Kanye Produced “Takeover” and Helped Repopularize Soul Sampling in Rap

Kanye received his first big break in 2001, producing songs for Jay-Z’s most critically acclaimed album The Blueprint. On the record, he delivered a collection of samples that provided the album with a clear soul influence, using songs from The Jackson 5, R&B group Bobby Blue Band and soul artist David Ruffin.

Hip-hop in the early 2000’s revolved around the so-called ‘Timbaland sound’, a style that favored beats with scattered drums and digital keyboards. But by incorporating more soulful samples into The Blueprint, the album’s production sparked a shift back to more sample-reliant sounds within the hip-hop industry.

As writer Del F. Cowie states, “[Blueprint caused] the reign of the digitally cold keyboard-driven production style [to be] dislodged as the predominant sound.” The Blueprint helped cause a revival in the use of samples as the basis of production, and Ye was a big reason why.

While Kanye cannot be credited as the only cause of the soul-centric sound (producer Just Blaze also played a huge role), he did produce 4 tracks on the 13-track project, including the classic Nas diss track “Takeover”. “Takeover” was ranked as the 51st best song of the 2000’s and is widely recognized as one of the most important rap songs ever. Even before releasing a proper debut album, Kanye was influencing the industry and quietly becoming a part of hip-hop history.

Kanye Changed the Standards for a Hip-Hop Artist

The College Dropout (2004)

Hip-hop in the early 2000’s tended to follow a defined set of rules. The early 00’s in rap is often referred to as the ‘Bling Era’; a time when the music of the genre had to have the Timbaland sound, the lyrics glorified expensive lifestyles and nearly all artists had to uphold a tough persona in order to be taken seriously. The biggest rap artist of the time, 50 Cent, followed this formula nearly perfectly.

In this era, there seemed no place in the mainstream for observation on topics such as religion, family, prejudice and materialism; that is until Kanye stepped into the void. Kanye’s debut album, The College Dropout, had its greatest impact in changing the rules of what a hip-hop artist has to be like.

In referring to the album’s lyrical content and his character, Kanye once said, “My persona is that I’m the regular person. Just think about whatever you’ve been through in the past week, and I have a song about that on my album.” This stance of appointing himself in direct relation to the listener, as opposed to the drastic divide many of the bling-era rappers painted, represented a substantial change in how relatable a successful rapper could be.

College Dropout’s Subject Matter Was Unconventional for its time

“We Don’t Care”, “School Spirit” and the various skits littered throughout the album speak to Kanye’s experience of dropping out of college and his negative feelings towards higher education. “All Falls Down” offers a nuanced view on the nature of consumerism. “Slow Jamz” acts as a tribute to great soul artists of the past, while “Through the Wire” goes over Kanye’s real-life experience of a near fatal car crash. “Two Words” tackles social issues and “Jesus Walks” reflects on religion’s place within the modern age.

Kanye’s highly personal brand of storytelling and ability to touch on so many topics was a big departure from other hip-hop giants during his era (50 Cent, The Game, Ludacris, etc.). It let people in the mainstream see a side of rap music that focused on universal problems and thoughts, not just material desires. This perspective left a big mark on hip-hop music at the time — it popularized the concept of a socially aware rapper in the 2000's.

Following the release of College Dropout, another socially conscious rapper Common, found his 2005 album Be peaking at #2 on the Billboard 200, and his 2007 album Finding Forever reaching #1 (Common had previously never had a top 10 album). Lupe Fiasco, a spiritual successor to Kanye in many respects, saw his 2006 album Food and Liquor peak at #8 on the Billboard 200.

Three years after The College Dropout was released, there happened to be a definitive test whether Kanye’s brand of socially aware rap had become the prevailing winner of the genre, or whether gangster rap still remained the standard that people gravitated toward. Kanye’s 2007 album Graduation was pit up against 50 Cent’s album Curtis, as they were both slated to be released on the same day. Kanye and 50 Cent went back and forth with one another in advance of the date, bragging about whose album would sell more. Shocking to many at the time, Graduation ended up out-selling Curtis by 266K copies within the first week.

As Guardian writer Rosie Swash put it, “[The sales competition] highlighted the diverging facets of hip-hop in the last decade; the former was gangsta rap for the 2000's, while West was the thinking man’s alternative. The winner? Kanye.”

808s Pushed the Envelope Even Further

Photo by Willy Vanderperre. Illustration by Kaws.

With the release of 808s and Heartbreak in 2008, Kanye took his career to a new terrain, leaving behind the soul of College Dropout, the orchestration of Late Registration and the radio-friendly pop of Graduation, to embrace a cold and electronic soundscape. The music on 808s relied heavily on the use of the retro Roland TR-808 drum machine and the outright auto-tuning of Kanye’s vocals, with writer Andy Kellman stating that album featured, “[…] dense drums, lengthy strings, droning synths and somber piano.”

The use of these sounds helped to create a moody, atmospheric record that pushed the boundaries of what could be considered hip-hop. Following the album’s release, there were many interpretations of what new genre to place the album in, such as electropop, synthpop and experimental pop. Even though Kanye rapped on nearly every song, people felt uncomfortable labelling the album as a rap record, showing just how different the sound was for its time.

808s Displayed a New Level of Emotional Vulnerability

“Welcome to Heartbreak” offers a regretful account of the chase for a superficial life and how fame can leave someone still feeling empty. On “Heartless”, Kanye laments of a past women who had been cold and unfeeling. “Love Lockdown” describes a relationship which does not meet expectations and has to be ended, while “Robocop” likens a woman to a fictional human cyborg who is too controlling. All these songs challenged the conventions of hip-hop in a way that was even more unprecedented and riskier than College Dropout.

While there had been many examples of socially aware rap before the release of Dropout, it had never before occurred where a hip-hop artist had appeared so emotional and confessional on a full-length release. As author Kirk Walker Graves writes, “[The] album is something of a self-pitying monologue performed in the dark, a grief counseling session with no grief counselor.”

The traditional rules within hip-hop tended to denounce any artist that connected even a little with their sensitive side, with there being huge pressure to maintain a sense of street cred by appearing ‘gangster’. Kanye went against this tradition and opened up the boundaries of hip-hop to include tales of being heartbroken, of pining over an ex, of wondering if you can ever get it all back together.

However, breaking so many different rules of the genre did not go over well with every listener. Metacritic, a website which averages out music reviews to attach a numerical score to albums, gave 808s the lowest score of any Kanye West album to date, with critics questioning the depths of personal misery displayed on the album as well as the barren soundscape as a whole.

Regardless, by creating an album with such an inventive sound that pushed hip-hop to new limits, Kanye created a piece of work that set the standard for the next decade of hip-hop music.

Kanye’s Impact Is Near Indisputable