Controversial Kanye West divides opinion more effectively than most!
Some call him crazy, some call him a genius, and some say it’s a fine line between the two extremes!
On the one hand, his 2008 contribution to American Boy by Estelle is a fantastic example of his genius rap skills.
On the other hand, in 2020 he ran for president of the United States, clearly a position he’s not suited for.
Kanye started out making beats and producing artists for Jay-Z’s label Roc-A-Fella around 2000 but soon wanted more, so he started releasing his own material in 2003.
Kanye’s first #1 single, Gold Digger, came on his second album Late Registration in 2005. This tune is based on Ray Charles‘s I Got A Woman and featured Jamie Foxx, who played Ray Charles in the biopic Ray in 2004.
In 2007, he released Stronger, a tune where he sampled Daft Punk’s Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger, paired with riffing on Nietzsche’s idea that what does not kill me makes me stronger.
Kanye seemed to take this message to heart as he had the track mixed 75 times before he released it, apparently still not happy!
All three of these songs, American Boy, Gold Digger, and Stronger, started out as something else. The essence of hip-hop is to take something that already exists in the mainstream, flip it, and create something new.
Kanye understands this better than most. I guess it’s a twist on my favourite saying when it comes to hit-writing: Familiarity with a twist.
Often, when people discuss Kanye West, or Ye, as he now wants the world to refer to him as, they don’t discuss his music, instead, they talk about his wife, his controversial statements, his religious faith, outfits, and perhaps mainly, his mental illness.
Perhaps, if you want to learn from his genius, you should focus on listening to and analyzing his songs, instead of getting distracted by what shoes he’s wearing. After all, he’s released way over 100 singles so there’s plenty to get your teeth into.
On the other hand, maybe it’s the shoes that are the secret to his success, who knows? Whatever you think, try flipping it on its head and you’ll probably get closer to Kanye West’s way of thinking.
Kanye West Tunes | Related Pages
American Boy
You can learn how to play American Boy by Estelle (and Kanye West) using chords, chord analysis, lyrics, and the original recording.
| Emaj9 | Cmaj7 |
Just another one champion sound (yea), yeah, Estelle, we ’bout to get down…
Kanye West on the web
Artists & Bands
Behind every single tune you learn, there’s an artist or band with an entire catalogue of music, waiting to be discovered.
Find out more about these great Artists & Bands, and let their tunes guide you to success.
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was an article about Kanye West tunes, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.
