I have another 14 hour work day where I will be doing nothing for at least 9 of those. I think we all know what that means: pointless blog posts! Seriously I'm going insane. Thankfully, there's only four shows left, so hopefully I can find enough shit to rant about.

Thank you @Vilppu for the suggestion!

Let's count down my top 11 Kanye West songs of all time. Why top 11?

11. Black Skinhead

Easily my favorite song off of Yeezus, which I like about 3 songs on. If I wasn't as into it lately, it might not have made it on here, but I've been listening to it A LOT, so it's here. I love how loud and aggressive it is musically, and I love the lyrics as well. I'm always surprised when a post MBDTF song has lyrics I actually care for, considering there was a severe drop in quality on that front after that point, yet here we are! I also love Bound 2 cause he just sounds like he's complaining about Kim and how annoying she is, that's my other favorite.

10. Slow Jamz

Amazing production, great sample, yadda yadda yadda, look, I love this song because of one line that makes me cackle every single time:

Quote

she got a light-skinned friend look like Michael Jackson, got a dark-skinned friend look like Michael Jackson

The first time I heard this, I was in a car with my friend and I laughed hysterically for the entire rest of the ride home, it was truly an experience. Also I like the spoken intro. Moreover, any song with Kanye and Jamie Foxx is iconic. Also Jamie Foxx is pretty cool and does good impressions. Let's move on, shall we?

9. Good Morning

I love that bear with the shutter shades, it's a huge part of my childhood and a friendship that I still have, as is this whole album. This is such a good album opener, Kanye's second best (we'll get to the other one later). It really sets the tone for the whole album, which is probably my favorite of his. The video is also super interesting, check it out!

8. All Falls Down

This is definitely a classic Kanye song. It's interesting to see a critique of capitalism from a rapper, especially one who is known for bragging a lot later on. I guess it makes sense since it's from his first album, so it would be from before he had as much to brag about. Although there's this one part where he pronounces "versace" wrong and it's definitely a reference to the infamous "all tits no substance" movie Showgirls, and I'm always perplexed that someone was inspired enough by a line from THAT movie to use it in their song. Kanye's such a weird dude, and this was only the beginning. Geez...

7. Touch The Sky

I talked about this song in @Hyun.'s Holy Trinity game (which I'm way too invested in and am having the time of my life with <3) when I put it as one of my favorite bops. I feel like I've already made it pretty clear but for those who don't know yet, I think this song bops. I love the production on Kanye's first two albums, they're both consistent (with themselves and each other), and have a lot of interesting super old samples, which is my favorite kind, especially when it comes to rap music. Kanye is SUCH a good producer, seriously, I can't get over how talented this man is. He gets a lot of hate from pop stans cause he's a bit full of himself, but he's full of himself because he's good, and if he wasn't as confident about how talented he is, he probably wouldn't make as good music. I feel similarly about Quentin Tarantino. He thought Inglorious Bastards was his masterpiece. Is it? No, it's not better than Pulp Fiction or Kill Bill. Is it still better than most director's filmography? Absolutely! It's that confidence that makes his shit so good, he treats every movie like it's his best. What I'm trying to say here is Kanye West is the Quentin Tarantino of music and I really want to see an interview with the two of them @ world please

6. All Of The Lights

Rihanna and Kanye? Sign me the FUCK up. Also, seizure warning on the video, Kanye released two music videos in one year that needed seizure warnings, he must HATE epileptics  The song bangs while the lyrics are high key depressing. It just sounds so well crafted and always gets my blood pumping. The pre-chorus is easily my favorite part, where he's listing all the significant lights. Another thing that's interesting is this isn't his first super good song about lights, Flashing Lights is also amazing.

5. Ultralight Beam

More lights! This song is on here 100% because of Chance The Rapper though, I don't even really think of this as a Kanye song, but it is, so it's on here. This is his best album opener that I was referencing earlier. Chance is such a talented dude and he's amazing and energetic live and he's one of the cutest people I've ever seen in my entire life let me stop before I start crying, excuse me. But yeah if you have an aversion to Life Of Pablo, it's still 100% worth it to check out this song, even if you don't listen to the rest of the album (although Waves is also worth it if you can get past the fact that that's Chris Brown's voice, Kanye's lyricism isn't as good as it used to be, but his production is still incredible).

4. Gone

Otis Redding samples are my SHIT! He's one of the best artists with one of the best voices of all time and It's Too Late is an AMAZING song, I love how it's used here. The second the piano starts, a smile forms on my face, I really REALLY love how this sounds. Late Registration is probably my favorite Kanye album musically, it's just got some nice  ass sampling, and this song has an orchestra on it, taking "real instruments" to a whole new level holy shit what a beautiful track! Also there's a cute little Usher STD reference, which in hindsight is kinda funny woops. Cam'ron and Consequence also have nice verses on here and their voices are suited really well to this song. Talent only!

3. Runaway

A 9 minute MASTERPIECE! The opening piano note in Welcome To The Black Parade is SHAKING, this one is more iconic. Most conventional rap songs have lots of lyrics where the artist brags about how easy it is to fuck girls (your girl specifically, that trend really needs to die, smh), but Kanye does something extremely different here and talks about how he's not very good with relationships. This is such a beautiful song. Also Pusha T is talented as well. Furthermore, this album also has a really good opener with queen Nicki Minaj on it and some funny Kanye lyrics. Yeah listen to this song, please, it's incredible. The music video is a bit off topic though, it's basically an album sampler which...isn't a music video but whatever, king of being extra!

2. Homecoming

I'm really not a Coldplay fan but holy shit Chris Martin's voice is amazing here. Seriously, it fits so well and sounds so nice? It usually bothers me cause it reminds me of Coldplay, why does it sound so good here? It's always interesting to hear rappers talking about their hometowns and how they feel about them, since location seems to be pretty important in rap music (it even starts incredibly ridiculous over the top feuds). Also I love pianos, I feel like that sort of came up already? Either here, another blog post, or just a casual conversation with me, I say it a lot. For anyone that this may be the first time hearing this: I LOVE pianos in my pop music that aren't full piano tracks, it makes me very happy and generally brings more life to the song. So yeah, incredible song, incredible feature, incredible lyrics, incredible production. What could POSSIBLY top that?

1. Hey Mama

I LOVE hearing men talk about how much they love their mothers. I feel like that comes across weirder than I mean it, but it's always just SO sweet. In a genre riddled with misogyny, even now, songs about the respect for the reason you're even on this planet make me so emotional. Kanye has talked about his mom a few times cause he was very close with her before she died, and knowing now not only that she died but how it happened, this song is one of the sweetest and most heartbreaking experiences for me. It's a song that makes me tear up when I hear it. It's really such a happy song about a man's love for the most important woman in his life, and like the rest of the songs on Late Registration, the production is some of his best. I put this as my number 1 Kanye song with 0 hesitation, I'm 100% positive that this is my favorite song of his and that he will never top it.

So yeah, Kanye is not only a crazy narcissist, he's also an extremely talented rap legend. He is still pretty crazy though, enjoy one of my favorite Kanye moments, literally who else but him would say something like this