Damn. That's a tough one. Illmatic and MBDTF are probably tied for my favorite rap album ever, but Kanye's got a much more consistent and interesting discography. I'd put them all above Lana, though. I'm in this weird camp where I love Kanye and Taylor, but see faults in what both of them have done. Kim shouldn't have recorded the phone call without Taylor knowing and Taylor should have been more upfront about what went down, I think. I have no issue with the lyric itself, because (funny enough,) I agree with Taylor that it's tongue-in-cheek. I think she shouldn't have played victim card, but I also get how she'd want to hear the song itself and the full quote. On the other hand, Kanye isn't obligated to give her notice for including her in his song at all. It's just a convoluted mess...
imo the only ration position is: the lyric is gross regardless of permission, a poor articulation of the very real effect kanye had on taylors public perception. however, taylor comes off much worse now, because she and her camp blatantly lied about what happened - that he never sought approval and only wanted her to tweet the single - instead of saying "yeah, you know, he did, but she changed her mind after hearing it on wax," which would have been valid. kanye looks like a sincerely concerned person - "relationships are more important than punchlines" - who has good, but ultimately confused, intentions with bad consequences, while taylor looks sketchy and machiavellian. both are at fault, basically, which is really the position to have unless youre an irrational stan for either
Watch Kim Kardashian Rap Along to Kanye West's 'Famous' Amid Taylor Swift Feud ugh, we get it, can't we just let it go now?
"Real Friends" is so, so fucking good. Wow. Not sure how I managed to sleep on a record of this level for so long.
I don't know how to verbalize this feeling, but like, I know Kanye definitely attempts some huge things/themes from album to album, and I really feel like whatever he was going after with this record, he totally succeeded more than ever before. This seems so coherent and self-assured, even by his standards. Maybe none of this makes sense.
This record has some fucking throwback KW jams, too. I haven't heard him just have fun on verses the way he does a handful of times on here.