Every Kanye West Song, Ranked
All 90 of his studio album songs from worst (or least-great) to perfect
Kanye West is not the best rapper alive today (that’s probably Kendrick), and he isn’t, at least currently, the most popular (that’s Drake, because people decided they enjoyed listening to a Canadian man half-singing Instagram captions in a bad Jamaican accent for fun) and he doesn’t, shockingly, even have the most famous rapper spouse (that would be his mentor/brother/enemy/soulmate, Jay-Z). By most metrics, Kanye is not, at least currently, atop any kind of musical mountaintop.
Kanye West is my favorite rapper. He would probably prefer that I refer him to as a musician, or an artist, or a visionary, or a genius, because that’s the way that Kanye is. He may not be the best, or the most famous, or get the most radio play, but Kanye is, still, the most interesting rapper alive today. It’s his uniqueness that I’ve gravitated towards. He’s different. Above all, I love that about him the most. His songs have shifted and rearranged the way we think about rap music. His influence is all-encompassing. Would Drake, for example, be able to make a career out of his own glum self-reflection without 808s and Heartbreak? Chance the Rapper is on record in saying that Kanye inspired him to start rapping. Unfortunately, so is Big Sean, but the point still stands.
Deciding which of Kanye’s albums is best is too difficult for me. Albums tend to exist in a vacuum, exterior memories and events attach themselves to the moments surrounding the album’s release. It’s difficult, for me, to separate how I felt at the time I first heard an album from how I felt at that time in my life, generally. It’s easier for me to rank his songs. Songs are easier to judge on their own merit, especially when you peel them away from the album that introduced them. For the purposes of my own sanity and the brevity of this piece, I’m only ranking songs of Kanye’s solo studio albums. I’m eliminating any skits (shout out Broke Phi Broke forever, though), songs that appear on his albums that he doesn’t contribute vocally to (Low Lights, My Way Home, etc.), and bonus tracks. I’m eliminating bonus tracks for no other reason than because I still don’t know what to do with Pinocchio Story. That leaves us with 90 songs. Not all of them are great. Some of them actually kind of suck. But if nothing else, they’re all interesting. That’s the beautiful thing about Kanye.
90: “I Am A God”, Yeezus
Yeezus is a very difficult album. It’s a grind to get through in one sitting. You have to be in a certain mood, usually something approaching homicidal, to even begin listening to it. “I Am A God” is the sloggiest big of slog on the whole album. There are hints, small ones yet, that maybe Kanye is more in on the joke than he lets on (the song does feature God himself), but the track is just a little too much. It’s a lot too much, actually.
Best Line: “In a French-ass restaurant, hurry up with my damn croissants.”
89: “Facts”, The Life of Pablo
88: “Drunk and Hot Girls”, Graduation
An individual’s opinion on Drunk and Hot Girls is a good barometer to separate blindly loyal Kanye fans from the more reasonable ones. Drunk and Hot Girls sounds like a slurring, hammered, sorority girl. That’s probably the point. It’s still not a track I want to spend much time with.
Best Line: “Ah da da da da, that’s how the fuck you sound, you drunk and hot girl.”
87: “Send it Up”, Yeezus
86: “Addiction”, Late Registration
85: “Big Brother”, Graduation
As far as superhero origin stories, this one pales in comparison to Last Call, a far funnier and more enlightening and sprawling track that he released two albums prior. In hindsight, this track feels more like a favor to Jay-Z than it does a tribute.
Best Line: “Have you ever walked in the shadow of a giant, not only a client, the Presidito, hola ovito.”
84: “Waves”, The Life of Pablo
83: “See You In My Nightmares”, 808s and Heartbreak
82: “On Sight”, Yeezus
81: “Welcome to Heartbreak”, 808s and Heartbreak
80: “Homecoming”, Graduation
I’m embarrassed to admit that the first twenty or so times I heard this song I thought it was about a woman named Wendy. This is the Mike Tyson of heavy-handed metaphors. He literally reveals at the end he’s talking about Chicago. I’m an idiot. It’s a fun song, though. Corny as hell, but fun.
Best Line: “When I grew up, she showed me how to go downtown, in the nighttime her face lit up, so astounding, I told her in my heart is where she’ll always be, she never messed with entertainers because they always leave.”
79: “Family Business,” College Dropout
78: “Bad News,” 808s and Heartbreak
77: “All of the Lights,” My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
This song is massive. I’m not so sure that’s a good thing. Kanye writing a song with parts for Fergie and Elton John and Alicia Keys is a pretty good example of “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. It’s my least favorite song on MBDTF. Kanye’s at a 12 here, we need him back to his normal level of 10.
Best Line: “Restraining order, can’t see my daughter, her mother, brother, grandmother hate me in that order. Public visitation, we met at Borders. Told her take me back, I’ll be more supportive.”
76: “Guilt Trip”, Yeezus
75: “I’m In It”, Yeezus
74: “Breathe In Breathe Out”, College Dropout
73: “Celebration”, Late Registration
72: “Hold My Liquor”, Yeezus
71: “Blood on the Leaves”, Yeezus
70: “Feedback”, The Life of Pablo
69: “Freestyle 4”, The Life of Pablo
68: “Saint Pablo”, The Life of Pablo
I didn’t imagine ranking Saint Pablo up past some of Kanye’s more famous songs when I started this exercise. It’s not a song that instantly grabs you. It’s a song that you think about long after it’s over. The genuine melancholy in Kanye’s voice, the pulling back of Oz’s curtain, the deeply personal (and potentially embarrassing) admission of financial and mental instability. Kanye might not pull it off completely, but he’s the only musician that might attempt to land the song.
Best Line: “Checkin’ Instagram comments to crowd source my self-esteem”
67: “Coldest Winter”, 808s and Heartbreak
66: “Barry Bonds”, Graduation
65: “Diamonds From Sierra Leone (Remix)”, Late Registration
64: “Bound 2”, Yeezus
Lost in the unintentional humor of the famous Kim and Kanye on a motorcycle music video that accompanied this song is the genuinely funny intentional humor throughout the track. The last song on Yeezus offers a respite from all that darkness.
Best Line: “Hey, you remember where we first met? Ok, I don’t remember where we first met. But hey, admitting is the first step.”
63: “I Love Kanye”, The Life of Pablo
62: “Father Stretch My Hands”, The Life of Pablo
61: “Part 2”, The Life of Pablo
60: “Say You Will”, 808s and Heartbreak
59: “Street Lights”, 808s and Heartbreak
All of 808s and Heartbreak makes you feel a certain way, like you are wandering around inside your own skull or lost outside in a deep gray snowstorm or sinking towards the bottom of a pool in resigned despair, a la Cameron in Ferris Bueller. Street Lights is the song that captures that mood the best.
Best Line: “I hopped in the cab and I paid my fare see I know my destination but I’m just not there.”
58: “Highlights”, The Life of Pablo
57: “Power”, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”
56: “Heartless”, 808s and Heartbreak
55: “Champion”, Graduation
54: “Crack Music”, Late Registration
53: “Slow Jamz”, College Dropout
If this ranking seems a little high to you, keep in mind that this was the moment when Kanye was gracious enough to bestow upon us this all-time great aside-
Best Line: “She got a light-skinned friend look like Michael Jackson, got a dark-skinned friend look like Michael Jackson”
52: “Two Words”, College Dropout
51: “Wolves”, The Life of Pablo
50: “Hell of a Life”, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
49: “Stronger”, Graduation
48: “Get ‘Em High”, College Dropout
If you haven’t figured it out already, there’s no science to this list. It’s just how I feel. You can complain if you want, but complaining about how much someone likes a song is like complaining how much someone likes Lobster versus Steak. Everyone’s musical taste buds are different, as it were. Big Sean still isn’t good. When I was in High School I learned every single word to Get ‘Em High. I still know them by heart. I can’t tell you one class I took my senior year, but I can tell you that Kanye’s future girlfriend on this song attends NYU but she hails from Kansas.
Best Line: “Now who the hell is this, e-mailing me at 11:26, telling me that she’s 36–26?”
47: “Robocop”, 808s and Heartbreak
46: “FML”, The Life of Pablo
45: “Real Friends”, The Life of Pablo
44: “Gold Digger”, Late Registration
43: “Roses”, Late Registration
42: “Amazing”, 808s and Heartbreak
41: “30 Hours”, The Life of Pablo
40: “Black Skinhead”, Yeezus
39: “Fade”, The Life of Pablo
38: “Lost in the World”, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
37: “Famous”, The Life of Pablo
In the twitter age, it’s become overused and cliché to call something iconic. This song is that. Look what it made Taylor do. Look what it made us all do. It’s the perfect song for the social media age, spreading like a forest fire and trapping the previously unimpeachable Taylor Swift in the woods.
Best Line: “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex.”
36: “Spaceship”, College Dropout
35: “New Slaves”, Yeezus
34: “Paranoid”, 808s and Heartbreak
33: “Love Lockdown”, 808s and Heartbreak
32: “Never Let Me Down”, College Dropout
31: “The New Workout Plan”, College Dropout
30: “Hey Mama”, Late Registration
29: “Good Morning”, Graduation
28: “Good Life”, Graduation
27: “School Spirit”, College Dropout
In keeping with Kanye’s scholastic theme, this is Kanye’s grand thesis. Namely, he is a genius, you’re an idiot, and the best decision he ever made was leaving the rat race to continue being a genius. Kanye has never been shy about rapping about his own psychosis, arrogance, and insecurity, but it’s all on display here. It’s also really funny.
Best Line: “I went to Cheesecake, he was a motherfucking waiter there.”
26: “No More Parties in LA”, The Life of Pablo
25: “Dark Fantasy”, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
24: “Touch The Sky”, Late Registration
23: “Late”, Late Registration
22: “Drive Slow”, Late Registration
Kanye has this Lebron James like ability to make those around him better. Role players become starters, starters become All-Stars, All-Stars become legends (see number 20). That skill is never more evident than on Drive Slow, an earworm of a track that turns Paul Wall into a charismatic rap genius. To whit:
Best Line: Kanye-“My car’s like the movie, my car’s like the crib, I got more TV’s in here than where I live…”
Paul Wall-“And that don’t make no sense, but baby I’m the shit.”
21: “Devil in a New Dress”, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
20: “Monster”, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
19: “Last Call”, College Dropout
Life advice: If your significant other skips the story that Kanye tells during Last Call, break up with them at once. They are not loyal. They are desperate for immediate, surface level satisfaction. They’re shallow. They will take your beauty for granted.
Best Line: “Mayonnaise colored Benz, I push miracle whips”
18: “Ultralight Beam”, The Life of Pablo
17: “So Appalled”, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
16: “Heard Em Say”, Late Registration
15: “Blame Game”, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
14: “Gorgeous”, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
13: “Flashing Lights”, Graduation
12: “All Falls Down”, College Dropout
11: “We Don’t Care”, College Dropout
10: “The Glory”, Graduation
When people say that they miss “the old Kanye”, this is what they mean. Sometimes I don’t blame them. This song captures everything that made the world fall in love with Kanye. The stream of consciousness ego trip, the sped up soul samples, the cleanliness of his psyche. It’s peak old-Kanye.
Best Line: “Yeah, that tuxedo mighta been a little guido, but with my ego? I can stand there in a speedo and be looked at like a fucking hero.”
9: “Through the Wire”, College Dropout
8: “I Wonder”, Graduation
7: “Everything I Am”, Graduation
6: “All Falls Down”, College Dropout
5: “Can’t Tell Me Nothing”, Graduation
4: “Gone”, Late Registration
Kanye warms everybody up, typically charming and funny, and it’s wonderful. Then Cam’ron shows up, and his introductory “Knock Knock” joke is even more charming and funny and perfect. Then Consequence arrives, lamenting his decision to not rent Gone With The Wind, and he is even more perfect. Finally, Kanye returns, sharing a story about his friend from Chicago whom was once fired from Taco Bell for giving away free churros, and it’s the most perfect moment of all.
Best Line: “I’m ahead of my time, sometimes years out, so the powers that be wont let me get my ideas out and that make me wanna get my advance out and move to Oklahoma and just live at my Aunt’s house”
And now, without commentary or interruption, your top three Kanye West songs.
3: “Jesus Walks”, College Dropout
2: “Runaway”, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
1: “We Major”, Late Registration
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