This article originally ran in 2016 and has been updated. Welcome to Dissected, where we disassemble a band’s catalog, a director’s

filmography, or some other critical pop-culture collection in the abstract. It’s exact science by way of a few beers. This time, we sort

through the best and worst of Yeezy country.

Over the years, Kanye West has been many things to many different people. He started off as Jay-Z’s secret weapon, a budding super-

producer pumping out hits like “Izzo (H.O.V.A.),” “Takeover,” and “Encore,” prompting Jay-Z to interrupt The Black Album to shout,

“Kanyeezy, you did it again, you a genius!” That was probably one of the last times West was called Kanyeezy, and one of the first times

the g-word was tossed around.

In 2004, West launched his solo career and sold himself to the public for the very first time. In the beginning, he was the reinvention

of backpack rap, “the feeling of A Tribe Called Quest,” contained within “this guy called West.” Lots has changed since then. West has

taken turns as a civil rights activist and the Louis Vuitton Don, pushed artistic boundaries and torn up shopping malls, and

transformed from devout Christian to “I Am a God” and back again.

Throughout these many evolutions, he’s kept himself a household name by staying in the headlines. Kanye West’s gift for controversy

is unmatched among his peers. In the course of an album promotional cycle, he will say and do what others will not and smile as the

consequences rain down on his head.

Even his most devoted fans have at times found him exasperating, and some of his most avid haters read every story about him. Kanye

West is many things, but he is never boring.