15 Best Kanye West Tracks

6. Paranoid (808s and Heartbreak)

Best Line: "Yeah you heard about all the word of mouth, don't worry about what we can't control" There has been a sea change in discussing Kanye's worst received album 808s and Heartbreak, initially critics described it as a too-raw experiment in a more melodic form for Kanye while recently there has been a push to retroactively declare 808s a masterpiece. This is one of those cases where the initial consensus was the right one. It's not that 808s was a terrible album, it just wasn't a good enough Kanye West album. Clunky and overly sentimental (which can be forgiven seeing as it was a tribute to his recently deceased mother Donda) 808s represents a low point in his career, but Paranoid is still a stand-out track. The line above comes from Kanye as advice to someone else, but like all of Kanye's lyrics it is really about him. He worries about the wrong things, and he knows that but he still needs the reassurance of someone else. Paranoid would have been a stand-out if it were on Graduation, but instead it stands out as the best track on 808s and Heartbreak.