#43 Kanye West, "Stronger"

N-n-now that that don't kill me
Can only make me stronger

I love Kanye West's "Gold Digger." I'm not really sure why--didn't think much of it at first, and then suddenly, one day, I "got it"--I think it had something to do with suddenly understanding what he was saying, and that somehow made me better able to appreciate even the music, those little squiggles, everything (it's got to be the clean version, though, not so much because it's clean but because I prefer the rhythm of the chorus this way--"broke broke" just sounds better to my ears music-wise, though maybe that's just because it's the version I got used to from radio playing it so much). Every now and then I just caught by a rap single, usually when it somehow manages to link into my sometimes bizarre sense of humor, and "Gold Digger" did that. "Stronger," the Daft Punk-sampling lead single for Kanye's latest album Graduation, managed to win me over again, though once again it wasn't immediate. Now, though, that deliberately stuttery delivery in the chorus only enhances a chorus that's already strong on its own and the way Kanye eventually starts using Daft Punk's lines to complete his own sentences is irresistable for some reason. Yes, parts of the song are over-the-top, but--and even though this isn't the song's point at all--it still manages to feel like a really good psych-up kind of song.

Find it on: Graduation