By Andrew Banks
Before I say what I have to say about the great Kanye West, I want everyone reading this to take a moment. I want y’all to realize that Kanye West is my generations Michael Jackson.
Oh ya, I said that; you don’t have to read it twice. What I mean is no other artist other than Michael Jackson has more hits than Kanye West. You don’t have to agree and I don’t really care if you do to be frank.
What 610 Sports radio host Carrington Harrison (@cdotharrison on Twitter) asked us all to do was near impossible. In the spirit of March Madness and brackets, “C-Dot” created a bracket filled with 64 Kanye songs. His discography was spread out into 4 regions: North West, Donda, Chicago and Saint. Each region has songs ranked 1-16.
I wouldn’t trust anyone else but C-Dot when it comes to correctly ranking Kanye’s incredible discography. However!! Since this is my blog, I gotta put my two cents on it. I had a couple beefs as far as matchups and there were some GRUELING decisions to make. Without further ado let’s get it in.
NORTH WEST REGION
You get some heavy hitters right off the bat in this one. Can’t Tell Me Nothing is the 1 seed with Through the Wire, Flashing Lights, Love Lockdown, Famous and So Appalled as contenders. So Appalled as the 8-seed vs Never Let Me Down as the 9-seed was the best matchup of the region. So Appalled is a dope track from Kanye’s self-proclaimed ”masterpiece” My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. When Kanye said
”N****s be writing bullshit like they gotta work, N****s is going through real shit, man, they outta work”
That wrapped up Kanye’s verse beautifully. Not to mention Hov joining in on the fun. Cyhi Tha Prince went stupid on this track too. Such a powerhouse track. Then we have Never Let Me Down ft Jay-Z (This is going to be a trend) off of College Dropout.
”Now n****s can’t make it to ballots to choose leadership, But we can make it to Jacobs and to the dealership, Swear I hear new music and I just don’t be feelin’ it, racism’s still alive they just be concealing it.”
Those four lines could stand up in any era because of how real it is. I love this era of Kanye because he was so ”woke” when all black people wanted to hear was gangsta’ rap. Kanye was trying to put us on game and songs like this makes me miss the old Kanye. For that reason, I had to roll with Never Let Me Down over So Appalled.
Elite 8- Can’t Tell Me Nothing (1) vs. Through The Wire (2)
Through The Wire moves on. The man got in a car accident, literally had his jaw wired shut and still made a hit record weeks later. Let’s move on.
DONDA REGION
This region isn’t as strong as the others but you can still find plenty of star power throughout. All Falls Down is the 1-seed with Monster, Drive Slow, Runaway, and All of The Lights going toe to toe. The best matchup in this one was Runaway (4) vs. Blood On The Leaves (13). Another track from DTF, Runaway has the iconic piano intro that everyone loves. Kanye put everything he had into this record. His distorted solo at the very end is beautiful and ugly all in one. In my opinion, it’s one of his best projects he ever did.
Elite 8- Runaway (4) vs. Get Em High (10)
Runaway wins in a run away.
CHICAGO REGION
This might be my favorite region of them all. The Chi-Town bracket has Jesus Walks (1) to go with Gold Digger (6), Slow Jamz (3), Power (2), and Stronger (4). The toughest matchup I had to decide was Stronger vs. Black Skinhead. Stronger is no doubt the bigger and more popular song. This was right around the time Kanye firmly planted his foot on the necks of every rappper in the game. Graduation is one of my favorite projects from Ye’ because of how indentifiable his sound had become. It was a culmination of College Dropout and Late Registration. It’s almost like those two albums had a baby and out came Graduation. The transformation from humble kid with a pink polo to global icon was complete. This was also the album that Kanye put up agaisnt 50 Cent’s Curtis back in 2007. I did one of my very first stories for my high school newspaper on how Kanye would destroy 50 Cent in head to head album sales. Of course I was right. Kanye sold 957,000 in his first week while 50 did 691,000.
Even after all that, I still chose Black Skinhead. The reason why: it was way before it’s time. When Yeezus dropped, it seemed as if Ye’ had abandoned us. He was argumentive and confrontational like never before and the sound reflected it. But low key that album ushered in the whole Travis Scott sound that we hear in music all the time now. I just feel like Black Skinhead contributed more to the industry and stands out on its own more. It’s revolutionary in a way.
Elite 8– Black Skinhead (13) vs. Slow Jamz (3)
This was a tough one but Slow Jamz takes this one. Easily a top five record out of everything he’s done. It had a fire sample from Luther Vandross, Jamie Foxx and Twista. Two of the hotter names at the time. He showed not only was he coming with bars and drums, but he could make a r&b hit. College Dropout holds sentimental value to me so more times than not I’ll give songs off that album the edge.
SAINT REGION
We wrap things up in this region with Touch The Sky (1) along with hits like N****s In Paris (2), Heard Em Say (6), Diamonds From Sierra Leone (4), The New Workout Plan (16), and Champion (8). This region was the most heartbreaking. Spaceship (5) vs. Ultralight Beams (12) made me want to quit filling out this bracket altogether.
I will admit that I love Spaceship more than the average Kanye fan. Again this is an example of a song from CD, so it’s hard for me to objectively pick against it. College Dropout quite simply helped me find my blackness. I was 13 when it came out. I lived in Overland Park, Kansas. For those who don’t know, OP back when I was growing up was like the NBA except reverse. The NBA is predominantly black and black culture is present throughout. Overland Park was a heavy dose of white culture. I mean the first pg-13 movie I ever saw was Napoleon Dynamite and I used to think it was hilarious, so that should tell you everything you need to know about how I grew up. When my cousin left her College Dropout cd at my house, I listened to it front to back over and over. I realized I wanted to be more like Kanye and less like Will Ferrell. I started my prep phase with bright colored polos because of Kanye West. So that’s why the songs on this album mean so much more to me. Even though I didn’t fully appreciate what he was saying until I came of age, I got the gist. College Dropout will always connect me with my early childhood and without it, I have no idea who I would be today. But please do not get it twisted. Ultralight Beams is an amazing record. Since this is off Life of Pablo, his most recent work, I wasn’t ready to put that over a record like Spaceship that was so raw and unapologetic. His line referencing his job at the Gap is an all-time great.
”They take me to the back and pat me, askin’ me about some khakis, but let some black people walk in I bet you they show off their token blackie”
To wrap up the verse, he tells us exactly why he deserves the riches he’s received.
”Dude, lock yoself in a room doin’ five beats a day for three summers, that’s a different world like Cree Summers, I deserve to do these numbers. The kid that made that, deserves that Maybach.”
And then he predicts the future
”I got so many records in my basement, I’m just waiting on my spaceship”
Elite 8-Spaceship (5) vs N****s In Paris (2)
I picked Spaceship for the upset in this one but N****s In Paris did not go down easy. NIP was a banger when it came out, but I give the edge to the more conscious Kanye.
Final 4-
Through The Wire (2) VS. Runaway (4)
AND
Slow Jamz (3) VS. Spaceship (5)
The journey for Through The Wire has to end here. Runaway is such a polished masterpiece, that I could not pick against it. 9 minutes of pure art. I also have Slow Jamz beating out Spaceship.
And for the win…
Runaway Takes The Throne!
There you have it! I hope y’all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you want more Kanye Bracket talk go give my boy CDot a follow on Twitter @cdotharrison and of course follow me @Drizzy_Dru29.
Bank On It! 
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