10. Jesus Is King
In this album, Kanye takes a full gospel turn. A lot of his previous albums had songs with gospel themes, including Jesus Walks from The College Dropout, and Ultralight Beam from The Life Of Pablo. But in this album, the entire tracklist revolves around Christianity and being a good person. However, this album seems to be hated by many, even though overall I'd say it is a 7.5/10. Some of my favorite songs are God Is, Follow God, Use This Gospel, and Every Hour.
9. Ye
This is a very short album. But that is made up for with the songs that are on it. I don’t think it is as good as some people say it is, like in a lot of lists I see this around the number 5-1 spots which I think is pretty wrong. Some amazing songs on this album are Ghost Town, Violent Crimes, and All Mine.
8. Yeezus
Kanye took a very different route on this album, choosing more aggressive and violent production. It’s actually very influential, as you can hear a similar style on many albums like Utopia by Travis Scott. I love songs like On Sight, Black Skinhead, I Am A God, New Slaves, and Bound 2.
7. Donda
Even though this album is way too long, it’s still really quite good. The original album without the deluxe edition is already 27 songs long, then adding the deluxe edition it is 32 songs long. And some of the songs that make up this large tracklist do kinda feel like filler. But some of my favorite songs include Off The Grid, Praise God, Hurricane, Life Of The Party, Jail, Moon, Believe What I Say, 24, Come To Life, and many others.
6. 808s And Heartbreak
This is easily Kanye’s most influential album. The stylized use of autotune is still being used to this day by many young rappers, along with the punchy, hard hitting 808s sound. This album was made after the death of his mother, Donda West, and the breakup of his then fiancée Alexis Phifer. Because of this, most songs have somber lyrics and slow beats. This doesn’t mean the songs are bad though. When this album was released in 2008, fans of Kanye’s previous work were turned off by his new sound. In fact, they hated it. But the younger generation loved it. And that’s how it became such a popular type of rap. Some great songs are Heartless, Paranoid, Say You Will, Coldest Winter, Robocop, Street Lights, and Amazing.
5. The Life Of Pablo
For me personally, this is the most “Kanye sounding” Kanye album. This was released in 2016, right when the Yeezy shoe brand started to really take off. If you don’t know, Yeezy is Kanye’s shoe brand that he collaborated with Adidas to distribute. All the songs sound like what kanye had been leading up to at this point. A more modern, clean sound. And it worked, as I love almost every song on this album. Some standouts are No More Parties In LA, Saint Pablo, Father Stretch My Hands Pt1, Pt2, Ultralight Beam, Waves, Wolves, Highlights, Famous, and 30 Hours.
4. The College Dropout.
Kanye’s debut album is still one of his best. After working as a producer for most notably Jay-Z and many others, he decided to produce his own album after reluctantly being signed to Jay’s record label, Roc-A-Fella Records. But he proved all his doubters wrong after creating one of the most iconic albums in rap history. There is not a single bad song on this album, and the added skits bring some comedy into an already fun album. Some of the best songs include All Falls Down, We Don’t Care, Two Words, The New Workout Plan, Slow Jamz, Jesus Walks, Spaceship, Never Let Me Down, Family Business, and Through The Wire.
3. Late Registration
There’s really not much story to this album, other than the creation of his own record label, G.O.O.D. Music. He also really started to become popular around this time, and was becoming both a celebrity and music artist. Kanye used a mix of his old, College Dropout sound, and a new orchestral sound. This created some wonderful songs, like We Major, Touch The Sky, Gold Digger, Hey Mama, Bring Me Down, Drive Slow, Heard ‘Em Say, Crack Music, Roses, Addiction, Diamonds From Sierra Leone, DFSL Remix, Gone, Celebration, and Late. I basically named all the songs, but that just goes to show how good this album is.
2. Graduation
This was the peak of Kanye’s personal life. He was on top of the world, being rich, famous, and happy. This is evident by listening to the songs on this album. The songs are braggadocious, upbeat, and fun. They all have a more modern, techno sound that just fits perfectly with the lyrics of the songs. Not only is this Kanye’s best selling album, it’s also the fan favorite, often being put at the top of the list. My favorite songs are all of them. They’re all so good and still great to listen to today.
1. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
This is his magnum opus. Every song on this album is amazing, and no one can tell me otherwise. This album is more of a piece of art than just music. From Dark Fantasy to Who Will Survive In America, it’s consistently fantastic. Not a single bad song. Runaway is actually beautiful, with a perfect feature from Pusha T. Gorgeous is catchy and fun and has a great beat. Dark Fantasy sounds so cool but also artistic with it’s intro. And Devil In A New Dress cannot be described with words. This is 100% his greatest album of all time, if not the greatest album of all time.