Originally Posted by kane

In short, Kanye made it okay for Rap and hip hop to be self-conscious. Basically, most hip hop is about bravado. I am the best, I have the most, I fuck the most chicks, I have the biggest cock etc. Kanye made fun of himself and had odd, funny, strange lyrics. He also pulled a lot more old school soul into his sound.

So he basically took hip hop and wrapped it in pop and soul and made it okay to be a weirdo then when others started to imitate him and adopt his style and sound, he left it behind and made a record that has almost no samples, minimalistic styling and he relies mostly on his voice and auto tune to make the melodies.

808's and Heartbreak is widely considered his best record because of the drastic change in style, but I think My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is Kanye at his best. The sound jumps all over the map and often breaks down in a very experimental fashion. The lyrics are brilliant and it has a bit of schizophrenic feel to it. Listen to this record. If you like it and get it, you will understand why Kanye is influential. If you don't, fair enough, he's not for everyone.