Sorry, But Kanye Is the GOAT
5) 808s & Heartbreak is not that good
Wait, it's the Future era and folks are still complaining about Auto-Tune? Not only did Jay not successfully kill it off, but it's come to be as ubiquitous in pop and hip-hop as, we don't know, 808s. (And yes, we're still waiting on that critical reevaluation of T-Pain.)
What everyone who wasn't blinded by the great anti-disco-style Auto-Tune hysteria of the late aughts already knows, of course, is this: What makes 808s great is the songwriting. The work, a downer concept album focusing on relationships that was somehow a giant hit, pioneered the now-pervasive "sad robot" subgenre, and helped solidify the idea that it was ok to be really, really vulnerable in rap.
It's built on real emotion, channeled eloquently. And we'd say the song structures are Beatlesque, if not for the fact Kanye's achievement is probably greater than the Beatles', if only because he did a lot more producing than they.
6) OutKast is the GOAT
Sure maybe if you take OutKast's first five albums -- but pry The Love Below out of the double CD case and replace it with Sir Lucious Left Foot -- and pit them against Kanye's five albums, then maybe it's close. But that's a lot of math.
7) My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy won't hold up
Yeah, after our initial obsession with the work we too thought that. And it was definitely a terrible thing for Pitchfork to give it a 10.0. But we challenge any doubters to listen to MBDTF again, right now, and see if you're not caught up all over again. Truth is it sounds as good now as it did before, maybe better. Raekwon, Nicki Minaj, Pusha T, Bon Iver and Fergie alike are at peak form, and that's a strange sentence to write. In fact, we'll even go so far as to say the 34 minute "Runaway" video holds up.
Top 20 Musicians of All Time, in Any Genre
8) Tupac is the GOAT
If you genuinely feel this way then there's probably no talking you out of it here, and in terms of worldwide cultural influence there's admittedly no topping Tupac. (And that's comparing him to any cultural artifact short of Baywatch.) But c'mon. Also, let's be honest, "Hey Mama" > "Dear Mama."
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