Kanye West: Musical Genius or Great Project Manager

wildinout8

wildinout8

Moderator
I keep hearing the younger generation (25 and under) talk about how much of a genius Kanye West is and I wanted to get everyone's opinion. I even heard multiple people say he's more of an influence and creative than Quincy Jones.

What is your opinion - is Kanye a musical genius like Mozart or is he just a great project manager who knows how to get the real talent around him to create a great product?
 
Bloody Glove said:
I hope you gave these people referrals to mental health services and altered the authorities!
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Son I had to create this post after reading the blasphemy they were spreading! They were really trying to fry up Quincy Jones and say he's an old man, should shut up and take several seats, and Watch the Throne!

I'm really curious to hear people's reasoning and what Kanye ACTUALLY does in his productions to warrant "genius".
 
A great producer IS a great project manager. What you're asking about is taste... Some people think Kanye is a genius... Some people don't.

I'm one of those who don't think he is a genius. I'm under 25. Since Late Reg (arguably up to Graduation in '07), I haven't rated any of his productions. His productions before that were good, some of them great... But HE has never been a genius in my eyes. He is creative though...

I only rate someone as a genius when they are creative, and make something I actually like. Some of my friends are genius' and they are as creative as Kanye. They even have less resources than Kanye! They produce records I like, Kanye doesn't... But that's opinion

He probably is more of an influence today than Quincy Jones... But that's because of the year we live in. Kanye is present, Quincy is past. Anyone who's "relevant" today is going to have more of an influence than the people who were relevant 20, 30, 100, 300 years ago. In 20 years time, there will be people asking a similar question...

"Is producer X more talented and more of a genius than Kanye? I nearly slapped this kid cause he said X was more creative and influential than Kanye!"
 
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If you're not a genius but can make people believe you are, does that make you a genius? lol

I always wondered.
 
Kanye is a great producer. Quincy is on another galaxy. A great musician/composer/producer with a great technical understanding of music. in his book Q on producing, I was suprised to see how technical he is in oustide of music also. He's very sharp. He was knowledgeable in various sciences and his computer knowlege was even impressive. Kanye's best work to me was when he sampled before he became a Pop icon. I detected genius in his beat making ability. That pop shyt he does is garbage. Quincy has produced big band, Jazz, etc... When he did switch to Pop, he took Michael Jackson to world wide icon status. Just Blaze in my opinion could just as easily be compared to Quincy too. He in fact may be more versatile than Kanye as a producer. Kanye's just more charsimatic or more of an enigma because of his personality and personal life. Watch a Quincy documentary sometime. The pedigree is very impressive. He's worked with Jazz icons, conducted symphonies, produced albums for Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson etc... Kanye today is Michael jackson with Bubbles. Pop success screwed him up music wise. He's incapable of making good soul music like he did when he first started. Now he hires musicians and makes the most bland generic shyt not that good old chicago soul music he and R Kelly were known for. I still listen to his old stuff
 
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stokeI said:
that's exactly was quincy was doing
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How do you figure? Please name one instrument (besides a drum machine and MIDI keyboard) that Kanye can play?

Quincy is a classical composer - does Kanye even play/compose the piano/strings/live bass in his songs?
 
I'm a fan of Kayne's, buth has he made any albums where he hasn't had someone else be the musical composer of the album?

Jon Brion...
John Legend...
Tony Williams...
Will.I.Am...
Dave Tozer...
Rick Rubin...
Daft Punk...
Paul McCartney...

Quincy Jones turned people into superstars and added longevity to already established superstars - Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Eddie Van Halen, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Tevin Campbell, Will Smith (musically AND created/produced Fresh Prince of Bell Air).

Kanye has done that for who - Consequence, John Legend, Kid Cudi, Common and don't even think about saying Jay-Z cuz Jay already gave that title to Timbo.

I mean what exactly does he do on his albums that Katy Perry and Taylor Swift don't do for theirs other than do the drum tracks (which he has said in multiple interviews is what he programs)? At least Taylor Swift writes the majority of her own lyrics while Kanye has used:

Consequence...
Common...
Kid Cudi...
Jay-Z...

Maybe I'm missing something and someone can post a video of him actually doing something productive in the studio other than makin an ugly face while a finished beat is playing or asking Timbo for advice on drum samples.
 
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benji2 said:
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I'm gonna reserve judgement on that video because I'm still not exactly sure what side of the fence you are in regards to Kanye...

...but, that video just showed me John Mayer was more talkative than Kanye was...in 2004. Son didn't even touch a board or instrument and just let John Mayer talk his idish for 2 minutes.
 
wildinout8 said:
As for the 2nd video -I'm going to go ahead and assume you're agreeing with my statements because if Kanye is a genius to you, then Jon Brion is your god.
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I uploaded the vids because it was relevant. I already stated my opinion on Kanye, Quincy as well as Just Blaze. Kanye was at his best sampling. He's no where near Quincy though as a producer. His pop stuff is rubbish.
 
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benji2 said:
I uploaded the vids because it was relevant. I already stated my opinion on Kanye, Quincy as well as Just Blaze. Kanye was at his best sampling. He's no where near Quincy though as a producer. His pop stuff is rubbish.
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Ha you're right...and I even Liked your post before.
 
Desire Inspires said:

I guess the question is if everyone else is more talented than Kanye and does all of the work, why is Kanye still relevant?
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Kanye realizes that his musical "talents" have taken him as far as they can. Now, he's focused on Kim Kardashian and his emotional outbursts to keep him in the media.
 
wildinout8 said:
How do you figure? Please name one instrument (besides a drum machine and MIDI keyboard) that Kanye can play?

Quincy is a classical composer - does Kanye even play/compose the piano/strings/live bass in his songs?
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you comparing totally different things. Quincy is playing basketball and Kanye is playing football. They're nothing alike and to compare them side by side is impossible considering the different eras and genres. Kanye doesn't need live strings or pianos in his songs, just like quincy doesn't need sped up samples or a drum machine in his song.
 
Meh, I thought we had this discussion already.

If Q was born in 1970 something instead of 1930 or 1940 something, who thinks he would have been a classical trained musician, or would he been in crates and doing his thing on a mpc?

Real talk, most of ya'll know Q from his collaborations instead of his composer/conducting catalog (which is very impressive, no doubt).

Do your research.

His classic 70s stuff and MJ stuff was with other cats--they wrote and played. He oversaw the project and gave it the Q touch.
 
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