2004: #1 - "Slow Jamz"

"Slow Jamz" takes the the most vital and exciting 12 seconds of a serious and rather lengthy Luther Vandross hit and turns it into a perfect pop song, as well as the funnest slow jam ever.

Twista's breathless delivery can be a little annoying, but here, it's breathtaking and fun, especially when you consider the song's title and inherent pace.

And Kanye's trick of allowing the sample to be part of the song, rather than just extraneous window dressing, was at its freshest and most vibrant here. It's just so fun to hear him and Twista use helium-voiced Luther's refrain to dictate what they say and how they say it.

Oh shit and how about those bongos that stutter in and out, right after the hi-hat does the same. Damn, the whole song is like the most exhilarating conversation we've ever had.

This should have been an obvious #1 pick for any of our vast readership, but sadly, no one guessed. Perhaps there is an issue with the commenting page - we will take it up with Blogger.

2005: #5 - "Diamonds From Sierra Leone (Remix)"

Kanye has a flair for the dramatic, and the production on the "Diamonds From Sierra Leone" remix is no exception, but lyrically he shies away from preachiness and bombast to deliver some of the most intriguingly odd philosophical lines we can think of, in hip-hop or any other genre.

He doesn't fret much about the actual conflict in Africa that makes the titular diamonds controversial, but rather the moral dilemma that he faces as a rapper trying to stay true to his profession and people by accessorizing fabulously, as if to make up for what he and other African-Americans had been denied access to, while actual Africans are dying in diamond mines because of it.

His conclusion? He needs to wear bling, because it's in his soul to do so.

Oh yeah, and Jay-Z has a verse, too.

2005: #8 - "Gold Digger"

As we've stated before, despite his lack of skill in rhyming and lyricism, Kanye West has this uncanny ability to interact with his productions, and the minimalist "Gold Digger" is no exception. Most people like this one for the Jamie-Foxx-as-Ray-Charles vocal loop, and that's cute enough, but our favorite part is when that old school synth starts gurgling out of the left channel and Kanye's verse continues in the foreground, one element of sound so sharply focused and precisely delivered, the other very clumsily evading form and technique, but both dancing perfectly with one another.

2007: #3 - "Stronger"

When we first heard "Stronger", the Daft Punk-sampling electro-pop single off Kanye West's excellent Graduation, we thought it was the exact opposite of catchy and memorable, and wondered if we'd ever want to hear it again, not to mention if it would last a week or two on radio playlists. But like some kind of festering infectious sore, it grew on us like possibly no other song in history.

Kanye's awkward rhymes and sub-Diddy flow were held up by the beat - spiky keyboard and drum machine, loud reverb and of course the modulated vocal hook - and those weak raps eventually transformed into the purest distillation of Kanye that we had heard on record to that point.

The bridge where, amidst the starkness of those minor chord keyboard stabs, he effortlessly interacts with the sample - a technique that it seems only he has embraced, but somehow, for us, seems like such an easy route to awesomeness - is pure bliss.

2008: #9 - "Love Lockdown"

It just sounds cool.

2009: #5 - "Amazing"

"I'm a monster
I'm a killer
I know I'm wrong
I'm a problem
That'll never ever be solved"

Only Mr. Ego of the Decade of the Year could turn a barrage of self-pity around by using it as a way to boast about his own complexity. Kanye never ceases to amaze.

From virtually the start of the decade, Mr. West has owned our playlists, beginning with his production for Jay-Z, then really picking up steam in 2004 with the release of The College Dropout and never looking back. He got so good - not only in his own mind, but for real - that he felt he had conquered rap and released an album of Auto-Tuned electro-pop ballads. Amazing.

Believe it or not, 808s and Heartbreak was excellent, if a downer - in some ways it was the soundtrack to the winter of 2008/2009. Even relatively positive songs like "Amazing" are laced with self-doubt and defiance. The production itself defies standard rap fare, with perhaps its most distinct element being its tempo, a slow chug bolstered by minimal piano and the occasional grunt.

Grunts come courtesy of Young Jeezy and act as the instrumental trump card. We'll freely admit - we usually don't "get" Jeezy, but his appearance here really works, blowing through the track like a wheezing bullhorn of proud disaffection. When he bellows, "They like, 'Oh God, why you go so hard?'", you know he's only yelling because he's truly got something to prove.