What a mediocre megalomaniac. So he's saying he's not quite as good as either the Beatles or the Be Sharps, both of whom claimed to be bigger than Jesus?

However catchy or innovative his "music" might be, this guy's ridiculous.

A pop star with controversial political views and an over-sized ego? Heaven forefend.

Gold Digger was catchy, but, mostly I liked the Ray Charles' bits.

I enjoy listening to Kanye's CDs, and think he is pretty creative in comparison to many hip hop artists (or current musicians period). However, I saw him live a few months ago and have to say that it was so bad that I was embarrassed for him. Not only was he utterly unable to sing, rap, dance, or do much else on stage, but his narcissistic presence could only be compared to Scott Stapp's.

I think most of the credit behind Kanye's creative sounds should go to his producers. Beyond that, I tend to agree with Zach's assessment.

I've never been bothered by the ridiculous political statements of artists. I simply don't care what their political stances are or whether they're reasonable as long as the music is good, the movie entertaining, etc. I think Mel Gibson is a total nutball, but I still enjoy his movies. I thought Rage Against the Machine had some silly faux-revolutionary political ideas, but they were still one of the truly great bands of the last 20 years.

I agree with Ed, entertainers should stick to just that...entertaining. There was also an article in the IDS (Indiana Daily Stuent) today about the Oscars/Hollywoods role in politics, pretty good I think: http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.php?adid=search&id=33462

Time magazine named him ... "Hip Hop's Class Act".

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

Borrowing pop-culture icons such as the Mel Gibson necropic to further one's celebrity is hardly shocking. That said, there are few genres in which artists self-aggrandize as much as hip hop, and few artists within that genre who are more prolific in this regard than Kanye West. I'll note that the producer Mr. Bunch compliments is chiefly West himself, although his production style, while noteworthy, is beginning to show signs of fatigue.

...and many of the beats and riff that make his production sound so good are recycled from old soul and R&B records. He's never as obvious as Puff Daddy was in the 90s with samples of "Let's Dance" and "Kashmir," but the end result is the same: less songcraft than timing and production, which are, in my opinion, far lesser virtues in the creativity spectrum.

I first heard of Kanye West when he made the Bush remark. Still never heard his music.

but his narcissistic presence could only be compared to Scott Stapp's.

Now that's just cruel...

Isn't it funny how celebrities think that the public really cares about their views on political and social issues? I'm still waiting for Alec Baldwin to leave the country because Bush was elected (twice).....

All of you commenting about Kanye must be 40 yrs. old or older. Young people, such as myself, can care less about Kanye's political rampage. When he said that Bush did not care about black people, he was only saying what almost every black person wanted to say. Kanye has the youth rapped up in his fingertips. He wants the same recognition from the grown folks. I understand Kanye completely. When your an music artist, your suppose to walk down the same path everyone else did in the past. However, Kanye is making his own path. He is redefining what pop artists is actually capable of doing. You all need to stop looking at things in black and white. Kanye is practically defying the laws of music artists and I love him to death for that.