re: Jay Z vs Kanye West

quote:

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But you don't actually think that, right? I mean you mentioned Bob Dylan, and I'm certain he could put out an album with 80 minutes of his armpit farts and it would get five stars across the board from every music critic and their cousin.

Radiohead could smack their cocks from thigh to thigh for 80 minutes. Same result.

I'm sure we could come up with others.

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sure we could, but here's the point. As gloriously overpraised as Radiohead is, and I agree, they are obnoxiously overpraised, Radiohead has not had as much plaudits heaped upon them as Kanye. Radiohead is overpraised and even they aren't as overpriased as Kanye. that's staggering.

Dylan's a tad different because a lot of his current praise is just nostalgia, which is is irritating, but no one really believes it. And Dylan actually has been ripped critically (two words: Christian period, two more: Self Portrait). From 1976 or so to about 1990, he couldn't buy a good review except from his most fawning sycophants.

I like Kanye. I think he's good. But he's not the producer Dre is and he's not the lyricist Talib Kweli is, for example. I think its telling that your bent out of sorts not that I'm positing that Kanye isn't really good, but that he isn't the undisputed best working artist. It's like even the slight bit of dissent is blasphemy to Kanye fans.

Look, hip hop has largely lost me in the past decade. I think Kanye is better than his contemporaries primarily by default. I do prefer Outkast to Kanye, but I also prefer pretty much every 80s act to both of them, so perhaps I'm the wrong guy. Everybody's flow is crap, including Kanye (except Kweli, and maybe Jay Z, which is why I like him better). But give me Tribe Called Quest or Eric B and Rakim.