This 2002 lead single from West's highly acclaimed debut College Dropout is most famous because he is rapping with his jaw wired shut, a result of a near fatal car accident sustained a few weeks earlier. The instrumentation is bare: a simple drum beat that reduces to a time-keeping clap during the verses and a workable, melodic bass line that keeps the song moving. By contrast, the hook, a sped-up sample of Chaka Khan's "Through the Fire" runs continuously through the song. Some will find the sample compelling and unique while others will find it grating and irritating, depending, basically on how one feels about the Chipmunks.
Wired shut jaw or no, Kanye West is not a great rapper. His delivery is breathy and he keeps the beat but doesn't own it the way an Andre 3000 does (oh wait, no one controls a beat like Three Stacks--what Moses did with the Red Sea is what Andre 3000 does with rhythm). West IS a great writer. This song is more than clever, starting with the title's bite of the sample's title. The narrative describing his near death experience on the cusp of serious fame is distinct from the typical subject matter in hip hop. The tone is both self-aggrandizing and nostalgic but that also certainly describes Kanye West, too, so I think he is just being honest. He employs innumerable pop culture references as similes: Emmett Till (much respect for that one), "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?", Jamaican slang, MTV's "Making the Band", Vanilla Sky, Geico Insurance, the Pepsi/Micheal Jackson conflagration, and Mr. Glass from the film Unbreakable.
His college English professor would have been proud if, you know, he had gone to college (see album title).
"Through the Wire" by Kanye West
Wired shut jaw or no, Kanye West is not a great rapper. His delivery is breathy and he keeps the beat but doesn't own it the way an Andre 3000 does (oh wait, no one controls a beat like Three Stacks--what Moses did with the Red Sea is what Andre 3000 does with rhythm). West IS a great writer. This song is more than clever, starting with the title's bite of the sample's title. The narrative describing his near death experience on the cusp of serious fame is distinct from the typical subject matter in hip hop. The tone is both self-aggrandizing and nostalgic but that also certainly describes Kanye West, too, so I think he is just being honest. He employs innumerable pop culture references as similes: Emmett Till (much respect for that one), "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?", Jamaican slang, MTV's "Making the Band", Vanilla Sky, Geico Insurance, the Pepsi/Micheal Jackson conflagration, and Mr. Glass from the film Unbreakable.
His college English professor would have been proud if, you know, he had gone to college (see album title).
"Through the Wire" by Kanye West