I am not sure if he is millennial, but Kanye West’s work as a rapper, producer, and cultural icon is extremely influential. I am going to focus on his solo material here. His first 3 albums are meaningful in that they are artistically great and commercially successful albums that existed outside of both the prevalent gangsta rap of the time (think Jay-Z, 50 Cent) and the positive ‘socially conscious’ rap framed in opposition to this (think Mos Def, Jurassic 5). Surprisingly enough, though, the Kanye album with the most pervasive stylistic influence is his least critically acclaimed and least commercially successful album- 808’s & Heartbreak.

The emotional R&B/rap hybrid that Kanye lays down here has become the archetypal sound for many of today’s most popular acts and lead the way for a wave of new R&B. The most obvious and successful of these new artists is Drake (millennial! Degrassi!). His blend of personal rap and R&B is very informed by 808s. Kid Cudi is as well, although I don’t think he’s as good at what he does as Drake. This intensely honest, personal, heart-on-sleeve type of rap would not be possible without Kanye’s influence. Two displays of major label’s trying to get in on this type of rap are the over-commercialized and absolutely terrible recent albums from BOB and Lupe Fiasco. These attempts at an 808-informed brand of pop-y rap lacked not only any sort of real production value, but also any genuine-ness to their lyrical content.