A$AP Rocky Names The Best & Worst Kanye West Albums

    A$AP Rocky stopped by the studio to chop it up with LA Leakers’ Justin Credible, fielding a query about what he considers the best and worst Kanye West albums. The Harlem, New York rapper said that Graduation tops his personal favorites list, but also gave props to Late Registration and The College Dropout.

    I got two. First, it was Late Registration, and of course Graduation,” he said. “I’ma come clean. Overall it’s my favorite, Graduation. The thing was, he was giving them the artsy shit with College Dropout then with Late Registration. When he went to Graduation, all the odds were against him. He was worried about beating 50 Cent in record sales. He was actually the underdog at the time, because 50 was way more successful than Kanye, ironically.”

    He then set his sights on 808’s & Heartbreak, stating, “I hate that album.” He admitted to liking a handful of songs on the Auto-Tune-heavy project, but said that he didn’t like it as a whole.

    “I hate that album. I like a few songs on there. I didn’t like ‘Robocop.’ I liked ‘Heartless.’ I liked ‘I’m not loving you, the way I wanted to.’ And then I liked the other one… Wasn’t ‘Paranoid’ on that album? I liked that. I liked that album, I like ‘Amazing.’ That’s four tracks on ther already, so maybe I’m contradicting myself but I like those four tracks and the other joints I absolutely hate.

    “I really respect Kanye regardless of if anyone gives a fuck or not, but I respect him for having the balls to come out with a whole Auto-Tune album. Just like, he was killing it in the Rap game and he took time out to be an artist. And I admire that.”

    RELATED: A$AP Rocky Explains How He Helped Society View Homosexuality Differently

    94 thoughts on “A$AP Rocky Names The Best & Worst Kanye West Albums

    1. 1. College Dropout
      2. Late Registration
      3. Graduation
      4. MBDTF
      5. Watch The Throne
      6. 808’s and Heartbreaks

      1. no, it wasn’t beyond garbage. what dipshits fail to realize is that it’s a better R&B album then the shit Usher and Trey Songz are putting out. I can easily say that I would rather listen to 808s then 90% of the R&B shit that’s playing on the radio right now. It’s not my favorite Kanye album but calling it rash is stupid.

    2. 808s & Heartbreak was Kanye’s best album. How often you see a rap artist singing about as much emotions and feelings as Kanye did on that album?

    3. A$AP knows his shit I liked about 4 songs on 808s too but the album blew.

      1. Graduation
      2. Late Registration
      3. College Dropout
      4. Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
      5. Watch The Throne
      6. Cruel Summer
      7. 808s

    4. Graduation is my favorite because of the timing. It was released my senior year of high school and it was called “Graduation” — It made a huge impact on my life.. but I don’t understand why people don’t like 808s and Heartbreak.. that’s Kanye’s most passionate album — great lyrics and producion.

    5. 808s was superb! yes i appreciated it more because it came out when i broke up with my ex…so thats why i related to it.. e

    6. ALL YOU FUCKING KANYE FANS THAT ARE SAYING 808S IS GARBAGE WERE SAYING THE COMPLETE OPPOSITE WHEN IT FIRST CAME OUT..ALL YALL SOME DICK RIDING ASS BITCHES.WHEN IT FIRST CAME OUT EVERY KANYE FAN SAID “ITS A WORK OF ART, ITS MORE THAN JUST AUTOTUNE,HE TOOK AUTOTUNE TO THE NEXT LEVEL, BLAH BLAH BLAH.”NOW THOSE SAME MOTHERFUCKERS CALLIN IT WACK.THATS WHY HIP HOP IT SHIT NOW EVERYONE OR EVERYTHING THAT COMES OUT REQUIRES A CO-SIGN FROM LIL WEEZER,KANGAY,OR DONUT ROSS

    7. My Scale

      —Great/Classics—-
      College Dropout
      Late Registration
      Graduation

      —Nice—
      My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

      —Average—
      Watch The Throne

      —God-Aweful—
      808s & Headaches
      Cruel Music

    8. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
      The College Dropout
      Graduation
      Late Registration
      808s & Heartbreak
      Watch the Throne
      Cruel Summer

    9. Classic
      The College Dropout
      Graduation
      Late Registration
      My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

      Nice
      Watch The Throne
      808s & Headaches

      Average
      Cruel summer

      1. This. Even if I feel “Graduation” (compared to his two previous LP) was weaker, its still an excellent album.

    10. any1 hatin on 808’s is a musical retard.. asap was lying so he wont turn out being a pussy for likin the autotune love album

    11. Because of 808’s and Heartbreaks we got Drake, Cudi, Big Sean and a new genreation of rappers that can now express a whoile lot of things through their music! That was a groundbreaking record just like College Dropout was for Rappers to be themselves! ASAP was on point, but 808’s was a groundbreaker!

      1. False! Because of “A Kid Named Cudi” we have 808’s and because 808’s came from Kanye who was popular in mainstream we got Drake etc.

      2. Half True. True, Kid Name Cudi influenced 808’s, but because of the Mainstream Success of it, we got Cudi. If it would have flopped and sucked (like people thinks it did on here) Cudi would have never had blown up, as Drake and others did.

    12. This fool said College Dropout and Late Registration was artsy? WTF is this dude smokin. He dont know shit. Those two albums is probably the last of successful soul hip-hop. Graduation and 808’s is the artsy shiz.

      College Dropout
      Late Registration
      MBDTF
      Graduation
      808

      1. He gradually got better at music with time so obviously he arranged the sounds best on his most recent entries.

    13. With graduation we had the likes of stronger(electro-rap) homecoming(with coldplay) bittersweet(with john mayer) Graduation is when Kanye started infusing genres. Tell me that shit aint artsy. gimme me a break ASAP ROCKY

    14. 1. Yo momma
      2. Yo daddy
      3. Yo Greasy Granny
      4. Deez Nuttz!
      5. 808s & Heartbreaks

      Thats my list, I think its pretty good

    15. 808s sucked. I hated that album. Auto-tune is freaking lame. I don’t care much for Graduation either. The College Dropout, The Late Registration, and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy are top Kanye albums.

    16. 1. Late Registration (one of the best hip-hop albums period. This was the joint that got me into hip-hop (I’m young and from Europe, forgive me), so it holds a special place in my heart forever, every track on it is fire, my fav probably Addiction)

      2. MBDTF (best album of the decade so far, play one of these joints every day)

      3. Graduation (classic shit)

      4. College Dropout (Dope shit, only weak track the “I’ma get on tv mama, I’ma…” whatever it was called near the end of the album, All Falls Down and Never Let You Down straight bangers)

      5. Watch the Throne (Niggas In Paris, No Church is the Wild, Murder to Exellence, New Day)

      11. 808’s & Garbage (I like some of the singles)

      24. Cruel Summer (I fuck with New God Flow, Mercy and kinda with Sin City)

      I think Kanye West is the most important and best hip-hop artist of the 21st century. I love underground shit, but I hate “real hip-hop heads” that shit on Kanye cause he sell records. Ya’ll forget he probably saved or made your favorite rappers career, whether its Jigga, Common, Kid Cudi or Pusha T.

    17. Thats pretty genius that Kanye can make different albums that everyone can like and people can’t agree which one is the best. To each your own.

    18. I can’t believe how people still underrate MBDTF. Even though College Dropout and Late Registration are first of Kanye’s classics and they are historical, MBDTF is on whole another level. There’s more art in his bits than in any of his other albums, and of course no one doubts Kanye’s lyricism. Also overall, MBDTF has best featured tracks of all his albums as well (quantity and quality both). So yeah, this is my number one.

      Then comes Late Registration, College Dropout, Watch the Throne, Graduation, Cruel Summer, Heartbreak. And even though Hearbreak is the last on my list, it is still a masterpiece. It just shows the character of Kanye. He let himself record not only a track, but the whole album for himself and still has at least five classics on that one as well. He was probably thinking “i don’t give two shits on what the haters will think” while he dropped that one, “that’s for me.”

      Shout out to fellow anonymous European.

    19. College Dropout & Late Registration will always reign supreme in my opiniom those two albums just got that soul that was either lacking or completely absent from Kanye’s later stuff. Wish he’d bring back the style he had in the Rock-A-Fella years.

    20. Man….The best albums from Kanye in my opinion:
      1. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
      2. Late Registration
      3. The College Dropout
      4. Graduation
      5. 808’s & Heartbreak
      I liked all the albums from top to bottom but On a Creativity Standpoint Its MY 1-5 Top notch.

    21. Surprised on the order of a lot of y’all lists
      For me its:

      1. College Dropout (Jesus Walks, We Don’t Care, Spaceship, All Falls Down, Two Words, I could go on and on every song is crazy dope except I don’t like Workout Plan)
      2. MBDTF (Don’t think it’s Kanye’s best lyrical work by far, but the whole vibe and theme behind the album was groundbreaking)
      3. Late Registration (Such a cohesive album which is hard to find anymore with the exception of KENDRICK! But songs like Roses, Heard ‘Em Say, Touch The Sky, and Diamonds are to this day still some of my favorite songs)
      4. Graduation (Overall very good, a little too “pop” for my taste with Stronger and Good Life, but Flashing Lights is my favorite Kanye song of all time. Drunk and Hot Girls was terrible)
      5. Watch the Throne (Still undecided about this one…absolutely love half of it, as for the other half songs like Welcome To The Jungle and Why I Love are trash)
      6. 808’s (Definitely didn’t hate it, but the singles got extremely annoying and are no longer even listenable for me. Like Paranoid, See You In My Nightmares, and Say You Will a lot thought)

    22. KANYE IS ONE OF THE GREATEST ARTISTS OF ALL TIME – EVERY SOLO ALBUM HE RELEASED WAS CLASSIC, HE MADE SOME CLASSIC ALBUMS BY PRODUCING THEM (COMMON, JAY, EVERYONE ON YOUR LIST HAD KANYE ON THE BEAT OR WILL HAVE), HE HAS HIS OWN LABEL AND MOST OF ARTIST ON IT ARE GOOD (ESPECIALLY JOHN LEGEND), HE IS FASHION ICON AND DESIGNER, HE HAS SINGING ABILITIES GOOD ENOUGH TO MAKE NON-RAP ALBUM, HE BROUGHT AN ALTERNATIVE IN THE TIME WHEN GANGSTA STEROID STUDIO SUCKERS LIKE 50 WERE ALL OVER THE TV, ALTERNATIVE IS WHAT WE ALL NEEDED (KANYE, LUPE AND OTHERS), HE HAS DVD WITH ORCHESTRA, HE INTERRUPTED TAYLOR SWIFT’S SPEECH AND LIST OF HIS CONTRIBUTION TO THE MUSIC IN GENERAL GOES ON…

      AND Y’ALL STILL TRIPPIN’ WITH TUPAC OR BIGGIE BEING THE BEST RAPPER OF ALL TIME, DAMN.

      808S AND HEARTBREAK WAS THE GREATEST ALBUM EVER MADE BY RAPPER, I KNOW FOR SURE IT SHOULDN’T BE COUNTED AS A RAP ALBUM – IT’S TOO GOOD TO BE RAP. THAT FEELINGS, KANYE’S DELIVERY, SINGING AND OTHER STUFF MAKES IT THE MOST PERFECT POP RECORD SINCE THE NEW MILLENIUM. IF YOU THINK IT SUCKS, GO FUCK YOURSELF AND LISTEN ALL THAT STUPID GANGSTA SHIT BY IRRELEVANT RAPPERS.

      1. any true hip hop fan would laugh at you for bumping 808’s

        i wouldnt even use that album as a weed tray i be like get the fuck outa here with that whack as bullshit and snap the cd

    23. College Dropeout is a classic
      Late Registration near classic
      Graduation, some classic tracks
      From then on though I cant even listen to the guy. Its like everything he stood for and represented is gone. West actually makes me sick now and I cant bare to listen too any of the brainwashing dumbed down bullshit hes a part of.
      I thank him for his first 2 lp’s though and Commons BE..Damn the music industry is demonic..Hope Mos Def and Q TIP dont follow suit..

      1. WOW, FINALLY someone expresses my sentiments exactly, and i mean to a tee. classic debut, really good sophmore, and then everything changed, and now I can’t listen to anything he puts out, at least someone else agrees. thank you.

      2. Finally TWO people see it my way. I think after Graduation he fell off. At times I play College Dropout and reminisce….new Kanye is not a must listen to though for me.

      3. I noticed that too. I would have never thought Kanye would have endorsed a song like 2 Chains’ Birthday Song or Big Seans’ Ass. I think it was his mother’s passing that caused this drastic change in his music, after her death the conscious Kanye left. I think she was his sort of his conscious: the strong Black woman who participated in the sit-ins and taught college. I do wish that the old Kanye would come back. If not, he did drop enough jewels on us, he will always be one of the greatest. Everybody is human, no one is perfect. I really think his mother’s death took a toll on him, physically, emotionally, spiritually and ultimately, musically.

      4. Cosignee y’all, Kanye been sleeping/slipping for a while now. I bet his stans will find an excuse like hes just being artistic, GTFOH.

      5. let’s keep this circle jerk going, we should all meet up at a starbucks and talk about how gay we are.

      6. three albums is enough to prove youself after graduation
        kayne used his cedibility and cashed in

        he could of done anything after graduation

        had all the middle school girls in the palm of his hand

    24. my beautiful dark twisted fantasy is the best hip hop album of all time
      good lyrics, fantastic production, star studded features, with an artistic theme.
      kanye is the best in the game, your favorite rapper either dresses like kanye or wish kanye would feature on their album

      1. I agree, Kanye’s Dark Fantasy album was not only his best, but a top 10 rap album all time…..thats right, i dont care what album(s) you think are great, its up there. College Dropout is amazing and his 2nd best, but i think people have too much attachment to it(Like people who say Trap Musik is T.I.’s best when its clearly King or Paper Trail.) LIke ROcky Graduation is my favorite album from Kanye…..

      2. What are you smoking, faggot? Dicks? MBDTF is a great album, you don’t have to be on Kanye’s nuts to admit that, you retard. It lived up to the hype and then some, not a lot of albums can do that.

    25. WEll I think 808s was a really telling album of he was going through with Alexis. So if you ever experience break up, well damn you might feel the album. Graduation was my ish! Dark Twisted,…I didn’t like that mess at all!

    26. Because of albums (mixtapes) like 808’s & heartbreak & A Kid Named Cudi we have a sub genre of hip-hop called alternate hip-hop. Artists who use this genre are A$AP Rocky, Mac Miller, Wiz Khalifa, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Tyler the Creator and etc. So the next time you see Kanye or Cudi you might want to thank them!

    27. CLASSIC:
      LATE REGISTRATION 10/10 – because the lyrics, concepts and most importantly the DIVERSE production at the time. A truly timeless and classic album. Don’t know why it is over looked…
      THE COLLEGE DROPOUT 9.5/10 – changed the whole hip hop world with its style.

      GOOD:
      MBDTF 7/10 – A diverse and abstract sounding album but some of the songs dont hit like his first two. Plus some of the features are just weak….Nicki Minaj? Rick Ross?
      GRADUATION 6/10 – Same as the above just MBDTF was more of a “album” with a unique sound.

      AVERAGE:
      WATCH THE THRONE 5/10 – some good tracks most didn’t like, all had the same concept bragging patting…etc.
      CRUEL SUMMER 4/20 – disappointment for me, wasn’t an album at all, just a bunch of his label artists doing “average” songs together.

      BAD:
      808’s and Heartbreak 2/10 – do i really have to describe this??

      1. BRO ROSS HAD ONE OF THE BEST VERSES ON THAT WHOLE ALBUM!

        “Lookin at my bitch I bet she give your ass a bone
        Lookin at my wrist itll turn your ass to stone
        Stretch limousine, sippin Ros all along
        Double-headed monster with a mind of his own
        Cherry red chariot, excess is just my character
        All black tux, nigga shoes lavender
        I never needed acceptance from all you outsiders
        Had cyphers with Yeezy before his mouth wired
        Before his jaw shattered climbin up the Lords ladder
        We still speedin, runnin signs like they dont matter
        Uh, hater talkin never made me mad
        Never that when Im in my favorite papertag
        Therefore G4s at the Clearport
        When it come to tools, fool Im a Pep Boy
        When it came to dope, I was quick to export
        Never tired of ballin so its on to the next sport
        New Mercedes sedan, theyll export
        So many cars DMV though it was mail fraud
        Different traps, I was gettin mail from
        Polk County, Jacksonville, rep Melbourne
        Whole clique, appetite had tapeworms
        Spinnin Teddy Pendergrass vinyl as my jay burns
        I shed a tear before the night’s over
        God bless the man I put this ice over
        Gettin 2Pac money twice over
        Still a real nigga, red Coogi sweater, dice roller
        Im makin love to the angel of death
        Catchin feelings, never stumble, retracin my steps”

        CRAZY!

      2. I agree MBDTF’s “Devil in a New Dress” was THE song of the year and only because of ROSSes verse. Sometimes lyrics are about entertaining and wordplay and sometimes they are about emotions and energy. .. coupled with style.. Ross brought a good balance of that.. mostly emotion though.. some of the shit didn’t even rhyme but it “felt” good.. Do you fools listen to music or do you just skim through it? (Jay-Z voice)

      3. I DONT THINK WATCH THE THRONE IS THE GREATEST ALBUM EVER, BUT NIGGAZ REALLY SLEEPING ON IT IF ALL THEY GOT OUT OF IT IS “BRAGGING PATTING”…

      4. agreed with the list and ratings but i would put watch the throne in the “good” category. that album was deeper then talking about how rich niggas was.

        sonic wise kanye’s albums follow some sort of arc with a beginning, middle, with a end. you see it now with MBTDF, WATCH THE THRONE, AND CRUEL SUMMER. and you seen it in the past with COLLEGE DROPOUT, LATE REGISTRATION, AND GRADUATION.

        If he never lost his mom you would have never seen that 808 auto-tune album.

      1. yea i can fuck with that list . Late Reg was def his best work but i would put MBDTF as his 2nd overall . what he did with that album was just amazing

      2. the first 4 albums by YEEZY = his era..

        MBDTF…had very very great “conscious” tracks

        RUNAWAY & POWER = VISUAL MILESTONE$

        WTT….made YEEZY LOOK LIKE he needed.(HOVA$) help…

        CRUEL SUMMER….IS YEEZY GONE HAM(HAMMER) RIP 3 CHAIN$

        ONE VERY VERY HUGE COMEBACK….WHITE DRE$$ aka LIKE A VIRGIN 2012…..the number song of 2012…#2013…ICONIC!….TDC_C

    28. Dont understand why people hate 808’s so much. Hip Hop stans are so annoying that if something isnt straight hip hop then they dont appreciate it.

      that album from a creative standpoint was top notch.. and anybody who has been in a real relationship or lived life at all can feel what he went through through from Street Lights to Say You Will he kept it 1005 how he felt.

      If this was an r&b album or alternative album people would love but because a hip hop artist thinks out of the box, people bash it

      HOW MANY OF YOU REALLY LISTENED TO WHAT HE WAS TALKING ABOUT???

    29. GIVE ME A CHANCE
      Youtube is all about finding new artist, & though I been rapping for a while im still consider a new artist. I just want my music heard thats all, im not looking for no record deal, getting famous ‘r anything like that. I do music to help change the lives of others so what you’ll get from my music is all POSITIVITY! so please just spare a few sec. to check me out, & if you like what you heard please SUBSCRIBE so ill know you actually listen & support http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH8K577h8N4

    30. “HE BROUGHT AN ALTERNATIVE IN THE TIME WHEN GANGSTA STEROID STUDIO SUCKERS LIKE 50 WERE ALL OVER THE TV, ALTERNATIVE IS WHAT WE ALL NEEDED (KANYE, LUPE AND OTHERS), HE HAS DVD WITH ORCHESTRA, HE INTERRUPTED TAYLOR SWIFT’S SPEECH AND LIST OF HIS CONTRIBUTION TO THE MUSIC IN GENERAL GOES ON…”

      that last sentence made me laughing my ass off

      and I think 808s was his worst album but still great piece of work

    31. gradation is the best album kanye dropped 4 real,college drop out &late registration 2nd n 3rd , he fell off with his other albums WORD

    32. this LIL YUNG COCK SUCKA..Ye cant even LIST his fav ASAP RECORDS NIGGA U DONT HAVE ANY YET LOL..MANE..THIS YUNG LOST CITY NYC NIGGA MAKING TX MUSIC..WHO TOLD HIM HE WAS IMPORTANT..

    33. Dude you just killed your fan base. I love 808s. Drop a classic before to judge a legend. F n internet rappers think they on the next level…

    34. *the number 1 song of 2012 = WHITE DRESS aka LIKE A VIRGIN 2012….very huge “BOUNCE BACK” for KIMYEEZY

      up next…YEEZY being a father..ey3 HOPE!…TDC-C

    35. btw..there is a battle

      LIL B VS WAKA FLOCKA FLAME$…*LIL B went in on the “TRAPP” underdog….aka CHARLE$ BARKLEY’$ son…TDC_C

    36. LATE REGISTRATION 5
      COLLEGE DROPOUT 5
      MBDTF 5
      GRADUATION 4,5/5

      WTT 3.5/5
      808 3/5
      CRUEL SUMMER(NEW GOD FLOW) 3/5

      GREAT CATALOGUE
      FOR EVERY TASTE

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