walking upstream…
Kanye West
photo: david shankbone · public domain ↗Kanye West
Kanye West rewired 2000s hip-hop production around chipmunk-pitched soul samples before spending the rest of his career refusing to repeat himself, lurching from the maximalist orchestral rap of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy to the abrasive industrial minimalism of Yeezus. A Chicago producer turned reluctant pop star, he built his name ghostwriting and beat-making for Roc-A-Fella before forcing his way to the mic himself. Divisive as a public figure, he remains one of the most structurally influential producer-rappers of his generation.
the sound in question
2007
StrongerKanye West
walk the tributaries ↓
Michael Jackson1980s · Pop / R&B / Dance
West has named Michael Jackson among his core early influences, and his own chart ambitions and showmanship instincts were shaped by Jackson's model of pop maximalism; West's 'Good Life' builds its hook directly around a sample of Jackson's 'P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing).'
listen: upstream & here
1982
Billie JeanMichael Jackson
2007
Good LifeKanye West
listen forPlay Michael Jackson's 'Billie Jean' next to Kanye's 'Good Life' — listen for the sampled Jackson vocal snippet woven directly into West's beat, a lineage made audibly literal.
A Tribe Called Quest1990s · Hip-hop / Jazz rap
West has named A Tribe Called Quest among his early influences, and their jazz-sampling, soul-warmed approach to boom-bap is a clear precedent for the chipmunk-soul, sample-flipping production style West built his early career on.
listen: upstream & here
1991
ExcursionsA Tribe Called Quest
2004
SpaceshipKanye West
listen forPlay A Tribe Called Quest's jazzy 'Excursions' next to Kanye's soul-looped 'Spaceship' — both float a rapper's voice over a warm, chopped-up jazz-and-soul sample instead of a harder drum-machine attack.
Public Enemy1980s · Hip hop / Political hip hop / Conscious hip hop
West has cited Public Enemy among his formative influences, and the confrontational, politically charged intensity of the Bomb Squad's production is an audible ancestor of West's own noisiest, most abrasive records.
listen: upstream & here
1989
Fight the PowerPublic Enemy
2013
Black SkinheadKanye West
listen forPlay Public Enemy's siren-laced 'Fight the Power' next to Kanye's industrial-scraping 'Black Skinhead' — both weaponize noise and repetition into something closer to a political rally than a pop song.