Excellent break-down. I don’t follow what you’d call “modern rap”. I haven’t heard a single Drake-Song and I live in a world where I think Black Eyed Peas are still a thing. I think they are, no? I listen to every Jay-Z Album and Kanye Album extensively on repeat as my only Rap genre except for Hip Hop from the early 90s or late 80s. I listen to a lot of 2 Pac, biggie, Run DMC, Grandmaster Flash and Beastie Boys.
So maybe Kanye West isn’t anything to great to the world anymore. To me, he is a genius. I think this video summarizes things up perfectly. I’ve listened to Life of Pablo hundreds of times. The thing is, the way I hear about new albums from the dozen or so artists I listen to is a rare thing. I’m not sure how I heard about Life of Pablo but it’ll be played a thousand times before I’m tired of it until going back to College Dropout.