On January 12th 2014 itsmarcelj.com was born. Knowing that I’ve maintained a blog for 12 months and finally figured out a system to post consistently feels great. The inspiration behind starting this blog was to introduce music lovers to new music whether it be something you can hear on the radio or an artist that is just getting their start on soundcloud. Music has always been an important element in my life and this blog gives me an outlet to obsess over what I love and hopefully introduce my readers to some great artists.

As I continue to grow with this blog I want to keeping introducing artists and I hope I can talk to you guys more on here whether it be what I should listen to next, music you’re feeling lately or life in general (Seriously any feedback makes writing this thing even more worth it). But in honor of my 100th post I decided to dedicate it to my favorite artist of all time: YEEZUS! Or you may know him as Kanye West.

After reading Kanye’s name I’m guessing you either cheered with excitement or clicked off the post because I usually get very strong opinions on peoples’ love or hate for the misunderstood artist. While Yeezus may have a problem dealing with the paparazzi, spazzing out during interviews and seems to have lost the humbleness that some people loved him for, you can’t take away the amazing music he creates.

I’m going to rank and discuss  my top 5 Kanye albums and  top 10 songs. If your lists are different from mine, let me know what your ranking would be and why! If you think Kanye West is garbage let me know why you think that as well, I love hearing different views on what I’m interested in.

Top 5 Kanye West Albums

1. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

“My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” is Kanye’s fifth and greatest album. The album begins with  triumphant “Dark Fantasy”. Nicki Minaj sets the scene with her classic Barbie voice. (“Twisted fictions, sick addictions / Well, gather ‘round children, zip it, listen”) After that intro the epic production kicks in making the track sound like the beginning of a movie. It makes sense that West made a mini movie for this album because when listening to it, it takes you a different place. Tracks like “Power”, “All of the Lights”, “Runaway” and my favorite track on the album “Monster” have different tones and give MBDTF a classic feel that I still love to go back to four years later (something some current artists can’t do).

2. Graduation

Graduation is Kanye West’s third album and it was released in 2007. With features from Dwele, T-Pain, Mos Def, Lil Wayne and DJ Premier this album was the last album that sounds close to Yeezy’s “College Drop Out” sound. The album starts on a laid back note with “Good Morning” one of my favorite Kanye tracks. From the playful lyrics (“You got Ds mufucka Ds, Rosie Perez”) to the production, I remember putting this album in my cd player and taking it out months later. “Graduation” spawned tracks like “Good Life” , “Stronger” and “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” (which now reminds of The Hangover whenever I hear it). This album is definitely a classic.

3. College Dropout

The debut album…a true classic that has to be on every hip hop heads top albums list. The first song I heard from the album was “Through the Wire” and I couldn’t get over that sample. The way it’s pitched always sounded eerie to me so hearing it with the story of Kanye having his mouth wired shut and still doing what he loves makes it so powerful. I don’t need to discuss why this is on my top five, I mean “All Falls Down” “Slow Jamz” “Jesus Walks”, it’s a no-brainer folks.

4. Yeezus

Yeezus is Kanye’s most recent and drastic change in music style. After creating “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” that was critically acclaimed and loved by many, “Yeezus” was a hard pill to swallow for some. From the harsh, dark and sometimes satanic sounding production, its obvious that Kanye wanted people to get out of their comfort zone and do something unexpected. The list of producers for this album is legendary with people like Rick Rubin, No I.D, Daft Punk, Arca and some many more that brought this vision to life. I love blasting this album in my car and rapping along to the break down in “Blood On The Leaves” (She Instagram herself like “Bad bitch alert” He Instagram his watch like “Mad rich alert” He only wanna see that ass in reverse Two thousand dollar bag with no cash in your purse). Kanye West is a mad genius for this one.

5. 808s & Heartbreak

Kanye’s fourth album “808s & Heartbreak” is Kanye’s fourth and most emotional album. Created in 2008, this album was made after his mother Donda West died in 2007. West stated that “This album was therapeutic – it’s lonely at the top.” This album also marked a huge change in his musical sound. A majority of the record is Kanye singing through auto tune over spastic beats and somber production. Out of all of Kanye’s album this is the one I’ve replayed the least but the creativity alone earns this album a spot on my top five. I may need to give it a listen when I’m going through some things so I can really feel the emotions in this album.

Top 10 Kanye West Songs

I didn’t give this list a ranking so just enjoy the tracks and read some short blurbs on why they’re on my top 10.

1. Through The Wire – First Kanye track I ever listened to. Love the sample and production.

2. Monster (Featuring Rick Ross, Jay Z, Nicki Minaj & Bon Iver) – Nicki Minaj’s verse.

3. Diamonds From Sierra Leone Remix (Featuring Jay Z) – This track is the reason why “Watch The Throne” was destined to happen. Their lyrics are sick and they made a great song even better.

4. All Falls Down – Classic Kanye rapping about real life for a lot of women.

5. All of The Lights – I was in love with the production when I first heard this track. Hearing the album version was a nice surprise because I didn’t know about all of the artists that are featured on the track.

6. Can’t Tell Me Nothing – Dope song with some classic lines that are just waiting to be tweeted about to remind people how obsessed they were with the song when it was out.

7. Slow Jamz – The features. The sample. Gotta a light-skinned chick look like Michael Jackson / Gotta a dark-skinned chick look like Michael Jackson. Love rapping along to this one.

8. Heartless – Great song and I really love the music video for this one.

9. Niggas In Paris – If you don’t rap along to these lyrics in the car whenever you hear then I feel bad for your poor choices. This song does not get old. #ThatShitCray

10. Blood On The Leaves – This song was played countless times the summer it came out. “Blood on the Leaves” doesn’t get enough love so I had to add it to the list.

I hope you enjoyed my 100th post! Let me know who I should be listening to as 2014 comes to a close and we start a new year.

itsmarcelj