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Is kanye west overrated?

i mean , ive curretnly listened to anything hes ever dropped, but i think kinda strange cuz in my mind, people do praise him too much… dont mind my profile pic .lol

people are inevitably going to call artists as highly praised as kanye overrated, no matter how good they may be. kanye west is a great artist and in the future he will be seen as generation defining and extremely influential; his discography is consistently dynamic and evolving, and so far, even his oldest works have aged well. the few exceptions that polarize fans can at least be commended for their uniqueness within his discography and are generally just as creative as the others (yeezus has its diehards, and even people such as myself who dislike it recognize its impact)

it makes the most sense when you break down his catalog album by album:

college dropout - one of the most significant and impactful hip hop debuts of the 21st century

late registration - extremely iconic tracklist that has stood the test of time better than its contemporaries

graduation - one of the most influential pop-rap records ever

808s - just as influential as graduation, but in a whole new direction that changed hip hop at large

mbdtf - i dont even need to say anything about this one (but i will; unparalleled production and features)

and thats just the first six years of his career. there are plenty of good things to say about yeezus, the life of pablo and even donda–i omitted watch the throne, ye and jesus is king because those are easily the most polarizing and criticized albums of his discography, even though they, too, all have positives in their favor. i personally love ye and think jik is fine. but even if those three albums were total shit, that still leaves more trailblazing classics in his first decade than most artists release in their entire careers.

in short, i wouldnt call kanye overrated. he has justified his place in goat conversations and hes in my personal top 10. his work has aged extremely well and for as many people as he influenced, so few can replicate what made him so special, and what continues to make him special. too many classic songs to count.

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currently, yes. 05-16. No.

well said tbh, i see exactly what you want to say.

his verses have always been like this tho imo, from college dropout to donda

Yes I think he’s very overrated. Stan Loona

ahahahahah

I unironically think he’s simultaneously underrated and overrated. Many people, including me, give him too much credit as a producer when he’s just one of the best artists of all time and far from the best producer ever (very very far)

But when it comes to public rap forums and a lot of HH instagram/twitter threads, including ones in general outside hip-hop, there’s an apparent bias against his work due to his politics. This even shows on the critic scores for Donda and Ye. This sorta makes him underappreciated. Even the fact that he only has 7 odd million subs on Youtube makes no sense given how popular he is.

I’d just say he’s underestimated as an artist (because a lot of his greatest feats are unreleased and live performances), yet overrated as a producer because he barely does produce.

As for him as a rapper: I personally love his style of rapping and thats why he’s my favorite artist. His subject matter is usually a stark contrast from most rappers in every era he’s been a part of. On MBDTF he wrote hedonistic lyrics with a point, etc. And he’s very open about co-writers unlike a lot of other rappers, he doesn’t try to break down evidence that someone helped him write something.

He’s my favorite artist, but he’s definitely not the best producer nor is he the best rapper or vocalist.

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vivid flashbacks to Pitchfork’s 2013 Readers Poll ranking Yeezus as both most underrated and most overrated album

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no one man should have all that power

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Nah, I think Kanye is great. I have only listened to every project from 2010-Donda. So I have some work to do… But the only project i did not like was ye(and Donda 2, but i have to give the project a little more time to come to a conclusion). As a european listener I have to say that as a non-native english speaker it is more about catchiness, less about lyrical abilities. And Kanye is good at making songs with very catchy productions and hooks. So thats a big W for him.

yes