Kanye West Hip Hop Analysis

To understand the complexity and influence of Kanye West, one must grasp the context of the music industry at his arrival. Hip hop has become one of the most popular forms of music of the 21st century. Unfortunately, rapping was not always considered this beloved genre of music like it is today. In the 80s and 90s, hip hop had an extremely ardent fan base because many critics considered the genre as “gangsta” or “hood” music. This criticism emerged, “with the mainstream success of gangsta rap, where drugs, violence, and misogyny became more prominent” (Holly). The song that can do the best job summarizing the atmosphere of the hip hop industry at the time is N.W.A’s famous ballad, “Fuck tha Police.” Thus, the followers of hip hop developed

However, in the early 2000s, the style and characteristics of the hip hop industry began to change completely because, of course, of Kanye West.

Kanye West has one of the most original discographies of any hip hop artist in the music industry. However, this statement is quite paradoxical as most of West’s music, and most of rap music as a matter of fact, utilizes the technique of sampling, or borrowing pieces of composition to use in one’s own music. This method causes many individuals to debase all rappers and hip hop as genre for being derivative of other music genres. Yet, Kanye West manages to make his music sound completely unique even when he samples different genres of music. In his debut album, The College Dropout, West decided to sample a variety of soul and Christian music within his rap songs. This type of sampling can be heard in a song like “Jesus Walks” which samples The ARC Choir’s song, “Walk With Me.” West samples the choir not just for background music for his rapping, but he uses the chorus as the baseline, percussion, and melody of the entire song. West not only produces his songs differently, but also writes about issues differently in his music. The College Dropout