In terms of media penetration, in terms of musical texture, in terms of iconoclasm, in terms of rockstarism, in terms of consistent originality and creativity, in the past ten years, is there any male pop artist who is even playing the same ballgame as Kanye? Gimme one name, help me out. The guy is in his own league. No one even comes close. Even in his relationship to the world outside of his brain and his own perception of social norms and what is sane and what is insane there is no one in music like him since the days of classic rock.

I find it humorous that when I tell people my favorite artist of the past decade is Kanye West the most frequent response is one fueled with uncontrollable anger. Interesting that people are unable to make an artistic judgment of someone’s work that is independent of their opinion of his behavior and media portrayal. However I include his outlandish behavior in my assessment as that is an integral part of his artistic presentation.