When the first three albums were dropping I was in a different place musically - if it was not DnB or grime or some early pre-dubstep stuff I was not open to it even though my musical roots have a wide base, even though I spent a lot of time listening to jazz, rock, beats, etc during that time. Kanye just wasnt in my lane in the early days.

when I listen to music now I hear the past, present and future - seriously, most of the listening to music becomes distracting because I'm always hearing some old sample or riff or lifted reference that gets me digging

I was also kinda snobby about stuff at the time, or rather, when something is BIG and Popular I can't get into it because I am always dissapointed and left saying "yo, is this it?" shit just gets hyped up for me so my expectations are always off so I've learned to just come around on my own with music stuff, I still havent watched Lemonade, heard an early Jay Z album from beginning to end, etc...

I finally got into Kanye around 2014, I had just gotten a new job in an industry I was trying hard as fuck to break into after grinding for years, I was about 2 weeks in and just thinking about the fact that dreams attained are not always satisfying so I was sitting just kinda like "the fuck we gonna do?" when I heard

Workin' this grave shift and I ain't made shit
I wish I could buy me a spaceship and fly past the sky, oh
I've been workin' this grave shift and I ain't made shit
I wish I could buy me a spaceship and fly past the sky

I just leaned back and took that shit in for a second - I mean, its talking about working retail but I felt that shit.