It's obvious that my edit isn't a photo reduction, and my edit isn't even as close as it could be.  All you have to do is overlay the reference to ensure it's isn't a trace or reduction.  The fact that he's different in certain details just means that it's innacurate, and not in a good, intended caricature sort or way.

I personally don't think it's that obvious it's kanye, it looks like a random black guy to me.

 But... but...

It's quite understandable that he's Kanye, and the fact that it's different in certain details means it's not a photo-reduction. And that's good.

Ahhh Kanye ... the inevitable result of an industry flooded with talentless hacks making a buck off the stupidity of our youth. 

Political rant aside ... it looks enough like him that I'd have known who it was without being told.

Didn't you see this on wayofthepixel?

this doesn't look *exactly* like Kanye, as TINC pointed out, the major thing to notice is that you made his jaw rather small.. remember that hs jaw is pretty big ever since that car crash.

HOWEVER, I do love the style in this, and it was really easy to recognize who this is without even looking at the title!

PS: one more thing you should definitely refine is the consistency of clean lines. look there's a stray brown pixel right on the side of his neck.. some places the outline isnt continuous.. and what's up with those purple pixels? they dont seem to s erve any purpose here.

PPS: mind you that I'm not going to great lengths with this comment to be a hard-ass critic, but only because I actually like this piece quite alot :)

Haha, you said basically everything I said on pixelation, and a little more, awesome edit though. The original is awesome, too.

-EDIT- Just noticed you posted there as well.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g209/phototekcub/kanye-1.gif

The nose is way too long, the goatee too triangular, the chin/jaw are too short, his right eyebrow isn’t curvy enough, left eyebrow shouldn’t come to a point at center of face, hairline much too straight, top of the head is too flat.  What’s with the purple? Needs brighter  highlights  and greater use of darks to define volumes,.
Ears are too small and highlight how badly the proportions are off.  On the reference photo, they begin near the top of the eye and end near the top of the nostril, on yours they end near the middle of the bridge of the nose.

Basically just draw less from your head and pay attention to line, form, proportions, and tones of the reference photo.  Remember, you're not drawing a human head, you're drawing a collection of lines and shapes with relation to one another.

 THANK YOU, FRIEND. :)

WELL I GUESS I'LL MAKE AN EDIT THEN

Patience, young padawan.

 That's actually what I'm trying to do with this one, just no one will tell me exactly where I'm going wrong with this piece. I know it doesn't look like Kanye right now, or at least, not much, I just don't know where exactly the problem areas .. are. D:

Gonna take more than a little work before it looks like Kanye.  I see new stuff from you everyday, why not take your time on a piece and refine it?  Quality, not quantity.  Not that this is bad pixelling, but I'd retitle it "random black guy" for now.