At some point in the conversation that inspired this week of music posts, my mother told me Kanye West isn't a rapper. She doesn't dislike him… (She did one of my numbers…) "I don't not like him. He's just not hip hop." I was shocked at first. Then I thought it through. As I was going through my music to prove Kanye's "hip-hop-ness" to her, I went to Jay-Z songs first. Clearly I still think of Kanye the Producer, first. As I started going through his music, I realized that Kanye the Rapper is pretty solid, too. It all got me thinking about what she said about him not being hip hop. Where does he fit in hip hop?
For many of us, Kanye was just another producer when he almost died in a car crash in 2002. The release of his first single, "Through the Wire," in 2003 was like an awakening. The album that followed, College Dropout, went double platinum within 4 months of its release, which is stellar for a debut. The combination of Kanye's soulful production and energetic delivery proved to be the magic formula. College Dropout was an emotional tale of his ambition many of us could relate to and respect. Though a bit skit heavy, it's a superb album that included super single "Jesus Walks" and stand-out b-sides "Spaceship," "Get Em High," and "Two Words."
A year and a half later, Kanye released Late Registration. With production assistance from Jon Brion, Kanye upped the ante on creativity. In 2005, I was a college student not feeling school at all. I wasn't totally over College Dropout but the pianos and epic musical builds on Late Registration soothed me and made me think everything was ok. Every time I play it, I think of my long commute from Oakland to the City for school, then to Berkeley for work, and back home to sleep and start over. Led by "Diamonds from Sierra Leone," Kanye also set a different, more political tone for the album. Though he lightened up with "Gold Digger," Kanye's other singles were personal and poignant. Jay-Z's verse on the "Diamonds" remix can't be overlooked, but my favorite song on the album is "Addiction" on which Kanye made me give my least favorite Etta James song another listen. That is the mark of a good producer.
In the time following the release of Late Registration, Kanye was in the press a lot mostly for bad behavior. He proved to be outspoken ("George Bush doesn't care about black people."), a little arrogant (telling anyone who would listen, and a few captive audiences that he wasn't getting the accolades he deserved), and quite prolific. He produced for everyone from Mariah Carey to Common, and Keyshia Cole to Lupe Fiasco. He announced his clothing line, Pastelle. It was also a great time for his label G.O.O.D. Music, with big releases from Common and John Legend, both of which included production from Kanye.
Kanye's first two singles from Graduation, "Can't Tell Me Nothing" and "Stronger," served as anthems and seemed to describe everything about Kanye's attitude. Upon hearing that Kanye's album would be released the same day as his, 50 Cent challenged Kanye, saying that if Graduation outsold Curtis, he would end his recording career. Kanye won (50 reneged), and Graduation is an awesome album. It reflected the success that Kanye was seeing from the hard work he rapped about on his previous albums. He further experimented with different sounds and sampled across genres. Creatively he was on fire, as evidenced by the video for "Flashing Lights." Songs like "Barry Bonds" prove that he's still honest, still arrogant, but lyrically growing. Graduation was a celebration of life, wealth, and creativity.
Sadly, a couple of months after the release of Graduation, Kanye's mother, Donda, died from complications during a surgery. Sometime after that, he separated from his longtime girlfriend. Kanye threw himself into his work and embarked on his monumental Glow in the Dark Tour and work on his next album, 808's and Heartbreak. It was a total departure from the sound that fans of Kanye had become accustomed to. Kanye dealt with his mother's death and the break up from his fiancé with his music. He experimented with autotune and sang more than he rapped on the album and lost some fair-weather fans. Despite the shift in sound, the album was musically sound and emotionally raw. (There are songs on the album that I still can't listen to because of my own turmoil during that time period…) While fans he earned because of Young Jeezy and Lil Wayne features abandoned him, the album was a critical triumph, garnering him all the attention he complained for at award shows earlier in his career.
Despite all the controversy and a rocky relationship with hip hop fans, how does Kanye manage to stay be so successful? Is he hip hop? Kanye is chameleon. He's fearless. He says what's on his mind, he works with everyone. He samples across genres. He does the things you want to do. He's never released a wack album and he constantly improves lyrically and creatively. If that's not hip hop, what is?
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