I was listening to Rick Ross' "Live Fast, Die Young" a few weeks ago and "I Don't Like" came on next. Then "Christian Dior Denim Flow." Then "Devil in a New Dress" and "Niggas in Paris." And I thought, damn, Kanye had a really crazy 2010 and 2011.
After discussing with a few friends and strengthening my argument, I landed here:
Kanye West's 2010 and 2011 is the greatest 2 year stretch by a music artist in history
How did I arrive here, making this bold proclamation? It's a mix of quality of work, quantity of work, range of work, critical reception and chart/sales success. In two years, Kanye released:
- My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, the best album of the decade
- Watch The Throne, the best collab album ever
- Good Music Fridays, a music series so good that if released as an official album, it would have been the second best album of 2010 (behind MBDTF)
- An amazing collection of 6 production and features
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010)
MBDTF is my favorite Kanye album and probably my favorite album ever. It's classic, I don't skip any tracks, the topics are all still relatable, and it still feels modern 11 years later. The production is absolutely insane, and the range it shows (soul samples, string, synths and autotune) incorporates every single mode of growth from Kanye's previous 4 albums.
There are bangers ("Monster"), socially conscious songs disguised as bangers ("So Appalled"), radio bangers ("All of the Lights") and orchestra bangers ("All of the Lights Interlude"). "Devil in a New Dress" is one of craziest beats I've ever heard. That guitar solo? wheeeeeeewwwwwww. Kanye is always angry, but "Gorgeous" is a attitudinal preview of Yeezus, where he goes from "I'm angry yall don't believe in me" to "you know what? fuck ya'll bitch ass niggas. periodt". The audio mixing on "Blame Game" and the Chris Rock outro? Genius. And all that is before we get to "Runaway" and that MTV performance. You know you're in for some shit as soon as you hear that single piano key. We also got the best verse of Nicki Minaj's career on "Monster."
While this album may have been produced over 9 months in Hawaii, it was 7 years in the making. I would honestly and in good faith argue this is the greatest rap album ever produced.
There are bangers ("Monster"), socially conscious songs disguised as bangers ("So Appalled"), radio bangers ("All of the Lights") and orchestra bangers ("All of the Lights Interlude"). "Devil in a New Dress" is one of craziest beats I've ever heard. That guitar solo? wheeeeeeewwwwwww. Kanye is always angry, but "Gorgeous" is a attitudinal preview of Yeezus, where he goes from "I'm angry yall don't believe in me" to "you know what? fuck ya'll bitch ass niggas. periodt". The audio mixing on "Blame Game" and the Chris Rock outro? Genius. And all that is before we get to "Runaway" and that MTV performance. You know you're in for some shit as soon as you hear that single piano key. We also got the best verse of Nicki Minaj's career on "Monster."
While this album may have been produced over 9 months in Hawaii, it was 7 years in the making. I would honestly and in good faith argue this is the greatest rap album ever produced.
Watch The Throne (2011)
We got a full Kanye and Jay Z album while they were both in their lyrical and production prime. "Niggas in Paris" gets most of the love, but "Otis," "No Church in the Wild," "Who Gon Stop Me," "Primetime" and "The Joy" all are fucking amazing. "H•a•m" was a song I hated when it came out, because all the Lex Luger beats sound the same, but man, that song has aged like wine and honestly was ahead of its time. This is one of the few albums you can listen to without skipping tracks. We also got this immortal Jay line from "Illest Motherfucka Alive" - “Yall think Michael Jordan bad?/Nigga I got a 5 more rings than Michael Jordan had/Elvis has left the building now I’m on the Beatles ass."
9 years later, and this album isn't going to show up on any all-decade lists. But it doesn't have to. If MBDTF is a grand slam home run, then Watch The Throne is a double with the bases loaded.
9 years later, and this album isn't going to show up on any all-decade lists. But it doesn't have to. If MBDTF is a grand slam home run, then Watch The Throne is a double with the bases loaded.
Good Music Fridays (2010)
If these songs were an album, it would have been (in my opinion) the 2nd best album of 2010 behind MBDTF. It's like the 1992 Dream Team. It's a testament to Kanye's greatness that he had Kid Cudi, Pusha T, John Legend, Big Sean, and Swizz Beats as supporting players for a whole album worth of material. Every Friday I would be 🤯🤯 at the production quality and all star lineups. "Christian Dior Denim Flow" is probably a top 10 Kanye track for me, and while some tracks are obviously better than others, most of these songs are actually still in heavy rotation. "Chain Heavy" is my favorite from the rest of the tracks because of Q-Tip's production and the way Kanye further explores his anger at the world, similar to "Gorgeous" and the entire Yeezus album. "Fuck the world" Kanye is my favorite Kanye.
- Christian Dior Denim Flow ft. Kid Cudi, Pusha T, John Legend, Lloyd Banks and Ryan Leslie
- Chain Heavy ft Talib Kweli and Consequence
- Power Remix ft. Jay Z & Swizz Beatz
- Looking for Trouble ft. Pusha T, Cyhi the Prynce, Big Sean and J. Cole
- Take One for the Team ft. Keri Hilson, Pusha T, and Cyhi the Prynce
- Lord Lord Lord ft. Mos Def, Swizz Beatz, Raekwon and Charlie Wilson
- Runaway Love Remix ft. Justin Bieber & Raekwon
- G.O.O.D. Friday ft Common, Pusha T, Kid Cudi, Big Sean, and Charlie Wilson
- Don't Look Down ft. Mos Def, Lupe Fiasco, and Big Sean
- Christmas in Harlem
Production and Features (2010-2011)
In addition to producing the above 3 albums, Kanye also found time to produce or feature on 6 additional stand out tracks:
- Rick Ross - Live Fast, Die Young: This is my favorite Ross song, and it's not close. The production is amazing and there's so much emotional complexity in that track hidden behind the glamour. When Ross said "she had a miscarriage, I couldn't cry though / cuz you and I know, she was only my side ho," I didn't feel that per se, but I did feel the weight of admitting other people's pain matters less than yours
- Beyonce - Party: The best song on that album
- Chris Brown - Deuces Remix: It's both mean and inspiring how Kanye shit so hard on Amber Rose. 2020 me doesn't really appreciate it, but 2010 me surely did.
- Big Sean - Marvin Gaye and Chardonnay: The best song on that album. Still playable. Instantly recognizable. Roscoe Dash is still eating off the royalty checks for this and "No Hands"
- Katy Perry - E.T. Remix: This was a #1 single
- Drake - Find Your Love
Commercial and critical acclaim
Commercially, the album is 2x platinum in the US and included 4 Billboard Hot 100 top 25 singles — "Power," "All of the Lights," "Monster," and "Runaway."
WTT was definitely materially grandiose, and I remember that turning a lot of people off at the time, and Time magazine called it "a beautifully decadent album by two of hip-hop's finest artists—men with a lot of things to say and a lot of money to spend." Rolling Stone and The Washington Post ranked it the #2 album of 2011, with Time ranking it #3, The A.V. Club #9 and Stereogum #10. Billboard called it the greatest collab album ever in 2019.
Commercially, the album is platinum in the US, was the 9th best selling album of 2011, and included 2 Billboard Hot 100 top 15 singles —"Otis" and "Niggas in Paris." It also gave us the greatest Halloween costume ever.
Michael Jackson is the closest with 1982 and 1983. He released Thriller, the most famous and best selling album of all time, did the most famous music video of all time, had 3 #1 singles, and had "Say Say Say" with Paul McCartney. But you're stacking perhaps the best album ever against a top 10 best album ever, Watch The Throne and the Good Friday records. To use a basketball reference, do you want to MJ on your team or LeBron and Dwyane Wade? MJ has 10 records while Kanye has 45. There's just too much quality/quantity for MJ to overcome.
The Neptunes have more hits than nearly everyone except (maybe) Max Martin and Babyface. But it's much different creating multiple albums than it is to produce 1-2 hit songs for different artists. But for argument sake, pick 2 years from the below 3 options. Doesn't matter which ones you pick - there's not enough to match.
Eminem's first two albums were classics - 1999's "The Slim Shady LP" and 2000's "The Marshall Mathers LP". The reason he doesn't claim this title is a) Kanye has the production to go along with the records and b) very few of the tracks from these albums achieved chart success. You couldn't escape Eminem-mania but you could for sure escape the music.
What about other artists?
Very few artists can even claim a stake to this title. I've done a bit of research, and the other contenders would be Michael Jackson, The Neptunes, Jay Z, Whitney Houston, Drake, Rihanna, Eminem, Lil' Wayne, The Beatles and Babyface. But none of them can match, mostly because they never released enough material in a 2 year stretch. But let's look at their cases:Michael Jackson is the closest with 1982 and 1983. He released Thriller, the most famous and best selling album of all time, did the most famous music video of all time, had 3 #1 singles, and had "Say Say Say" with Paul McCartney. But you're stacking perhaps the best album ever against a top 10 best album ever, Watch The Throne and the Good Friday records. To use a basketball reference, do you want to MJ on your team or LeBron and Dwyane Wade? MJ has 10 records while Kanye has 45. There's just too much quality/quantity for MJ to overcome.
The Neptunes have more hits than nearly everyone except (maybe) Max Martin and Babyface. But it's much different creating multiple albums than it is to produce 1-2 hit songs for different artists. But for argument sake, pick 2 years from the below 3 options. Doesn't matter which ones you pick - there's not enough to match.
- 2000 - Backstreet Boys "The Call," Jay Z "I Just Wanna Love U (Give It To Me)," Ludacris "Southern Hospitality," Mystikal "Shake Ya Ass" and "Danger," Ray J "Wait a Minute"
- 2001 - Britney Spears "I'm a Slave 4 U" and "Boys," Busta Rhymes "As I Come Back," Fabolous "Holla Back Young'n," Jadakiss "Knock Yourself Out," NSYNC "Girlfriend," the entire N.E.R.D. In Search Of... album, No Doubt "Hella Good," Diddy "Diddy," Usher "U Don't Have to Call"
- 2002 - Birdman "What Happened to that Boy," Busta Rhymes "Pass The Courvoisier Part II," the entire Clipse Lord Willin album, Jay Z "Excuse Me Miss," Justin Timberlake "Like I Love You," "Rock Your Body" and "Señorita," LL Cool J "Love U Better," Nelly "Hot in Herre," Noreaga "Nothin," Snoop Dogg "Beautiful"
Eminem's first two albums were classics - 1999's "The Slim Shady LP" and 2000's "The Marshall Mathers LP". The reason he doesn't claim this title is a) Kanye has the production to go along with the records and b) very few of the tracks from these albums achieved chart success. You couldn't escape Eminem-mania but you could for sure escape the music.
Drake has singles and maybe 1 classic album. He has a lot of outstanding features, but not enough in a 2 year stretch.
Lil' Wayne - Mixtape Wayne is the greatest rapper ever. My favorite mixtape line is "Pint of DJ Screw and that Hawaiian I am leanin' like a 3 legged lion, climbing". But mixtapes are not albums. Everyone remembers the great lines and songs, but he released too much music that got lost in the shuffle. Batting average counts.
Whitney Houston's got classics for sure, as well as infinite critical and commercial acclaim, but she a) never released 2 classic albums in 2 years or b) wrote her own music.
The Beatles - The thing with the Beatles is a) they're overrated. I've never heard a Beatles record that slapped and b) they're like a Lil Wayne mixtape. They flooded the market with so much content that when you stack their hits against the number of records, it's a poor batting average.
Rihanna has more hits than anyone on this list except Drake, but I'm not sure many would say Rihanna has been releasing classic albums.
Babyface may have a claim as the best songwriter ever. He wrote Boyz II Men's "End of the Road" and "I'll Make Love to You," the entire Waiting to Exhale soundtrack, a lot of Whitney's hits, and most everything you heard on R&B radio in the 1990s. Unfortunately, wikipedia does not list his songwriting credits by year, so I can't isolate a 2 year period for comparison.
In Conclusion
As I've written above, Kanye West had the greatest musical two year stretch in history because of his combination of classic albums, a quasi-album, and a significant production and features catalog. Others may have had a better album than MBDTF (Thriller) or more top 10 hits in a two year span (Drake, Rihanna, The Beatles, Whitney, Babyface, The Neptunes), but no one else released as much quality content that achieved as much critical and commercial success in a 2 year period as Kanye did.
Don't @me.
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