she also reads the Everyone Thinks We’re Insane-Os Home Journal.
You got further than I did. I tried to listen to one of his recent ones, got to the verse in which he rhymed “reputation” with itself four times in a row, and turned it off.
Kanye song:
Blah blah blah blah reputation
Blah blah blah blah reputation
Blah blah blah blah reputation
Blah blah blah blah reputation
I was like, “Seriously, THIS is the rap genius people have been talking about?!”
That’s probably a good way to put it. It seems like when West has some time to think about what he’s saying (lyrics), he can really be quite aware (and sometimes he isn’t, but it seems to be more aware than a lot of other musical artists). And he does tend to rap about racism and social issues quite a bit - I mean who would have guessed the guy would have written a song about conflict diamonds (“Diamonds from Sierra Leone”)?
Really? That’s a bizarre complaint. Identity rhymes are what turned you off to Kanye?
What was that again that you were saying about Kanye West not being a retard, Brickbacon?
Here’s another couple doozies:
I’ve commemorated that moment by having Swift’s “We Are Never Ever Ever Getting Back Together” play back-to-back with Kanye’s “Gold Digger” on one of my mix CD’s. I like to imagine that they’re singing to each other. 
Personally, I think he’s just good at the buzz game. The guy does not strike me as an idiot at all. A professional troll, maybe. It’s hard to tell, but he’s musically a genius. – ETA: Or at least, a superb craftsman.
I am not familiar with Vogue magazine, but I assume people (mostly readers of the magazine?) are upset simply because Kimye hasn’t “earned” the cover.
I wholeheartedly disagree. I see little more than high school talent in Kanye West.
I understand that you are clearly a fan, but Kanye West is not at all comparable to the Beatles or Prince; his “talent” is more akin to that of Tiny Tim. Musical genius? Hardly.
And she is certainly the epitome of the vapidity and rampant consumerism of our time.
Still, I don’t understand the public uproar – the Kimye cover is actually kind of laughable.
You don’t have to take our word for it. Look up any modern music critic about the level of his work, from NPR to Rolling Stone, to Pitchfork, to Time. His latest album, Yeezus. Time Magazine? #1 of 2013. Rolling Stone? #2. Pitchfork? #2. NPR? They don’t seem to have an exact ranking, but it made their top 50. NME? #9. Spin? #1. Paste? #16.
That’s a pretty good critical consensus, and that was one of his more polarizing albums.
Yeah, I definitely didn’t care for what I heard of Yeezus, but I do think to say that he is little more than high school talent is unfair. Clearly he brings something more to the table than your average junior glee clubette.
In case anybody cares, I’m a 46yo white male and I agree with pulykamell - Kanye is seriously talented.
This 33 year old white male agrees as well. Actually wasn’t that into rap at all until I started listen to Kanye. The guy makes fantastic music.
I mean “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” is considered one of the greatest albums of all time.
Well, all the Kanye fans can come out of the woodwork now, but that won’t make him any more of a “musical genius”.
I mean, surely I could rally the Tiny Tim fans if I posed the right thread title! 
:headslap: Don’t post while tired, kids. Should read 33 year old Asian male. Oy.
Just for the record, I’m not saying he’s not talented. I’m saying he’s some kind of rare combination of musical talent and drooling moron in public. Like some sort of idiot savant for the rap game maybe. But people don’t like him because his public persona is that of someone who says staggeringly dumb and self-centered things regularly.
Maybe he’s not as dumb as he seems, and he’s just oblivious to how outrageously dumb some of his statements come across. I can’t believe that someone who’s meticulously crafting a public persona would come out and say that “books be so wordy” and that he’s a proud non-reader. That’s the statement of an idiot or someone who doesn’t have a filter or a clue, at best.
That’s what I can’t tell about him. Is his public persona completely unrestrained id and ego? Or is he a cynical, professional publicity troll? Or is it somewhere in between? I just prefer to ignore him except for his music. My gut leans towards the “unfiltered” and “not-well-thought-out” side of things, but I can’t discount the possibility of Supertroll, as I know personalities who purposefully act much dumber than they are for attention.
You can have your opinion, but it would be wholly derided by the vast majority of people who evaluate musical talent for a living, most true music fans, and most fair people. Honestly, this is not really in question. It’s like saying Bruce Springsteen isn’t talented.
He’s not even in the running. Get some perspective.
The original quote was about how “even compared to mentally disabled people, he is retarded”. I think that is hard to defend given his accomplishments.
The degree matters a lot in this case.
When you produce for yourself and others, become that successful in multiple arenas, and do it over the period of time he has done it, you have to be pretty intelligent.
And no one serious about music would ever give weight to your opinion.
Beethoven was a musical genius. If we are living in a world where Kayne and Ludwig are in the same overlap of that Venn diagram then humanity has failed as a species and we should detonate all our nuclear weapons in a nice pattern to ensure our scourge is purged from the Earth - or at least immediately sterilise ourselves by any means necessary.
Everybody knows that talented rappers are known for their humility.