Kweli and Kanye thread

[rjd2]

I always found it rather bizarre the way that some hip hop fans dismiss Kanye West so casually. This is the man who has produced some uttter classics over the last few years for the likes of Mos Def, Dilated Peoples,Ludacris Kweli, The Game and of course his masterpieces The Blueprint (stop sneering Buck 65 fans) and Common BE which got a lot of love around here. His debut album The College Dropout was widely regarded as a triumph, superby produced with lots of memorable tunes mainly Jesus Walks, Through The Wire and Two Words which had Freeway and Mos Def on the same track and guess what?It was a geat record. Anyways his new album Graduation is all over the internet  and on first listen it is actually pretty good. Its funky as hell as you would expect and  Kanye has managed to leave his monster ego at the door. The standouts so far are Cant Tell me nothing and Champion.Chris Martin pops up as well however unlike his track on Jiggas last album he's ok on this.
Anyways Kanye's best mate Kweli has released a new album which is always something to be cheerful about. Kweli will never make a record as superb as Reflection Eternal or Blackstar but this is pretty solid stuff. The one minus is the appearance of Justin Timberlake which sounds like  a half hearted attempt by Talib to get some mainsream attention. It may not be as horrible as Where Is The Love but it is turgid track. The standouts so far are Hostile Gospel and Soon The New Day an Say Something which has Jean Grae on it.
Anyone else here hear either albums and what do you think of them?

[thugler]

Never been impressed by Kanye west, he's just always come across as mediocre and I've heard all his stuff. And I think his production is heavily overrated. Haven't heard the new Kweli.

[wherearethespoons]

This is the man who has produced some uttter classics

And ruined some.

I've only ever liked one track of his and that is All Falls Down and it's more about the memories associated with that song when it was playing once.

[Ciarán]

Haven't heard any of the Kanye West albums so far and feel I'm missing out. Apparently this new one isn't as good as the previous two. Should I start with those first or jump straight in with 'Graduation'?

P.S. The single is sort of alright-ish.

[drberbatov]

College Dropout seemed like a sincere well crafted record where as the last two are so-so, I quite like Timbaland's new one, it is a decent hiphop/mainstream pop album

[alan nagsworth]

Its funky as hell as you would expect and  Kanye has managed to leave his monster ego at the door.

I heard for this venture he brought his ego in with him and introduced it to the table like a new girlfriend.

[jonnycuba]

Whilst i'm not a fan of Kanye's rhyme flow (think Jay-Z lite). I think he has to be applauded for being a proponent in the reintroduction of samples when Hip Hop was lost in Casio keyboard demo mode. Having said that I've never been a fan of the chipmunk soul  vocal samples either so i don't rate his flow or (most) of his production. Just to complete my cerebral polyphasia, his beat on Alicia Keys 'You don't know my name' gives me chills.

Kweli has no flow to speak of IMO, but I think his positivity is well needed.

[chand]

Every now and then Kweli will pop up on a guest spot somewhere and I'll go 'Man, he's actually quite good, I probably underrate him', but I've never really been satisfied by his solo records.

Kanye does have a monster ego, although that's not exactly something he invented in hip-hop, and I've enjoyed all his albums, again without ever really feeling he hits greatness consistently. I'm glad he's around though as a mainstream hip-hop artist who is prepared to sometimes make a tit of himself, and while he may have done some (albeit highly entertaining) stupid shit like rushing the stage to bitch about Justice beating him to a video award, I liked his genuine heartfelt anger at Bush in the Katrina aftermath, and that he stepped up and at least briefly railed against homophobia in hip-hop.

He's in a kind of curious place between conscious rapper and clichéd iced-up consumerist, quite often he's both in the same song (see 'Diamonds From Sierra Leone' for a start, where he sorta kinda recognises the superficiality of it all and then kind of makes excuses for it) and he always seems kind of conflicted. He's self-aware and yet massively egotistical. I read a review in the Metro today which criticised him for the ling 'I'm the fly Malcom X/buy any jeans necessary' though, and as far as I'm concerned that's a fucking ace line.

[Ja'moke]

I'm going to buy Graduation today. I've always liked Kanye West and I still think College Dropout is a really great album. I wasn't too impressed with Late Registration but I've heard good things about Graduation and the fact there are none of those stupid skits on it can only be a good thing.

I agree with others on this thread that Kanye does seem conflicted over what type of rapper he wants to be perceived as. I was watching an interview with 50 Cent of all people  who brought this issue up. He said something like "Kanye's dropping something conscious like Jesus Walks and then next he's dropping something like Gold Digger, he's not consistent". He then went on to say "I know what I'm saying in my songs so to me that makes me a conscious rapper". I've listened to 50 Cent's new album on his Myspace page and it's just the same shit as always, production is nice but when the rapper isn't saying anything of worth it's like..what's the point? So I'm glad Kanye's album is outselling Curtis because if 50 sticks to his word then he'll be retiring from rap and that I will welcome.

[drberbatov]

50's whole ethos is summed up by 'Get Rich or Die Tryin', he got rich so job done - the beef between Kanye and 50 was a carefully orchestrated campaign and it worked in the sense that records are being sold and there was a mainstream interest in hip hop again but the whole thing is just comes across as real lame.

[Ja'moke]

50's apparently blaming Interscope and them not promoting his album well enough for the reason why Kanye's album is outselling his.

[rjd2]

And ruined some.

Ah this little number. Am I the only person in the world who thought was a really fien piece of production with some really good verses
[youtube=425,350]http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=lX5qCQBZjcs[/youtube]

[waste of chops]

And ruined some.

Don't let Neil see this one!

[youtube=425,350]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Jgfb6cXxIaw[/youtube]

[Ja'moke]

Ah Kanye, snubbed by the VMA's for the second year in a row and he isn't taking it lightly. Got to admit though it's far more entertaining than him sitting there with a fake grin on his face and clapping when you know he couldn't give a shit who else won.

[youtube=425,350]http://youtube.com/watch?v=_-631TgPP2s[/youtube]