Kanye West has been making headlines with his antics both on-stage and off-stage but let’s not forget the man has been producing music for over a decade. Here we have a compilation of every Kanye West sample that has been used on his six solo albums, his collaborative records, and mix tapes.
It’s shocking to see Mr. West’s near encyclopedic knowledge of all music styles from 70’s prog rock and funk standards to modern EDM and 60’s jazz.
College Dropout
West’s first album is filled with predominately black artists from the past 50 years. Marvin Gaye, Lauryn Hill, and Luther Vandross are all sampled on West’s freshman debut. Bette Midler also shows up!
Late Registration
Late Registration sticks to the winning formula West pioneered in College Dropout. Standout samples come from Ray Charles, Curtis Mayfield, and Shirley Bassey’s “Diamonds are Forever” from Sean Connery’s Bond film of the same name.
Graduation/808s & Heartbreaks
Graduation is a marked departure from West’s first two albums with samples from Daft Punk, Steely Dan and Can. West began experimenting with electronic music with Graduation and went all out on his next release 808’s and Heartbreaks.
Yeezy’s most debated record is laden with autotuned vocals and Kanye singing. Samples from Tear for Fears, Alan Parson’s Project and Nina Simone are on display.
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
The record that earned Kanye a perfect 10 from Pitchfork features the most impressive samples from King Crimson, Aphex Twin and Roald Dahl!
Watch the Throne/Cruel Summer
Kanye’s collaboration with Jay-Z features an impressive amount of samples from Will Ferrell, Otis Redding, James Brown, and Flux Pavilion.
A similar production style can be seen on GOOD Music’s compilation Cruel Summer which samples Super Beagle, Ghostface Killer, and Chief Keef.
Yeezus
Kanye’s most experimental record features samples from Gary Glitter, Nina Simone and TNGHT.
Odds and Ends
What we have below are some compilations of Kanye produced tracks for different artists and some more sample from Kanye’s records. Artists featured include Kid Cudi, John Legend, Alicia Keys and more.
More MBDTF, Watch the Throne, and Cruel Summer
Big thanks to Youtube user mrber85 for making these compilations. He’s got ton’s of other artists samples, like Tribe Called Quest, Drake, and MF Doom.
