Kanye West's First Beats

April 27, 2015 8:18 AM

Jensen Karp: “I was stumbling through my garage, searching through old storage bins, when I came across some old beat CDs from my days as a signed Interscope rapper. I was shocked to find that two of them, both given to me in ‘01, had the name Kanye West on them.” (via)
posted by Going To Maine (25 comments total)

Kanye confirmed for chipmunk.
posted by clarknova at 8:37 AM on April 27, 2015

Disc 2 can be streamed at djbooth.
posted by Going To Maine at 9:35 AM on April 27, 2015

In the same vein there is a brand new subreddit, which collects these so-called Preformances.
posted by KMB at 9:44 AM on April 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

MetaFilter: there is a brand new subreddit
posted by resurrexit at 9:51 AM on April 27, 2015 [4 favorites]

considering he has production credits on releases from Dead Prez (Kanye produced 'Its Bigger Than Hip Hop'), Goodie Mob, Jay-Z, Beanie Siegel, Foxy Brown, and Lil Kim, all before 2001 I don't think you could really call this his first beats. Kanye was actually kind of a rising star in hip hop production circles with a couple of proper hits under his belt by the time this guy got his hands on some Kanye beat CDs. Kinda cool regardless.
posted by Hoopo at 10:14 AM on April 27, 2015 [4 favorites]

Kanye confirmed for chipmunk

Proto-Chipmunk soul: KMD - What A Nigga Know? (remix) ft. MF Grimm, as noted by NPR's Rational Conversation on KMD (previously). That track came out circa 1994, a good six years before Kanye's first (released) production.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:07 AM on April 27, 2015 [2 favorites]

Kanye produced 'Its Bigger Than Hip Hop'

Damn! One of the greatest beats of all time. Every time I learn more about all the amazing stuff he's been involved in, I can't believe people call him talentless.
posted by naju at 11:56 AM on April 27, 2015 [4 favorites]

Is there a precedent for a producer's rise to stardom a la Kanye? I'm only a casual hip hop fan and mostly I can think of very well known rappers and less well known producers. Is there anybody, like Kanye, who has successfully crossed that divide?
posted by wemayfreeze at 11:58 AM on April 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

@naju not the same beat or the same track. there's "hip-hop" (i.e. the song on the chappelle show with that fat bass line) and then there's the kanye-produced "it's bigger than hip-hop"

@wemayfreeze: he's nowhere near as well-known as kanye, but Black Milk from Detroit both produces and raps... quite well. here's a live set of his from boiler room.
posted by raihan_ at 12:05 PM on April 27, 2015 [3 favorites]

Is there a precedent for a producer's rise to stardom a la Kanye? I'm only a casual hip hop fan and mostly I can think of very well known rappers and less well known producers. Is there anybody, like Kanye, who has successfully crossed that divide?

Puff Daddy ( he's not my style, but he was successful on both sides of the booth)
Dr. Dre did it too.
posted by hubs at 12:06 PM on April 27, 2015 [3 favorites]

Pharrell maybe?
posted by gucci mane at 12:06 PM on April 27, 2015 [3 favorites]

Kanye produced 'Its Bigger Than Hip Hop'


Kanye did not produce the song we all know, that is Hip Hop. Kanye did the remix, from the same album, called It's Bigger Than Hip Hop. The one we know and love--the one with the Bass Station bassline--was produced by Dead Prez (although arguably with a ghost producer, I'd say).
posted by still bill at 12:10 PM on April 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

What raihan_ said!
posted by still bill at 12:10 PM on April 27, 2015

Also, wemayfreeze: like rain_, I'm hard pressed to think of anyone other than Diddy, Pharell and Dre who has gotten close to the degree of fame Kanye has from production, but like Black Milk there are a fair amount of great producers who are also good rappers: Lord Finesse, Diamond (and really, I guess, most everyone in DITC), Les and Juju of Beatnuts, Havoc of Mobb Deep, Big K.R.I.T (to give a more current example), and on and on and on.

All are great producers and (arguably) great rappers, too. What makes Kanye different is the level of mainstream fame he's attained.
posted by still bill at 12:16 PM on April 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

Just Blaze but he's not that mainstream outside of hip hop. Rick Rubin, Missy Elliott, Timbaland, DJ Mustard was on every other song on the radio last summer.
posted by pez_LPhiE at 12:45 PM on April 27, 2015

DJ Quik would qualify.
posted by Going To Maine at 1:17 PM on April 27, 2015

Kanye did not produce the song we all know, that is Hip Hop

Ah, OK. I was kinda impressed for a minute there looking at the production credits because that beat was totally not the style he typically did back then. Thanks for the clarification
posted by Hoopo at 1:27 PM on April 27, 2015

Missy Elliot has had pretty good success as a producer/writer and as a performer. I'd say she's at least as well known as Diddy, not quite Kanye level, but she deserves credit. She also started as a writer/produce became a performer and then went back to )or kept a hand in) production. So, a similar career arc to Kanye.
posted by oddman at 1:28 PM on April 27, 2015 [2 favorites]

boy when i hit it big my mefi music page is gonna be a goldmine for the internet retronauts
posted by Doleful Creature at 1:32 PM on April 27, 2015 [2 favorites]

Yeah, Hot Karl was a guy that came up through power 106's Traffic Jam, and got a deal with Serch. I somehow ended up with a pre-release or something of his album (it was -- ok? -- nothing special). But yeah, Kanye was an underground guy and started popping up in '96-ish. The fact that he already had label ties and that Interscope was shopping his beats around to new rappers is a pretty good sign that he was not, in fact, a newcomer (like Hot Karl was).
posted by lkc at 2:28 PM on April 27, 2015

Mobb Deep did most of their own production circa The Infamous and Hell on Earth. And the RZA, he's the RZA.

But I can't think of any producer/rapper who's as famous as Kanye right now, and I can't really think of one who was more famous in their day, either.
posted by box at 4:39 PM on April 27, 2015

(Closest would probably be Chronic-era Dre. But it's not that close.)
posted by box at 4:55 PM on April 27, 2015

Admit it, box. For a second there you forgot about Dre.
posted by No-sword at 5:06 PM on April 27, 2015 [6 favorites]

I will reluctantly admit that I've been there, done that.
posted by box at 5:27 PM on April 27, 2015

The reason I bought College Dropout lo these many years ago was that i noticed all my favorite cuts from a Talib record were all Kanye's. And i didn't know abt the Dead Prez beat, but it's no surprise--I've always preferred "It's Still Bigger..." to the original.
posted by Zerowensboring at 5:28 PM on April 27, 2015 [1 favorite]