1. KANYE WEST
Postmodern?

2. GENRE.
 Kanye has several influences from an extremely
varying genre range – soul, R’n’B, baroque pop, trip-
hop, arena rock, folk, alternative, electronica, synth pop
& classical music.
 He had a lot to say about the depiction of rap music and
black music as a whole, when criticised for his ‘Love
Lockdown’ music video:
‘u not feelin the video? lemme guess. not enough ass
shakin and cars?? yall some retarded ass people. thats
whats wrong with our people now. we dont appreciate
and accept other blacks if the push the envelope and
break the status quo. Yeah its different but it works and i
for one like it. And believe it or not, white people love it
when we act like this. but hey. guess all we know is to
hate each other. so sad really’

3. SAMPLES.
 As a producer as well as a performer, Kanye West is probably one of the
most frequent users of sampling in his music.
 One of his most famous sampled tracks is ‘Stronger’, which uses pieces
from Daft Punk’s ‘Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger’ whose music video
also pays homage to the French house duo.
 Another is ‘Diamonds from Sierra Leone’, which uses samples from
‘Diamonds are Forever’ by Shirley Bassey.
 West’s ‘Lost in the World’ uses a sample from Bon Iver’s ‘Woods’ (so
heavily that he is credited as an featured artist on the tracklist) as the
chorus base.
 Kanye’s collaboration with Jay-Z for the single ‘Otis’ uses samples from
Otis Redding’s ‘Try a Little Tenderness’.
 These are just four examples, but there are many more. For instance on
West’s debut album (The College Dropout, 2004) 14 of the 21 tracks
contain samples of one sort or another, including the likes of Aretha
Franklin, 2Pac, Chaka Khan, Lauryn Hill and Marvin Gaye.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZcZy09x5jk Kanye West’s Lost in the
World.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZYVJlhnqxQ Bon Iver’s Woods.

4. INTERTEXTUAL REFERENCES
 One of the most prominent
references used was Kanye
West’s portrayal of his
version of Evel Knievel, for
which the daredevil filed a
lawsuit.
 Other references include
those to other texts like
‘Mercy Mercy Me’ by Marvin
Gaye, ‘The Legend of the
Sleepy Hollow’, and ‘Sex on
Fire’ by The Kings of
Leon, as well as several
others just in the one song.
 West’s song ‘We Don’t Care’
referred to the song ‘21
Questions’ by 50 Cent &
Nate Dogg.

5. POLITICAL AND SOCIAL STATEMENTS IN
MATERIAL.
 In ‘Breathe In, Breathe Out’ Kanye West discusses
the materialist nature of society and its links to the
hip-hop genre, as displayed in the lyrics, ‘Always
said if I rapped I’d say something significant, but
here I am talking about money hoes and rims
again.’
 In ‘All Falls Down’, he explores consumerism as a
culture, and includes himself in this criticism (irony):
‘We buy our way outta jail, but we can’t buy
freedom. We’ll buy a lot of clothes but we don’t
really need them. Things we buy to cover up what’s
inside, cause they make us hate ourself and love
their wealth.’

6. IRONY.
 In ‘Jesus Walks’, Kanye West talks about the lack
of religion in popular hip-hop music, and it’s
absence on the radio. ‘So here go my single dog
radio needs this, They say you can rap about
anything except for Jesus, That means
guns, sex, lies, video tapes, But if I talk about God
my record won't get played?’
 This is ironic because it contradicts some of the
later work of West, as well as some on the same
album, such as ‘Breathe In, Breathe Out’, ‘Gold
Digger’, ‘Get Em High’ and ‘Drunk and Hot Girls’. In
these, topics such as sex and drugs use are
seemingly condoned by West, and religion is
scarce in the rest of his work.

7. CHANGE OF STYLE AND AVOIDANCE OF
TOTALISING FORMS.
 As a producer, Kanye not only selects snippets
from other genres to use in his music as
samples, he changes his own genre from track to
track.
 Whilst his first 3 albums have a related school
theme (College Dropout, Late Registration &
Graduation) and feature West rapping, his later
albums show a diverseness in style.
 808’s and Heartbreak moves away from Kanye
West’s signature style, opting for autotuned singing
and more synthesised music, in contrast to his
previous works more natural strings and brass
instruments.

8. CHANGE OF STYLE AND AVOIDANCE OF
TOTALISING FORMS.
 For his latest solo album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,
Kanye West moves further away from his trademark style,
however at the same time provides a blend of a number of
styles he has at some point explored.
 It is unclear to which genre this album belongs to, or what the
theme of the album is, therefore it avoids totalising forms and
includes discontinuities.
 He selects elements from his existing work to create a new
style, for instance, the tribal drums from 808’s return, and so
do the brass instruments (‘All of the Lights’).
 All of the Lights typifies the new style West displays in this
album, featuring guests from varying areas and genres of
music (eg, Alicia Keys, Elton John, Kid Cudi, Rihanna, Fergie,
John Legend.). As a result, these genres are blended into one
sound, showing disregard for the boundaries between genre.

9. ‘WHO WILL SURVIVE IN AMERICA?’ –
MOCKERY.
 The final track of My Beautiful Dark Twisted
Fantasy is ‘Who Will Survive In America?’.
 It is built on a sample of Gil Scott-Heron’s
‘Comment No. 1’.
 It discusses and mocks the idea of the ‘American
Dream’ whilst also referring to treatment of African-
Americans.
 Mockery includes the words ‘a rapist known as
freedom. Free doom.’
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2Wsy8jHPk4