Kanye West: 'Love Lockdown'

Kanye West's planet-sized ego has taken a bit of a battering in recent weeks. The initial response to 'Love Lockdown' - his bravest, strangest single to date - was so scathing that he felt compelled to rework it, beefing up the rhythm track with Japanese Taiko drums and re-recording his vocals.

That's right, vocals. West doesn't actually rap on 'Love Lockdown', preferring to sing, with a lot of help from Auto-Tune, over a house piano riff and those military-style drums. The result is unsettling, a little bit paranoid and much less radio-friendly than the likes of 'Stronger' and 'Homecoming'. An interesting experiment, but why would one of the world's best rappers want to turn himself into a barely adequate singer?