Hopefully this is not too late.
Listen to My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy from start to end, it really is as good as people say. There's not a single song that can't be described as great. The intro alone is so amazing and really hooks most people up. Seriously, I wanted to write which tracks are the most standout, but every single one is great and it's hard to pick the 2 or 3 best ones. There are great lyrics (Gorgeous, Runaway, Blame Game, Hell of a Life, Devil in a New Dress), amazing production (really, every single song is perfect in this regard).
Then there is College Dropout, which was his first album. He uses soul samples in quite a unique way and this is really far from what people would expect from Kanye West. He raps about Jesus (one of his biggest hits, Jesus Walks), his mom, education, and more. He had problems with getting signed by labels because of his image being so far from the stereotypical gangsta rappers at the time - I don't think many people, who haven't listened to his music would believe this. There are some really good songs (Jesus Walks, All Falls Down are my personal favorites and probably they're the most popular, as well).
In Late Registration, he perfects his style and gets a bit more lyrical and his lyrics are really, really amazing. There's the mega-hit Golddigger, there's the song Hey Mama (dedicated to his mom, which is quite a happy song, but he later changed it up a bit after her death ad it became a really touching song - look up his Grammy performance of this song), Diamonds are Forever (about blood diamonds).
Graduation is his album closest to pop and he utilizes electronic music a lot. At the time, combining rap with EDM was quite unusual. While being poppy, this is possibly the least popular one among Kanye's fans, but there are some great songs (Flashing lights, the HUGE hit Stronger (sampling Daft Punk's Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger), Good Life,...)
After his long time girlfriend broke up with him and his mother died, Kanye broke down and he created the album 808's and Heartbreak which was unlike anything else. He doesn't rap at all, the whole album is sung. He uses autotune, but not only to remove the imperfections from his singing (because, as he admits, he's not a great singer), but to achieve a certain artistic purpose - his voice feels emotionless and depressed, at times, exactly as he was. And it works great. Even though it's also not the most popular album, it's very innovative and it started the wave of rappers like Drake and Kid Cudi. It really works as a breakup album, so you might appreciate it more in that mood.
Yeezus, his latest album is really polarizing (especially at the time of its release), so I suggest you don't listen to this as the first album, but the consensus between fans is that it is close to MBDTF level, which is, as I said, mostly considered his best. The difference between MBDTF, his previous album, and this could hardly be bigger. Kanye raps about his frustrations and uses minimalistic production. Even though the intro itself sounds really harsh, it sets the tone really well. Yeezus is punk, industrial music. It's probably unlike anything else you've heard. There is a song called I am a God, which sounds really controversial, but don't let that discourage you from listening to his music. The production, as always, is amazing, especially on the track Blood on the Leaves. I also really like New Slaves, with its beautiful outro.
While most people can agree he acts like an asshole, most people who gave his albums a listen can agree that his work is phenomenal, innovative and highly influential.