I had to step back from this G.O.O.D. Friday stuff for a little while, lest Popblerd turn into the Kanye West blog. That said, I’ve been checking out Mr. West’s offerings and I’ve gotta say, he’s put out some pretty good stuff, although nothing’s given me that “College Dropout”/”Late Registration” feeling yet. However with Kanye, the whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts. In other words, he’s best when making a completed album-length statement. I wasn’t crazy about “Stronger”, “Can’t Tell Me Nothin'” or “Gold Digger” when I first heard them, either-but they fit perfectly within the albums they’re on.

I was expecting good things from ‘Ye’s latest track, “So Appalled”, and I’ve gotta say that I’m somewhat disappointed. You know, it’s hard to hear the personalities of your favorite artists change. More than in any other genre, rappers write from their real-life experiences, and while I was able to relate to Kanye on his first two efforts, he definitely seems like he’s on some celebrity good-life stuff now, and it just doesn’t move me emotionally the way his earlier stuff did. You could say the same for a variety of other artists, but it’s always kinda sad when someone you identified with so closely goes completely left. As for the plethora of guests, Jay-Z and Kanye sound more alike than ever (not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing), Pusha T of the Clipse has a ton of skill with no redeeming social value to his rhymes (as usual, which is why I completely gave up on the Clipse after their first album), and RZA and Swizz Beatz serve no purpose at all. The beat is hot, but the song, overall, is underwhelming.

You, of course, are more than welcome to think otherwise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5FLvOLL_aQ