Kanye West Influences

Kanye Omari West, entrepreneur, fashion designer, hip hop recording artist, and record producer is a critically-acclaimed Chicago artist well known for his outspoken behavior. While he receives significant mainstream attention from his bold remarks, the 21 time award-winning Grammy artist contains an arsenal of creative genius which cannot be ignored. In the history of mainstream music, an artist’s relevancy often follows the trends of their contemporaries. Artists often come and go, becoming irrelevant after a few years. Only a select few are innovative and maintain their influence to be considered legends of their time. One of those legends with an ongoing 12-year reign is Kanye West. To understand his art, this essay will study a brief

At this time, N.W.A. (Niggaz Wit Attitudes) dominated as well as founded the hip-hop music scene with gangsta rap. Hip-hop was important as it became a platform for Americans to express their lives through music. Mainstream music was no longer just about catchy tunes but rather an authentic form of storytelling, often used to bring attention to cultural and social issues. This liberal form of expression redefined and influenced Americans as well as future generations to come. The history of hip-hop was important as it brought a new method of expression, in both lyrics and techniques. The introduction of this genre brought popularity into the art of sampling. Sampling is the use of pre-existing sounds and reusing it in combination with other sounds to compose a track. These pre-existing sounds are often re-contextualized to create powerful juxtapositions.3 Before the arrival of hip-hop, sampling was widely looked down upon as it was considered stealing. Therefore, artists which sample were attached with a stigma of lacking originality. However, this perception changed with the arrival of N.W.A. O Shea Jackson (Ice Cube), a prominent member of N.W.A. described sampling by “It’s not about the pieces, it’s how the pieces work together. You know, taking something that already exists, and making it special.”. It was through the emergence of N.W.A which influenced the

Prominent reviewers such as Tricia Rose became concerned as the industry contained only contents related to the holy trinity of gangster rap (gangsters, pimps and hoes). The genre became lost as many artists lost authenticity and the cultural and social impact of hip-hop disappeared.6 Record labels became stale as they only supported the image of invincible rappers since these were the elements which led to financial success. However, the hip-hop industry changed with the introduction of Kanye West and his album, The College Dropout (2004). Kanye West dreamed of becoming a rapper, however he faced difficulties as he was raised in the middle-class. He was unable to rap about gangsta rap topics such as struggles from the street. Therefore, he had to invent and develop his own style of music. His music was heavily influenced by his mother Donda West. She iterates to Kanye “We need more people who aren’t afraid to speak their minds”. With her words of encouragement, Kanye opposed contemporary trends of the invincible alpha male (50-Cent, Jay-Z, etc.) and was unafraid to demonstrate his human side, a bold and intellectual individual who was also