A few very good songs and a lot i dont really wanna hear ever again. college dropout is beter

Still feels ahead of its time. Every song on here is nothing less then incredible, songs like Heard Em Say, Touch The Sky, Gold Digger, Diamonds From Sierra Leone (Remix), Roses, We Major, and Mama deserve to be certified as absolute rap classics!!!!! It should also be noted that Gone is 100% perfect, at times it feels like Mr. West's masterpiece. Easily my second favorite hip-hop album (My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is number one) and without a doubt one of the finest albums of all time.

This is easily Kanye's most heartfelt work. Plus, the innovation of classical orchestrations for hip hop? Pure genius. No, Kanye's never been the strongest rapper, but he's got enough flow to get by, and it's a strong album. Kanye and Jon Brion need to do more work with one another.

Kanye's strongest album lyrically (although that isn't saying a lot), with his most memorable collection of songs.

Kayne's statement that hip-hop could be PG and pop friendly. Suffers from being too long like many hip hop albums and Kayne isn't a strong rapper.

The singles are this albums weakness in my opinion.

Picks up right where Dropout left off in progressive hip-hop production. Much like the Godfather 1 & 2, I don't like separating them in my mind.

Great hip hop revisionist at work here, proving that the '90's were not necessarily the end of the classic era. While the opening tracks and the hits are all fine I always had a soft spot for the closer, Gone, which is kind of epic.

Kanye brings all the skills from hist first album and amps up the lyrics, samples and gives it all a more "natural" sound via Jon Brion, even the skits are less annoying. Brion brings some string arrangements to back Kanye's flow and it works well and Kanye summons a ton of guests from Nas and Lupe Fiasco to the Maroon 5 guy (seriously) and Brandy (seriously). It all works starting with backing vocals of Adam Levine from Maroon 5 on "touch the sky" ("They say, people in life are seasons / And anything that happen is for a reason / And niggas gun clapping and keep to squeezing / And Gram' keep praying and keep believing") a wiser-than-his-years song about cherishing today. Kanye shuffles back-and-forth between sincerity and braggadacio as shown in the next song "touch the sky" ("Back when Gucci was the shit to rock / Back when Slick Rick got the shit to pop / I'd do anything to say I got it / Damn, them new loafers hurt my pocket") but always staying grounded ("Before anybody wanted K-West beats / Me and my girl split the buffet at KFC"). "gold digger" is DUH BOMM, with jamie foxx doing his best ray charles, kanye spittin' "Now I ain't sayin' she a gold digger / But she ain't messin' wit no broke niggas" at the chorus. In "Bring me Down" he raps "It's funny how these wack niggaz need my help / Wasn't around when I couldn't feed myself / Dog, If I was you, I wouldn't feel myself / Dog, If I was you, I'd kill myself / Made a mill myself and I'm still myself". (Brandy's lackluster vocals are the only middling point on this album.) With some catchy backing light guitar lick, he asks "What's your addiction? Is it money? Is it girls? Is it weed?" then "Roll up the doge, henny and c-c-c-cola, then I'm c-c-coming over / Cuz its ne-never over" on "Addiction" before closing the song stumbling into requesting his chick for a 3-way at the end. There are two versions of "diamonds" on here (sampling the james bond song, one version featuring jay-z) -- really, it's like an extended song split in two -- and they both work well without wearing out the backing sample welcome. It's the album's centerpiece. He bemoans the true price of diamonds "I thought my Jesus Piece was so harmless / 'til I seen a picture of a shorty armless" while Jay-Z drops a syqk rhyme, later boasting "R-r-r-right here stands a-man / With the power to make a diamond with his bare hands". Really Doe (really?) starts off "we major" with "I can't control it, can't hold it, it's so nuts / I take a sip of that yak, I wanna fuck / I take a hit of that chronic, it got me stuck" (with a funny delivery) before Kanye states "Feeling better than some head on a sunday afternoon / Better than a chick that say yes to soon / Until you have a daughter, that's what I call karma / And you pray to god she don't grow breasts too soon.". Haha. "hey mama" is sweet, reminiscent of 2pac's "dear mama", from the perspective of a middle-class geek boy instead of a thug in-and-out of prison, remembering "Cuz a nigga cheatin, telling you lies, then I started to cry / As we knelt on the kitchen floor / I said mommy Imma love you till you don't hurt no more / And when I'm older, you aint gotta work no more / And Imma get you that mansion that we couldn't afford" praising "My mama told me go to school, get your doctorate / Somethin to fall back on, you could profit with / But still supported me when I did the opposite". "Gone" sounds like it has another ray charles impersonator and with its opening tinkly piano reminds me of an old-school ray tune, sprawling but not a moment wasted. Same for the album.

This is a pop/rap masterpiece. Both the lyrics and the production are extremely innovative!