l’m now tempted to start a thread called “Why Kanye West?”. Am I really the only person who sees no genius there?
I doubt it. I certainly see good, creative musicianship there (though perhaps not “genius”); it’s just that the music does nothing for me (besides put me in mind of ambient movie soundtrack music.)
Oh, and his voice grates like hell on my ears for some reason.
No. But I do like “Gold Digger.”
While I also like Bon Iver, I agree with the OP about it kind of sounding like ambient bargain bin bath music. I guess what happened with me is a couple of years ago, in the grips of a brutal winter, I found his For Emma, Forever Ago and it hit the spot. Now, when it gets cold and the leaves start to fall, I make sure to include a Bon Iver song or two on my playlists. It’s not particularly happy music, but sometimes you just want to be brought down. I will say though that if his vocals bother you, then the whole thing will probably never work. His vocals are in my opinion the defining part of his music - I happen to love them, but different strokes.
My favorite song of that album I mentioned earlier is Skinny Love - which exemplifies the sound - lo-fi, simple acoustic arrangements, emotive vocals that blend towards ambient. This one almost has a hook, though.
My favorite song by him period is Blood Bank, off the 2009 EP of the same answer.
Ugh, we’ve done this before in CS. In fact, the last go around, several non rap fans gave West’s last solo album (My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy-- the Grammy nominated one) a listen and admitted they were surprised by how good it is.
What makes Kanye a genius at what he does is how he compiles albums. Sure, radio singles are catchy, but if that’s all you’re hearing, you’re not seeing the big picture. If you’re honestly curious and want to spend 70 mins on it, I highly suggest you give My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy a shot from start to finish. It tells the story of his descent into madness from fame and really is just downright interesting (not to mention he is a great rapper and beat maker, if you’re into that sort of thing). For as much as people think Kanye isn’t self aware, MBDTF shows that he is well aware of his copious personality short comings. It’s really introspective and interesting.
What also makes Kanye interesting is the artists he incorporates into his music-- stuff that isn’t traditionally rap. You’ve got Bon Iver on a few songs, Daft Punk, etc. His song “All of the Lights” on MBDTF is especially interesting, because there are like, 30 different features on it. Which sounds excessive, but Kanye did a really great job mixing them. You wouldn’t know Elton John was on there unless you read it here first.
Too late to edit, but:
Apparently, it’s 14 official features. Though when the album came out, I remember hearing that he also blended all kinds of random people into the song (Kim Kardashian, etc.). Wiki has a rather comprehensive article on the whole album.
Hey! Turns out I had heard that song before and I liked it. If his second album was like that song I could see the appeal.