Friday Favecast

Kanye West Plays Well With Others

Kanye West‘s presence in the music industry is like an plane landing in your neighborhood park: he cannot be ignored. Despite his obvious shinanigans, outbursts and the opinions that follow – Kanye’s contributions in 2009 continue to soar much like that conspicuous airplane and he’s landed in the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards rap category. More notably, his presence demonstrates that Mr. West is highly capable of playing with others as ALL six of his nominations — in 3 out of the 5 rap categories — are derived from collaborations.

In the subcategory for Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group, Kanye stands alongside Kid Cudi and fellow hometown hero, Common, for their work on “Make Her Say.” He gets into some MC wonder twin activation with Young Jeezy on “Amazing” which is featured on West’s 808s and Heartbreaks LP. Both songs are strong displays of creative wordplay by West and the beats are definite headnodders. In the heart of that passion is where you find Kanye doing his thing.

Chances are Kanye will score a GRAMMY in the Best Rap/Sung Collaboration subcategory — his name is among three of the five nominees. He’s worked with Beyonce on the appropriately titled “Ego” and you can find his vocals setting the stage for Keri Hilson‘s “Knock You Down” along with Ne-Yo. If that’s not enough, you can get more of Kanye’s braggadocio as he proclaims to “Run This Town” with Jay-Z and Rhianna. The latter is also nominated for Best Rap Song — giving him great odds to share success with his contemporaries.

No matter how you slice it, Kanye proves to be the “go-to guy” in 2009. Whether it’s sharing bars on a hip hop track or intertwining his flow within the melodies of a singer, Kanye West is GRAMMY bound in a big way and he’s bringing friends.