Kanye is nothing more than a mediocre lyricist, and never will be. His flows suck, he mumbles too much, his voice sucks, and he thinks he's clever and sarcastic when he's just plain corny. "Through the Wire" had a sick beat, but Kanye's lyrics sucked it up... cmon, this guy is TALKING for half the g.dam song, and there's no hook except a sped up Chaka looped. Anyone can talk on a song (like we should feel sorry for him b/c he fell asleep behind the wheel), and anyone can loop an 80's song, speed it up, and use it as the hook...
On the other hand, Kanye as a producer is incredible... Out of all of his beats, I maybe don't like two (out of around 35 songs)... He is sort of like Diddy, exceptional sampling and beats, but should have NEVER picked up the mike... Everyone wants to be like Dr.Dre, yet nobody can touch the Bo Jackson of hip hop (rapping and sick producing). But it was a nice try Kanye. lol