Producing =/= music. And I couldn't ever fathom how Gold Digger was remotely good. Agreed with thedon, his music is shallow.
Where's Adele and Rihanna?
Production is an essential part of the music.
lol @ basing judgement on an artist on one song. Gold Digger was a radio song - it was catchy as hell and brought people in for the rest of the album. If you give Late Registration a chance you'd realise that it didn't represent the album as a whole. Through the Wire, We Don't Care, Hey Mama, Runaway, Diamond from Sierra Leone are just a few examples of socially conscious songs by Kanye. The entirety of MBDTF is an introspective look at his own life, his fame and his egotism. Shallow is an ignorant claim tbh.
Kanye's best production work came in the mid-90's for the likes of Nas, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Jay-Z etc.
Be, The Black Album and Tha Carter III were all from this century and I'd say those are three of the best hip hop albums of the modern era. Not to mention the production on his own albums. MBDTF has probably the best production ever for a hip hop album.
These would be my top 10 albums (in no particular order):
Radiohead - Kid A
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Arcade Fire - Funeral
Kanye West - MBDTF
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
J Dilla - Donuts
Burial - Untrue
Sigur Ros - ( )
Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
The Avalanches narrowly miss out.