72. Kanye West - The College Dropout (2004) & Late Registration (2005)

Kanye West is important for changing the modern hip-hop song in both sound and attitude, he is also an interesting and conflicted modern superstar.

Citing influences spanning soul, indie, rock, classical, jazz, but especially the productions of the RZA for Wu-Tang, and the rappers ODB and Ghosface (who share a certain imbalance with Kanye) and the trip-hop of Bristol, especially the later orchestrated Portishead.

West first came to attention following his stellar work on Jay-Z's The Blueprint, especially Takeover, which along with his subsequent work seemed to be an exercise in how little you need to do, many tracks simply a soul song sped up and sampled (not seen since the heady days of 91-93 British 'Ardcore you know the score), this providing the entire track other than drum programs and lyrics, but still working brilliantly, like the audacity of those graffiti artists who just tag onto someone else's work and claim it as their own (albeit with inarguable style and grace), or the character prints by Andy Warhol. West has a untypical background for an accepted hip-hop artist, his parents were black professionals (and radicals), and West attended school in Atlanta, GA gaining good grades and a place at art college where he dropped out to pursue music. Following his production success for Jay-Z he wanted to become a rapper/producer, but was turned down by Roc-A-Fella due to his non hip-hop image, which still rankles some hardcore heads, what with his normal size trousers, exploratory subject matter, embrace of indie culture and speaking out against homophobia.

The first single Through The Wire was inspired by a car crash that resulted in Kanye having his jaw wired shut, thus providing the subject matter and vocal slur of the song, the music was an extended sample of Chaka Khan's Through The Fire, sped up. The College Dropout came next, and outdoes Jay-Z's 73rd position by Kanye's self-conscious, everyman, human persona, whilst still retaining a good dose of hip-hop arrogance, pretension, self-glorification. Contradictory but more interesting than the seemingly infallible glistening robot Jay-Z.

The last track on The College Dropout is Last Call, a 12min non rapped overlong acceptance speech for a non existent award, which most artists would have buried in the hope it would never be heard, containing such details as going with his mum to IKEA to buy a bed and putting it together. Always too much, but never enough.

Late Registration basks in the success of 2004, adding instrumental flourishes and orchestral grandiose arrangements to the formula. Containing the massive hit Goldigga (better in it's non explicit edited form, with the Broke, broke).

Kanye West raps political, personal and his ideas remain conceptually more interesting than 99.9% of music from other supposedly more challenging genres. Jay-Z used it, but perhaps Damien Hirsts diamond encrusted skull is more representative of Kanye West's art, at once hideously opulent and crushingly self-conscious, evidenced by all those public outbursts at award ceremonies and endless sincere apologies 'George Bush don't like black people', fallible and unpredictable, the diamond skull made flesh.