Your views on Kanye West

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Killiana1a said:

elticker said:

Killiana1a said:

ShadowSoldier said:

Killiana1a said:

Kanye is definitely not on the level or ever will be of 2Pac, the Notorious B.I.G. Eminem, and Jay-Z. His early life with a professor for a mother giving him a solid upper middle class upbringing precluded Kanye's chances of garnering the street credibility to write 5 albums about his time slanging dope on the streets. Rappers need street credibility for longevity, without it they lose the rebel image after 2 multi-platinum albums and become just another super star whose esoteric lyrics are hard to relate to unless you are a millionaire celebrity who has gone to drug rehab.

As for the original question, Kanye is a quite bright, but I would not go so far as genius.

Kanye West has been a jackass, but I do not believe he is a jackass. The immaturity has shown, which make some view him as a jackass.

Rappers DON'T NEED street cred to have longevity. Word to Common, Talib and Mos Def

EDIT- Also VGC really hates Rap and Hip Hop. I had a thread about Jay-Z surpassing Elvis for most number 1 albums debut and I got bashed..I'll never forget the most ignorant comment when Seece claimed Hip-Hop wasn't music.

Common, Talib and Mos Def have sold nowhere near the amount of records as 2Pac, the Notorious B.I.G., Eminem and Jay-Z. Likewise, they have nowhere near the influence on the young white kids and black kids in the suburbs who made 2Pac, the Notorious B.I.G., Eminem and Jay-Z multi-millionaires.

It may be Black Culture, but the people making you a millionaire are not young thugs in Queensbridge or Compton; they are young white kids in the suburbs many of whom whose parents combine for $100k a year.

As for longevity, you are right, but playing that type of "game" will not get you rolling in Bentleys and owning private jets.

btw 2 pac has the guiness world record of most money earned while dead, and he sold the most rap albums according to wikipedia, Dont put 2pac and B.I.G in the same league as eminem and Jay-Z cause they are a level or two lower

I agree in terms of influence neither Eminem or Jay-Z have the amount of influence as 2Pac. Hell, Biggie is 5 levels down from 2Pac on influence outside of NYC and the East Coast. There are murals of 2Pac in Mexico and South Africa. I have not seen a mural of Biggie Smalls in Los Angeles. I wonder why ;)

Eminem is up there because he is the first credible White rapper. Before Eminem, every White rapper was compared to and dismissed as just another Vanilla Ice. Eminem made it couture for Whites to be able to take up Hip Hop culture as aspiring rappers, not just buyers of albums.

Jay-Z album sales and mc'ing skills speak for themselves. As a betting man, I would put my money on Jay-Z to win in a free-style competition against 2Pac, Biggie, and Eminem. There is no one mainstream today who can come close to touching Jay-Z on the microphone.

Notice how I say "mainstream" because in my eyes, unknown rappers who could not get their record to gold status (500k sold) in 10 years do not count. The underground is the underground in large part due to the individual underground rappers themselves not cultivating an image appealable to teens in order to make a living off of their raps. Once they get a record to gold and platinum status, then they are worth talking about because we would know who they are.

In terms of making the most money when dead, Elvis Prestley would have to disagree.

You don't really think jay-z could beat biggie in a battle do you???? I could name 5 rappers alive now who would murder jay-z in a freestyle battle let alone the GOAT bigge. influence wise your right 2pac has it, but he wasn't on the level biggie was.