OT: Kanye West

I'll respectfully disagree on Slug, but only because I think he is capable of some very intelligent material. I can't say the same for a lot of rappers.

"So we can finally fly off into NASA" I rest my case. Compare that to, say, Nas's "I Gave You Power," one of the most amazing rap songs lyrically in which he raps from the viewpoint of a gun (it's mindblowing IMO). Don't get me wrong: I like Kanye's music--I love College Dropout and a bit of Late Registration--but he's not the best lyricist, and I think he knows it despite his arrogance. Graduation was meh and I didn't even bother with his album(s?) after that. Sometimes he's on, but he certainly can't hold a candle to Nas and Jay-Z, two of rap's greatest living lyricists, or greats like anyone in the Wu-Tang, Talib, etc. Side note: Eminem is great but sometimes his rhymes are off, kind of like Luda who just can't rhyme period. Otherwise he's a pretty good lyricist. Apparently he actually is one hell of a battler in real life. Good call on Murs. I have two albums by him and he just isn't so good. I like the song "To a Black Boy," I got Murray's Revenge and I thought he was supposed to be better. I got Murs for President for like $5 at a liquidation sale but he just doesn't have it. I want to like it but it's a little grating to listen to him try. I don't listen to that much Big Pun, but IIRC he was actually a pretty good lyricist.

Sriously did you just say that? Big Pun's "Capital Punishment" is classic! Ask anybody that appreciates Hip Hop. Kanye is decent but he is no where near a top lyricist. Shit man his verses are just so stupid. Man "Swagger Like Us" and "Forever"? Seriously he gets murdered on both. Nas is overrated? You just lost all credibility you didn't have. And Immortal Technique isnt a "Bacardi & L" man. He's on politics and story telling. Kanye's best album couldnt hold a light to Capital Punishment, The Big Picture or ATLiens. He has so many female tendencies...Kanye's a bitch.

I really have to check out Big L. Did he do tracks with Gang Starr and Nas? I remember WillyWill raving about him. Re: Kanye being racist, I was actually thinking the same thing but was hesitant to say it. It can be speculated for sure. Some of his songs contain conspiratorial accusations such as Reagan introducing crack to the black community to bring down the Black Panthers. That's not necessarily a racist thing of him to say, but I think it could give an indication of where his feelings might be. Other songs portray white women as exclusively being sex objects. Now, many rap and rock songs portray women of all races as sex objects, but perhaps the case could be made that Kanye takes it to another level. The Taylor Swift thing could be due to his feeling that a white country singer could not possibly make as much as a cultural impact as an R&B singer. A big part of it is that he is incapable of accepting that people have differing tastes from his, but I would be a bit surprised if that was the only reason that he got up there. This might be an important detail: did he have anything to do with that Beyonce song/video? Also, props to Beyonce for bringing Swift up on stage afterward. It might have been a bit awkward, but it was nice of her. She seemed to feel really bad about it.