Make Em Clap To This

June 15, 2008 8:50 PM

The Kanye West Beat Drop. A number of the web's best rap blogs get together to post and chronicle the best of Mr. West's impressive and extensive history of producing, ghost producing, and the stories around many of the songs.

If I had to pick one: Throw Your Hands in the Air. It's like listening to surgeons operate with violins.

posted by cashman (25 comments total)

Kanye West doesn't care about hippies.
posted by muckster at 9:32 PM on June 15, 2008

I had no clue Kanye produced Get By for Talib Kweli. My opinion of the guy has shot up.
posted by phrontist at 9:56 PM on June 15, 2008

Yeah, the man's raps are sort of "mehhh enhh" to down right cringe worthy on his own tracks, but hell, the beats are good enough that it's almost worth putting up with. Guy's got a great ear.
posted by cavalier at 10:55 PM on June 15, 2008

Thanks for sharing.
posted by k8t at 11:05 PM on June 15, 2008

This is great, cashman, and I loved Throw Your Hands in the Air. I've been a fan of his for a long time and it's cool to hear some new (old) stuff. Oh, and muckster: it looks like the delayed performance was Pearl Jam's fault for going way over, rather than Kanye's. Not that this says anything about his opinions towards hippies more generally. And I also feel the need to say that Bonnaroo isn't just a hippy festival. It holds a diverse collection of social groups that you might wish to stereotype and/or celebrate.
posted by farishta at 12:57 AM on June 16, 2008

Yeah, 'Get Em High' is an amazing beat...my personal favourite would have to be his beat for Jay-Z's 'Lucifer' though.

Kanye does a great job of leaving space for the rapper in the middle of the mix, his own 'Hey Mama' is a great example: all the instruments float around the periphery, building a driving movement without ever getting in the way of the vocals.
posted by rssaddict at 4:55 AM on June 16, 2008

Thanks for this. Kanye West is a terrific producer. Too bad he also raps.
posted by sveskemus at 5:40 AM on June 16, 2008

Well when you put 'em all on one web page like that, it really makes me feel like I've been a lazy bastard my whole life.
posted by cyclopticgaze at 6:07 AM on June 16, 2008

Is the hook a sped-up sample of one of your favorite songs? Kanye West.
posted by cosmonaught at 6:39 AM on June 16, 2008

If you look at it from a standpoint of someone who plays the keyboard, "Guess Who's Back" is the best rap beat of this decade. No scratches, no samples.
posted by Student of Man at 7:58 AM on June 16, 2008

Is the hook a sped-up sample of one of your favorite songs? Kanye West.

You are an idiot.
posted by anomie at 7:59 AM on June 16, 2008 [3 favorites]

If you look at it from a standpoint of someone who plays the keyboard, "Guess Who's Back" is the best rap beat of this decade. No scratches, no samples.

I am listening to this song and other than the rapping I am hearing nothing but samples (the bassline might be a sequenced synth but I can't tell) and there's scratching (samples) in the chorus.
posted by neustile at 8:31 AM on June 16, 2008

yeah your right, I checked afterward it it was indeed sampled from The Original's- "Sunrise"
Difficult to find online. I just decided no to recant on this thread but since you mentioned it, yeah, totally sampled. Oh well, While that fact diminishes the feat as I once saw it, It's still a hot street banger and one of my fav beats. But you know what, That doesn't really take away from the creativity and ear it required to remix it in the way he did. Sort of like picasso Bull's Head.

Not that I'm comparing Kan-man to Picasso
posted by Student of Man at 9:22 AM on June 16, 2008

Thanks for the link.
posted by AceRock at 10:44 AM on June 16, 2008

Well, as a Kayne hater (except for his brilliant comment about a particular world leader), I'm a bit taken aback. I'm a huge Kweli fan and didn't know about Get By. Additionally, so many of these songs have REALLY amazing beats and production...so I guess I'll come out and say, I was wrong about Kayne. Dope Dope Dope.
posted by Dantien at 10:53 AM on June 16, 2008

Great link, thanks.

I love Kanye... but he certainly pissed off some fans Sunday morning at Bonnaroo when he went on stage nearly 2 hours late.
posted by porn in the woods at 11:53 AM on June 16, 2008

Any song that has gross-out lines like “Servin’ you while servin’ me” — I mean, really, just imagine Common’s naked fetal-pig-like body sixty-nining — and doesn’t make me reach for the radio dial must have a pretty hot beat.

Heh.
posted by DLWM at 12:21 PM on June 16, 2008

It's 2008 and we're still hating on sampling?

Bahahaha...
posted by basicchannel at 12:51 PM on June 16, 2008

I was at Bonnaroo, and the problem with Kanye wasn't really that he came on two hours late. It was that after coming on two hours late, he only played for an hour, made no attempt to thank the fans who waited for waiting, and played a crappy set to boot.

As a producer, Kanye West has had some great stuff. As a rapper, he sucks. The lure of the limelight got him; he should have stayed behind the scenes. He and 50 Cent have made sure good hip hop has died a slow, painful and unappreciated death.
posted by jckll at 1:58 PM on June 16, 2008

If one was curious about Mr. West's work and wanted to gain a greater appreciation, where would one start?

In know the background is blue, not green, but this seems an appropriate place to ask
posted by lekvar at 6:03 PM on June 16, 2008

Looking at the first link again, I think my question's been answered, I just didn't get the format.
posted by lekvar at 6:17 PM on June 16, 2008

Is the hook a sped-up sample of one of your favorite songs? Kanye West.

You are an idiot.
posted by anomie at 9:59 AM on June 16 [2 favorites +] [!]

Yeah, probably, but maybe more because I like Kanye quite a bit, even when he raps (!).

It doesn't change the fact that the man has a sound that is immediately identifiable-- sped-up samples of (mostly) soul songs. Go ahead and work through the list you linked...

"Get By" is the perfect example-- sped-up Nina Simone all the way.
posted by cosmonaught at 6:52 AM on June 17, 2008

^: Oh come on, like Kanye West is the first person to feature sped-up samples of soul songs. Ever hear of Puff Daddy? Public Enemy? Marley Marl?
posted by jckll at 7:11 AM on June 17, 2008

I was also at Bonnaroo, and the problem WAS that he showed up 2 hours late... to a 2:45 AM show!!! WTF! It was supposed to be a glow in the dark light show! That's why he had the set moved from 8pm that day... or maybe he just wanted to be on the big stage, instead of playing on the smaller one against Jack Johnson. Come to think of it, that's also why he demanded that Phil stop playing an hour early. Fuck Kanye. I watched his lazy crew build a set for an hour. He didn't go on until sunrise. Kind of hard to have a glow in the dark light show in the daytime, but this stupid motherfucker just plain didn't give a shit. Well fuck him. I was too weary, beat up and dehydrated from 3 days of non stop partying, and this guy shit all over what turned out to be my last wind. I hadn't slept in days, and I missed the last window for it. You can't sleep when the sun is out at Bonnaroo... you'll broil alive in your tent. (which is why so many people decided to take naps during Metallica). I am now a lifelong Kanye hater.
posted by illuminatus at 11:53 AM on June 19, 2008

Thanks illuminatus. Was the (new) Metallica stuff any good, or were you one of the Metalli-nappers?
posted by cashman at 12:36 PM on June 19, 2008