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Introduction to Kanye West’s Influence on Rap
The main reason I decided to choose this topic is that rap makes up the majority of what I listen to. I listen to rap almost everywhere, whether it be in the car driving around, working out, or even just doing homework for my classes. If I was going to research and write about something related to music, picking a topic that I would be interested in learning more about, enjoy writing about, and feel is relevant to my everyday life would be the best option. The reason I decided to examine Kanye West’s personal influence on the genre is that I grew up listening to Kanye West. The first rap song I ever heard was by Kanye and it was “Stronger” from the album Graduation. From the moment I heard that song, I became a Kanye fan and would always listen to his newest releases. I also wanted to research Kanye because he was a pioneer for the new sound of rap with the use of autotune, 808s, and other musical techniques. Kanye has been such a major influence that many of the new generation rappers cite Kanye as the one that inspired them to start rapping. The collection of these reasons is why I choose to examine Kanye’s influence on rap from the 2000s until now.
Kanye West’s Early Life and Musical Beginnings
Kanye West is one of the most influential figures that the rap/hip-hop genre has seen in recent times. Kanye Omari West was born on June 8th of 1977 in Atlanta, Georgia. Even though he was born in Atlanta, Kanye spent his life growing up in the suburbs of Chicago. He even spent time in China with his mother while she was working as a professor at a university. West’s mother says that his interest in the arts started to flourish in elementary school. At around the age of 13, Kanye started to create his own musical pieces. Kanye started making musical advances throughout his teen years even when he made the decision to enroll at Chicago State University.1 While attending the university, Kanye started to become more and more engulfed by his musical work, but his education would have to be sacrificed. This is when he made the decision to drop out of school and pursue a career in music full-time.
The Breakthrough: ‘The College Dropout’
After a few years had passed, when he was working with a variety of well-known artists and producing for them, he would go on to drop his first studio album, The College Dropout. This album would completely change the trajectory of his career and catapult him into a league with all of the biggest artists at the time. Kanye is known as a perfectionist and this is clear when looking at when his first studio album was released compared to when it was initially supposed to be released. This album came out about 6 months late due to Kanye West constantly removing certain songs, changing verses on others, and even adding certain instruments to the background to tune the beat. Looking back at all of this, the extra caution and care made the difference as the album would go on to become voted one of the best albums of the year and earn a plethora of awards. Years down the road, The College Dropout would be considered a classic in the rap genre and the start of a legendary career.
One of the reasons that Kanye is considered one of the most influential figures in the rap genre is the long list of other artists that he has either helped rise to fame or that he has helped in continuing to release quality content. In the mid to late 1990s, Kanye produced for many small artists, most of them being from Chicago. Despite this, the start of West’s career as we know it today began when he started producing songs for artists signed to Roc-A-Fella Records.2 It was during this time that Kanye helped produce multiple songs on an album for Jay-Z. This album was called The Blueprint and it would not only become one of Jay-Z’s most popular pieces, but it would become one of the most iconic rap albums of all time. Due to the popularity of the album and Kanye’s efforts on it, his status as a producer skyrocketed. At this point in his career, it was very early, and Kanye had already helped produce one of the most popular and influential rap albums in history.
Kanye’s Role in Shaping Other Artists’ Careers
One way that Kanye helped many up-and-coming artists was through his record label GOOD Music, which he founded in 2004. One of the artists that Kanye helped very early on was Kid Cudi. As a result of help from the record label, Kid Cudi would go on to also become a very influential artist. Another artist that is signed to GOOD Music is Travis Scott, who is one of the most popular and iconic rappers in 2019. Other notable artists that are signed to GOOD Music include; Pusha T, Big Sean, and John Legend.5 It has become evident that Kanye is an icon in the rap scene for a variety of reasons other than his own musical productions.
Changing the Rap Genre: Beyond ‘Gangster’ Rap
Although Kanye West influenced the rap culture in many ways, he changed the actual genre through the creation of his own works. Before Kanye West, rap was considered “gangster” and most of the popular rappers before him were all very similar in the way that they all fell into this image. During this time, most rap music was very one-dimensional as it was very commonly about money, drugs, crime, and women. While Kanye was trying to make the transition from full-time producer to a rapper he was having difficulty in finding a record deal because most of the groups were pointing out the fact that he did not fit the image of these mainstream rappers at the time. They were right because Kanye did not grow up poor, his family lived very comfortably, and he was not involved with crime growing up. On the other hand, no one could have predicted that Kanye would be the one to get rid of this stereotypical image of a rapper. When Kanye became popular, he normalized rapping about things that could be seen as “soft.” Unlike most of the rappers before him, Kanye was not afraid to show his softer side and portray these emotions through rapping. This becomes clear when looking at some of the lyrics from his most popular songs earlier in his career. In “Heartless” from 808s & Heartbreak Kanye says, “Somewhere far along this road / He lost his soul to a woman so heartless.” In this line, Kanye is talking about himself and how a person he was in a relationship with took his heart from him and destroyed it. In a sense, Kanye was a trailblazer because before him many rappers were reluctant to portray their true feelings and talk about things that others may define as “soft.” Kanye did not care about upholding some image that he was a tough guy who did not care about others and felt no emotions. Kanye spoke his heart truthfully through his lyrics with no filter. Kanye also used his music to talk about social issues and bring certain things that he thought were important to life. In “Never Let Me Down” from The College Dropout album Kanye says “Racism’s still alive they just be concealin’ it / But I know they don’t want me in the damn club / They even made me show ID to get inside of Sam’s Club. This is just one example of how Kanye used his popularity to bring attention to certain problems that are still very prevalent even to this day.
Innovations in Sound: Autotune and 808s
Kanye was a pioneer for rap in many ways, not only through the lyrical content as discussed above but also through the actual sound of rap and the production of rap. Kanye was one of the first people in the industry to experiment with autotune and popularize it. Autotune works by correcting the pitch in a vocal recording which can make the piece sound much smoother and not as choppy. Kanye had dabbled in the use of autotune very slightly in the past but really experimented with it during the creation of one of the most prolific rap albums of all time, 808s & Heartbreak. This album heavily utilized autotune and many listeners were surprised as autotune was not nearly as common back then. Through his use of autotune, Kanye would pave the way for many rappers after him.10 One of the biggest proponents of autotune in today’s rap scene is Travis Scott, who is also signed to Kanye’s record label. Travis is extremely popular and is known for his use of autotune. Without Kanye, there is a good chance that Travis Scott and many others like him would not be creating this type of music.
Another musical style that many people give credit to Kanye for popularizing is the use of the 808s. When referring to 808’s, people are talking about the retro Roland TR-808 drum machine. This machine made production much easier because there was no longer a need for a drum sample or even a live drummer. With the machine, producers were able to create their own unique patterns and sounds. Kanye’s the use of the machine was fairly early and therefore many people were surprised when he had an entire album dedicated to it, 808’s & Heartbreak, where every song featured the use of the 808. This was what largely popularized the 808 as many of the songs from that album were extremely popular, such as “Heartless,” “Amazing,” and “Love Lockdown.”12 In today’s style of rap, the 808 is used so frequently that it has become a crucial piece to how rap sounds today.
‘Heartless’: A Case Study of Kanye’s Musical Genius
“Heartless” by Kanye West is one of his most popular songs and an all-time favorite among his fans. This song is the perfect example of all the things that Kanye has popularized in rap, including the use of autotune and the 808 machines. In this song, Kanye is talking about himself in the third person. The song is about a relationship that has gone wrong, and now, Kanye is left all alone and heartless. Kanye uses different figures of speech throughout the song to emphasize the lyrics. For example, he uses a metaphor when he says, “The coldest story ever told”. The story itself isn’t cold nor is it about the cold, but that this female basically left Kanye “out in the cold”. Kanye also uses hyperbole when he says, “Somewhere far along this road, he lost his soul to a woman so heartless”. Kanye is exaggerating because obviously, he has not lost his soul, but he was so connected to her that now he feels empty. The song starts off with the lyrics as the center of attention with the beat taking a back seat, this is done to emphasize the lyrics and set the tone for the rest of the song. The beat then comes in and shares the spotlight with the lyrics, however, the beat is fast with a lot of deep notes. On the other hand, the lyrics are sung at a much slower pace which puts the center of attention on what Kanye is talking about. The beat also changes at different parts of the song depending on the context of what Kanye is saying. The effect of the autotune also makes Kanye sound slightly robotic which is how he feels after leaving this relationship, empty and alone.12 This song is just one example of how Kanye uses different musical techniques to portray a variety of emotions and meanings to the listener.
Conclusion: Kanye West’s Enduring Legacy in Rap
In conclusion, Kanye is one of the most influential artists across many genres but especially rap. Kanye changed the culture of rap by breaking the stereotype that all rappers are gangsters and that they all rap about crime, money, drugs, and women. Due to Kanye’s revolutionary style and sound, many of the greatest rappers of today cite Kanye as one of their biggest influences. He is responsible for popularizing many of the musical techniques that are still being used to this day. Kanye was one of the first to experiment with the 808 machines and autotune. As a result, the sound of rap has been forever changed.
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