Why hip-hop sucks, part 2 PopMatters columnist Marc Lamont Hill with "further explication of my position by not only describing problematic trends in hip-hop, but also identifying the key figures in the culture who embody them."
One of those figures is Kanye West, about whom Hill writes:
Kanye represents a disturbing trend in hip-hop lyricism. Complex rhyme schemes, clever allusions, and poetic flows are slowly falling to the wayside in favor of predictable punch lines, wack similes, and uninventive interpolations of earlier songs. At least part of the blame for this pattern goes to Jay-Z, who has often bragged that he never writes his lyrics down. This type of statement — which is the equivalent of Michael Jordan confessing to a young hoopster that he never really practiced over the summer — does an extraordinary disservice to the other 99.9% of the rappers who cannot create quality rhymes without the benefit of a pen.
For the record: I'm not a Kanye hater. I'm just quoting a section of the essay that I find most salient and relevant (to all musical genres).