i said black pop cos kanye is a massive pop star but his music is still hip hop - if you dont like that kind of music, you dont have the context (even accounting for him existing in his own bubble). it wasnt to diminish him. i didnt say he didnt take risks - fantasy had lots of amazing stuff going on in it, him doing 808s was a massive risk, but weve also had plenty of artists before singing and rapping, like dre3000 for example, or q-tip, so it wasnt totally unprecented. so when i say black pop, that context is important, cos without it, you wouldnt understand what a big deal him doing yeezus is, or how big a step 808s was, for people who liked old college dropout era kanye, or how he made sampling okay again making the blueprint for jay-z (along with just blaze) after years of synths ruling in hip hop, or how he made it okay to be nerdy and suburban and educated (j cole, big sean, etc etc) etc etc. without that, kanye is just another pop star, when hes more than that.
yeezus is more of a risk on a wider scale than 808s. 808s was a risk cos he was a rapper, and then he decided to make an album of him singing. but that had been done not that long ago by lots of otehr rappers like mos def, missy, etc etc. and him doing an 80s-ish R&B album isnt as much of a risk as yeezus which sounds like pretty much nothing at all in popular music right now (even though i can make links with saul williams, el-p, cx kidtronik and others), never mind hip hop. then again you could say yeezus is his art-edm-rap album lol.