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Top 3 Kanye West Songs

“Through the Wire”

The debut single from Kanye West, “Through the Wire” effectively showed the public the now pigeonholed and often ripped-off Kanye West production and lyrical style. The use of pitching up vocal tracks that West is famous for is in full effect on “Through the Wire” in the use of vocals from Chaka Khan’s “Through the Fire.” The theme of “Through the Wire” is that of Kanye was triumphiant hero appearing on the scene. In 2002, West was in a car accident that forced him to have his jaw wired shut. Dedicated, West still recorded the song and you can hear the effect of the accident in his sort of half-mumbled vocal delivery. A clever track that avoided any sort of typical gangsta rap clichés “Through the Wire” was an instant classic and is one of Kanye’s best tracks.

“Stronger”

Using a pitch-perfect sample of Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” Kanye West’s “Stronger” was not only a huge hit for Kanye, and maybe the closest he has gotten to writing a true club banger, it’s video was also the first appearance of the now ubiquitous “Kanye shutter shades” which resemble weird mustang rims mixed with house blinds, which Kanye has since called his closest to a “Michael Jackson moment” to rival MJ’s white glove. At the time, “Stronger” was a cultural phenomenon that cemented Kanye’s status as a true international superstar rapper.

“Love Lockdown”

When “Love Lockdown” first started leaking through Kanye’s own blog it was a hugely controversial track. Gone were any of the sped up samples that Kanye was known for; instead they were replaced with ice cold synths and the robotic sound of the 808 drum machine. Over the next few weeks Kanye continued to tweak the song according to comments and complaints of fans on his website, eventually adding a more tribal drum pattern and louder bass hits, making the song one of the first examples of how much the music industry has changed—allowing artists and fans to converse and collaborate in new and exciting ways.