Kanye West is our Elvis Presley. Much like how Elvis altered and spread rock n’ roll, Kanye West has laid the foundation for modern hip-hop. When I say Kanye West, you think of narcissism and ego and god-complex. You think of him taking to the stage to say that George Bush “doesn’t care about black people” at a Hurricane Katrina relief broadcast. You think of the 2009 VMA’s where he famously interrupted Taylor Swift. You think of incoherent, angry, controversial Tweets. You think of a crazed and bipolar and aggressive celebrity. In short, it’s safe to say that his name carries a negative connotation with most people. However, Kanye West is responsible for numerous changes in hip-hop and music, like it or not. Much like how Elvis’ music influenced Emily Dickinson in the fictional poem Emily Dickinson and Elvis Presley in Heaven by Hans Ostrom, Kanye West has helped shape this pillar of …show more content…
It is here that Kanye truly joined mainstream hip hop. Stereogum, a hip-hop community and analytics group, describes it as “the template from which all of today’s most acclaimed rappers sprang.” Late Registration, in my opinion, is the album that began Kanye’s controversial career. Throughout the album, Kanye questions class inequality, Ronald Reagan’s marginalization of black America, and even student loans. In conclusion, Late Registration serves as a landmark for both Kanye’s fame and use of stardom as a pulpit to question the system.
Kanye’s third album is Graduation, displaying the continued impact that the education system had on him with titles like The College Dropout and Late Registration. Graduation contains an anthem style of hip-hop, a style that would help while he toured with a group like U2. Bono said about the album that it inspired him to use more percussive elements in his music. Numerous tracks on Graduation incorporate a soulful tone that is evident today in colossal hip-hop artists such as The Weeknd and