Rap
Ranking Every Kanye West Album From Worst to Best
This article originally ran in 2016 and has been updated. Welcome to Dissected, where we disassemble a band’s catalog, a director’s filmography, or some other critical pop-culture collection in the abstract. It’s exact science by way of a few beers. This time, we sort through the best and worst of Yeezy country. Over the years, Kanye West has been many things to many different people. He started off as Jay-Z’s secret weapon, a budding super-producer pumping out hits like “Izzo (H.O.V.A.),” “Takeover,” and “Encore,” prompting Jay-Z to interrupt The Black Album to shout, “Kanyeezy, you did it again, you a genius!” That was probably one of the last times West was called Kanyeezy, and one of the first times the g-word was tossed around. In 2004, West launched his solo career and sold himself t...
Kanye West’s Top 20 Songs
This article originally ran in 2013 and has been updated. Kanye West returned on Sunday, August 29th with Donda, which was initially set to arrive in July 2020, but, you know…Kanye. Whether you’re loving or hating the effort, you can always look back on the good ol’ days with our list of his top 20 songs. Obviously, ten albums, three collaborative releases, and dozens of singles later, it was more of a chore to put together than anything else. In order to keep sane, we pared things down to the general overview, best lyrics and samples of each song. So did anything from Donda make it to our updated list? To find out, see Kanye’s 20 best songs, ranked from worst to best, below. Advertisement Share this: You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined wh...
Kanye West Channels His Vulnerability on Donda, Delivering His Best Album in Years
Two of the most confounding words in music are “Kanye” and “West.” For the past few years, Kanye West has been less of an artist and more of a Rorschach test for a worldwide audience. To some, he’s a genius on par with John Lennon, Beethoven, Steve Jobs, and Leonardo Da Vinci. To others, he’s a drama king attracted to the spotlight like a moth to a flame. To a third group, he’s a fallen prophet who traded in his goodwill for a red cap and a White House hall pass. However you rate his flaws, Kanye admittedly never hid them, even all those moons ago when the world said he was hip hop’s Messiah in 2004. Seventeen years later, after dealing with the ups and downs that come from living one’s life in a fishbowl for the world to see, Ye is back with Donda, his tenth album. Named after his mother,...
Kanye West Releases New Album Donda: Stream
It’s finally here. Kanye West has released Donda, his 10th solo album to date. Stream it below via Apple Music and Spotify. Spanning 27 tracks in total, the star-studded album boasts appearances from The Weeknd, Travis Scott, Pusha-T, Young Thug, Jay Electronica, Lil Yachty, Playboi Carti, Lil Baby, Roddy Ricch, Baby Keem, and Conway the Machine, as well as with Kanye’s former Watch the Throne collaborator JAY-Z and the late rapper Pop Smoke. The album also tragically includes contributions from Marilyn Manson (an accused sexual predator), DaBaby (a homophobe), and Chris Brown (a domestic abuser). Manson is listed as a co-writer on “Jail,” Brown contributed to “New Again,” and DaBaby is featured on “Jail Pt. 2.” (Editor’s note: “Jail Pt. 2” is not currently available to stream as of press ...
Rap Song of the Week: Kendrick Lamar Issues a Warning Shot on Baby Keem’s “Family Ties”
Rap Song of the Week breaks down the rap and hip-hop tracks you need to hear each week. Check out the full playlist here. For our latest installment, Kendrick Lamar makes a roaring comeback on Baby Keem’s “Family Ties.” It’s no surprise that Kendrick Lamar’s first guest appearance since announcing his final album on TDE is on Baby Keem’s new single. Not only are the two rappers cousins, but Keem is the flagship artist on Kendrick’s company, pgLang, which will logically be the Compton rapper’s focus after leaving his label of 17 years. Besides that, 2021 is shaping up to be Keem’s mainstream breakout year. After teaming up with Travis Scott on “durag activity,” the 20-year-old rapper was featured on a track played at one of Kanye West’s early DONDA listening parties. Advertisement Rela...
Angel Haze Announces New EP Girl with the Gun, Drops “Never Seen”: Stream
Angel Haze has shared new single “Never Seen,” the first taste of her upcoming EP, Girl with the Gun. Stream it below on Apple Music and Spotify. On the track, the rapper unapologetically revels in her ego over a wobbling beat. “I am not the type of bitch/ To be appeased with all the average/ I got lots of codependents/ Ding ding what’s the tab/ I been known to flip the digits/ Loose change turn to racks/ Put a nigga on the bench/ If he need time to reflect,” she raps before abruptly cutting the song off just past the 90-second mark. “I explore the territories of my voice, both in and outside my mind,” she said of the track in a statement. “I wanted to play with different tones and intertwine certain phrases to create a woozy, dreamlike impression. This song is my daydream of a life bigger...
Kendrick Lamar Joins Baby Keem on New Single “Family Ties”: Stream
Baby Keem has linked up with his cousin Kendrick Lamar for a new collaborative single called “Family Ties.” It comes with a music video starring the rapping relatives alongside former Fifth Harmony member Normani. Earlier this week, Baby Keem teased the track by revealing the “Family Ties” cover art on social media. The image is an old photo with 11 family members standing around, arms thrown around one another in an embrace. Everyone’s faces are blacked out except for two people: a very young Lamar and an even younger Keem. Seeing the two rappers grinning while surrounded by their loved ones is pretty charming, even if the rest of their crew has their eyes obscured in an ode to the classic good kid, m.A.A.d city album artwork. “Family Ties” is produced by Cardo and features some gnarly be...
Kanye Brings Out Marilyn Manson and DaBaby at Donda Listening Party
Kanye West held his latest Donda listening party at Chicago’s Soldier Field on Thursday night, and he made the conscious decision to appear alongside two of the most toxic figures in music: Marilyn Manson and DaBaby. Manson and DaBaby accompanied West on the porch of a replica of his childhood home, constructed midfield at Soldier Field. Presumably, their appearances were some sort of commentary on “canceled” musicians; in the case of Manson, he’s been accused by multiple women of sexual abuse. Meanwhile, DaBaby was dropped by a number of major music festivals after going on a homophobic rant last month. What’s more, Kanye replaced a Jay-Z verse on Donda with one from DaBaby. And the evening only got more bizarre from there: towards the end of the listening party, Kanye literally lit himse...
LiL Nas X Sets Release Date for Montero
Lil Nas X has finally set a release date for his long-awaited debut album, Montero. It’s set to arrive on September 17th through Columbia Records. “creating this album has been therapy for me,” Lil Nas X said in an Instagram post announcing the album’s release date. “i’ve learned to let go of trying to control people’s perception of who i am, what i can do, and where i will be. i’ve realized the only opinion of me that really matters is my own.” In advance of Montero’s release, Lil Nas X has offered up a trio of singles: “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” “Sun Goes Down,” and “Industry Baby” featuring Jack Harlow. Each track has been accompanied by an equally provocative music video, which has only added to the hype and controversy surrounding the album’s release. His “Montero” ...
Kanye West Files to Legally Change Name to “Ye”
Kanye West has filed documents to legally change his name to “Ye.” TMZ reports that the 44-year-old rapper submitted the paperwork with a California court this week. Under state law, he’ll be given a court date sometime in the next three months, at which point a judge will hear Kanye’s petition and decide whether to approve the name change. Kanye has yet to publicly comment on the move, but this is not the first time he has flirted with a rebrand. In 2019, he said he had considered legally changing his name to “Christian Genius Billionaire Kanye West” “until ‘yall understand exactly what it is.” Kanye did not follow through with that threat, but this time he’s gone as far to actually file a legal petition with the court. It’s now in the hands of a judge to decide whether one of the biggest...
Kanye Goes The Joker on Drake: “You Will Never Recover. I Promise You”
From Jesus to the Joker? Kanye West has seemingly reignited his feud with Drake with a Joker-themed meme directed at the 6 God. In a since deleted Instagram post, Kanye posted a screen capture of a group text message thread. Though Drake’s name is not specifically mentioned in the thread, it’s evident he is the target of Kanye’s ire. For one, Kanye made a point to add Drake’s arch nemesis, Pusha-T, to the group thread. He then tweeted a photo of Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker and wrote, “I live for this. I’ve been fucked with by nerd ass jock n****s like you my whole life. You will never recover. I promise you.” Kanye’s post was seemingly made in response to a new Drake verse included on Trippie Redd’s song “Betrayal.” Addressing rumors that Kanye is aiming to steal Drake’s thunder by releas...
Rap Song of the Week: Big Boi and Sleepy Brown Declare “The Big Sleep Is Over”
Rap Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the rap and hip-hop tracks we just can’t get out of our head each week. Check out the full playlist here. For our latest installment, Big Boi and Sleepy Brown share the latest single from their upcoming collaborative album. Ahead of Big Boi and his longtime collaborator Sleepy Brown’s upcoming joint album, The Big Sleepover, the duo have recently teamed with affiliates like Killer Mike and Cee Lo Green on singles like the swaggering “lowercase (no cap)” and silky smooth “Intentions.” This time around, Big Boi and Brown link up with Jamaican singer Kay-I on “The Big Sleep Is Over” for a Caribbean-influenced jam combining laidback production with booming 808s. Nearly 30 years after joining forces with André 3000 as OutKast, Big Boi h...
