The words “Kanye” and “ranking” in the same sentence are enough to trigger fans into hysteria. Take a deep breath though and check out the criteria for how this list was created with the help of Hip Hop statistician Ben Carter.
“I isolate anything you’d define as socially conscious,” Carter explained to HipHopDX. “Lyrics that deal with subjects like racism, police brutality, white privilege, black-on-black violence, etc.”
Carter’s study helped rank the albums by calculating the percentages of total conscious content for each one.
So, how conscious are your Yeezy records? Tighten your Wave Runners and jump in.
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8. 808s & Heartbreak
Total bars on the album: 486
Percentage of the album dedicated to political/social content: 0%
Song with the most consciousness: none
808s followed a dark period in the rapper’s life. The electronic new-age pop departure from his signature sound was a refreshingly raw journey through West’s misery, so it’s understandable the album was devoid of topics rooted in social awareness.
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7. Graduation
Total bars on the album: 723
Percentage of the album dedicated to political/social content: 3.24%
Song with the most consciousness:
“Everything I Am,” a collaborative effort with DJ Premier, leads the LP with its third verse dedicated to the violence in the streets of Chicago. It simultaneously points out the criticism he faces for landing outside of the gangster mold that existed in the 2007 landscape: “Just last year, Chicago had over 600 caskets/Man, killing’s some wack shit/Oh, I forgot, ‘cept for when niggas is rapping.”
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6. ye
Total bars on the album: 276
Percentage of the album dedicated to political/social content: 3.62%
Song with the most consciousness:
The odd bop of “Yikes” is one of ye’sstronger moments on the album, seeing West make some commentary on the #MeToo movement. He also touches on issues of addiction with a sobering realization that the bottom life is death: “Shit could get menacing, frightening, find help/Sometimes I scare myself.”
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5. Late Registration
Total bars on the album: 723
Percentage of the album dedicated to political/social content: 5.38%
Song with the most consciousness:
It’s a tie. The bulk of the album’s conscious moments come from both “Crack Music,” which details the vivid reality of the crack (and heroin) epidemic, and “Diamonds From Sierra Leone,” which examines the brutal origins of the diamonds coveted in Hip Hop culture.
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4. The Life Of Pablo
Total bars on the album: 680
Percentage of the album dedicated to political/social content: 5.88%
Song with the most consciousness:
The Sampha-assisted “Saint Pablo” covers a lot of relevant social issues — from black-on-black violence and racial discrimination to references of a marriage to materialism as the new wave of mass slavery: “Most black men couldn’t balance a checkbook, but buy a new car, talking ’bout, ‘How my neck look?/Well, it all looks great, 400 years later, we buying our own chains.”
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3. The College Dropout
Total bars on the album: 784
Percentage of the album dedicated to political/social content: 9.5%
Song with the most consciousness:
Though quite tongue-in-cheek, no song on West’s epic debut LP focuses on the lack of opportunities within urban communities — and celebrates overcoming the environment’s adversities — like the anthemic “We Don’t Care.” He raps, “Drug dealing just to get by, stack ya’ money ’til it get sky high/We wasn’t supposed to make it past 25, joke’s on you, we still alive.”
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2. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Total bars on the album: 491
Percentage of the album dedicated to political/social content: 9.9%
Song with the most consciousness:
“Gorgeous” featuring Kid Cudi and Raekwon leads the pack with its ironic title, as it focuses on the rather ugly nature of racial discrimination — and double standards — within the U.S. “Inter-century anthems based off inner city tantrums, based off the way we were branded/Face it, Jerome get more time than Brandon,” West raps.
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1. Yeezus
Total bars on the album: 483
Percentage of the album dedicated to political/social content: 11.5%
Song with the most consciousness:
No surprise here. “New Slaves” carries the highest percentage of the album’s social content, covering a lot of the same information that he was unable to get across in the weeks leading up to Daytona and ye. West found himself hitting a glass ceiling as he attempted to branch out industries outside of music.
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West’s albums can spark plenty of debate, but these numbers don’t lie.
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