The career of Kanye West has been messy, chaotic, and brilliant alike. Who else can say they had a Teflon run that lasted nearly 10 years? From February 2004 with College Dropout to June 2013 with Yeezus, he made some of the most incredible music to have ever been recorded. It was meticulously detailed, deliriously funny, and astounding in its social critique and fantastical flexing all at once.
In the midst of all of this and especially afterwards though, Kanye West couldn’t help but find himself in controversy. The late 2010s and 2020s in particular saw him at his thorniest, pushing any and everyone away with insensitive rage-bait. Now, with over 20 years under his belt, he’s anxious to make his big comeback with his new album Bully. Ye has even made it a point to apologize for all of his antics and outbursts as he aims to continuously better himself.
The old Kanye will never come back. But as he tries to win over his lost supporters, Noisey has selected four of his greatest songs of all time. In cobbling his Mount Rushmore, it’ll demonstrate why we fell in love with his music in the first place.
4 of the Greatest Kanye West Songs of All Time
‘Flashing Lights’
“Flashing Lights” is the record that embodies Kanye best. Graduation saw him reach stadium status, where the allure of fame and fortune is enticing but misleading. Sure, life is easy until you have to deal with paparazzi impinging on your sense of freedom. He can’t say that he doesn’t adore the good life as a rich artist. But all the media exploitation leaves him at odds with the public at large. Eventually, Kanye West would grow beyond just comparing the paparazzi to the Nazis. But the ego with his earnestness made for one of the greatest songs in his catalog.
‘Devil In A New Dress’
The ultimate monument to luxury and excess. In the aftermath of achieving stadium status, battling grief, and the infamous Taylor Swift VMAs moment, Kanye found himself with a target on his back. How do you overcome Barack Obama calling you a jackass in the midst of his presidency? The only way he ever could: rolling around in riches.
“Devil In A New Dress” depicts Kanye West in all of his boisterous boasts and blistering nihilism. Atop stunning Smokey Robinson sampled vocals and a sizzling guitar, he indulges in the sacrilegious and muses over a particularly toxic relationship. By the end of his second verse, Ye scoffs, “you love me for me, could you be more phony?“
Then, one of the greatest guest verses in hip-hop history. After Kanye initially told Rick Ross that he could go harder, the Florida legend defined opulence. “Cherry-red chariot, excess is just my character,” before strutting lavender shoes with an all-black tuxedo. He has so many cars under his name, the DMV couldn’t tell how many were fraudulent. For Ross, wealth was health and few rappers made it sound this alluring.
‘New Slaves’
If “Devil In A New Dress” dealt in decadence, “New Slaves” grappled with a society insistent on racial and economic disparity. The nature of capitalism and materialism is determined to keep people in vicious cycles, where the poor get poorer and bend over backwards for things they can’t afford. The marginalized, particularly Black Americans, get exploited, thrown in prisons, or systematically prohibited from advancing in society.
Naturally, Kanye West takes this as a good excuse to antagonize. No one can truly control him and he intends to radically alter the system accordingly. The juxtaposition of the radical and daring with the deliciously brash and arrogant makes for one of Ye’s most ambitious records. By the Frank Ocean-assisted outro, he shows he’s willing to go out in a blaze of glory to achieve his mission.
‘Slow Jamz’
Kanye West was a master of the sample flip. Whether it’s simple and effective like on Slum Village’s “Selfish” or a more complex breakdown like on Cam’ron’s “Down And Out”, he knew how to maximize a record. “Slow Jamz” melds the rich history of R&B with unparalleled musical craftsmanship when he samples Luther Vandross’ “A House Is Not A Home”.
A tribute to the classics through the lens of a sex jam, Kanye has a dark-skinned and light-skinned friend that look like Michael Jackson. Jamie Foxx keeps howling R&B icons into the ether before Twista pulls out all the rapping acrobatics to get a woman into bed. “Slow Jamz” shows one of the earliest examples of Kanye’s uncanny hit-making skills.
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