Qu(w)est to Be the Best: Ranking Kanye West's Five

The album can easily be summed up by adjectives in the title. Far more dark and crude than his previous works, it is also a far more grandiose production. The album flows from start to finish and is perfect mixture of everything Yeezy is from rap star to pop artist, from musician to producer. The lyrics are a confession of one of the most controversial artists in recent time.

Best Track: It was a tough choice, by All of the Lights with the Interlude. A layered and dramatic piece difficult to find in hip-hop.

This was the freshest rap album in years upon its release. It still is to this day and remains on the greatest hip-hop albums of all time. Kanye's lyrics were deep and fresh in comparison to other rap artists. While the skits got old in Late Registration, they helped hold this album together. It was an epic debut album.

Best Track: Spaceship (Fabulous Lyrics on a chill track)

During 2006-2007, popular music was changing. Music began to be the bass, synth, beat driven party music, similar to club music of the 90s. Kanye infused this new sonic sound with his old one. The album was an experiment, but a successful one. The album exposed Kanye West to pop music fans, while not alienating his older ones.

Best Track: While overplayed, Stronger has easily become the one single of his able to survive the test time.

I have a love hate relationship with this album. Several of the tracks off the album dwarfed most, if not all, of the songs of his debut. West demonstrated he could take his game up to another level. However, the skits became old the second time around and the album felt more disjointed than the first. It is not a bad album, far from it, but just does not seem as "fresh" as the first and is not as exploratory as the third.

Best Track: Touch the Sky (Lupe's presence on the track helps a lot)

Following Graduation, Kanye created a pop album. Hardly a terrible pop album, this autotune, family friendly album was more of an experiment than anything else. The album was very linear, each song following a very similar mold, unlike in his previous outings. However, it was nice to see his lyrics flowing deep, especially without the use of crude language. It was a bold step for the artist, and there are probably many more to come.

Best Track: Love Lockdown