Kanye Appreciation: Game - "Bang Along"

Here's a little gem from Game that I only just discovered yesterday. "Bang Along" is a track that didn't make the final cut for Game's 2nd studio album, Doctor's Advocate. This annoys me, coz in my opinion, "Bang Along" is far better than most of the tracks that actually did make it on the album. The song is great, with Game rhyming about his past and reminiscing on good old times, but it's Kanye's beat that really makes this song special. It's one of those beats that you just can't help but whistle along to. Enjoy!



Speaking of songs that didn't make the final cut for Doctor's Advocate, "My Bitch" is a Dr. Dre produced track, in which Game takes shots at some big industry names, such as 50 Cent, Jay-Z and Suge Knight. It's a great diss track, with a solid beat from Dre and amusing lyrics to match. Enjoy!

Kanye Appreciation: Game - "Dreams"

I recently bought Game's 2005 debut album, The Documentary, which features many great songs, including one of my favourite tracks of all time, "Hate It Or Love It". The Documentary also contains "Dreams", the only track to be produced by Kanye West, and easily one of the highlights of the album. As a bonus, I'll also throw in "How We Do", which is another popular track from The Documentary. Enjoy!

Game - Dreams


Game - How We Do (feat. 50 Cent)

Kanye Appreciation: Every Kanye Sample EVER (Video)

Here's a cool little video that apparently contains every single sample Kanye has ever used, as well as the tracks that he created from those samples. Enjoy!

Kanye Appreciation: Talib Kweli - "Get By"

"Get By" is the track that finally gave Talib Kweli the mainstream exposure he so rightly deserved. Kanye West was responsible for the production on the track, creating a beat that works perfectly with the message Kweli is trying to convey with his rhymes. The result is an inspiring and uplifting anthem that's sure to put a smile on anyone's face. Enjoy!

Talib Kweli - Get By


As a bonus, here's the official remix, featuring Mos Def, Jay-Z, Kanye West & Busta Rhymes, although I still prefer the original coz Kweli really killed it:

Talib Kweli - Get By (Remix) feat. Mos Def, Jay-Z, Kanye West & Busta Rhymes

Kanye Appreciation: Jay-Z - "Heart Of The City"

With "Heart Of The City", Kanye West produces yet another great track for Jay-Z, which appeared on his 6th studio album, The Blueprint. Jay and Kanye make an excellent team together, and their collaborations often result in brilliant music. "Heart Of The City" is no exception, particularly due to Kanye's amazing work on the production boards. You crazy for this one 'Ye! Enjoy.



*Bonus Track* Here's another great Kanye-produced track from The Blueprint, which y'all might be a little more familiar with:

Jay-Z - Izzo (H.O.V.A.)

Kanye Appreciation: Twista - "Slow Jamz", "Overnight Celebrity" & "Alright"

For this entry into Kanye Appreciation, I've decided to give you three Twista tracks, made up of three great Kanye beats, with all three songs featuring Kanye West himself. That's three for the price of one! Now you've got be happy with that. The first two tracks, "Slow Jamz" and "Overnight Celebrity", come off my favourite Twista album so far, Kamikaze, whilst the third song, "Alright", is a bonus track from his most recent album, Category F5. Twista brings his world famous rapid-fire flow to each of the three tracks, and Kanye adds his legendary production skills to the mix as well, creating a handful of great songs that you now have the pleasure of listening to right here. Enjoy!

Twista - Slow Jamz (feat. Jamie Foxx & Kanye West)


Twista - Overnight Celebrity (feat. Kanye West)


Twista - Alright (feat. Kanye West)

Kanye Appreciation: Kanye West - "Good Morning", "Champion" & "I Wonder"

Three more slept-on tracks from Kanye's third studio album, Graduation. The production is top-notch on all three tracks, and there's even a cool little video for "Good Morning" starring the Dropout Bear, so make sure to check it out. Enjoy!

Kanye West - Good Morning


Kanye West - Champion


Kanye West - I Wonder

Kanye Appreciation: Miri Ben-Ari - "New World Symphony"

Back in 2005, Kanye West got together with Pharoahe Monch and Miri Ben-Ari to create an epic track titled "New World Symphony". The track appeared on Miri Ben-Ari's album, The Hip-Hop Violinist. As a violinist, Ben-Ari doesn't rap on any of her songs, which means that the album featured many guest appearances such as Akon, Lil Wayne, Styles P, Scarface, Fabolous and Kanye West just to name a few.

This particular track features Pharoahe Monch, who is one of my favourite emcees, and has Kanye West in charge of production. The result is an epic orchestral beat led by the great violin of Miri Ben-Ari, and Pharoahe Monch just killing the track with his amazing flow. You've got to agree with Pharoahe Monch when he says "Kanye did it again!" Enjoy!

Kanye Appreciation: Lil Wayne - "Let The Beat Build"

It's about time I posted a Weezy track on the blog, and this one's probably my favourite song off his super successful album, The Carter III. Kanye West creates a magnificent beat on "Let The Beat Build", and Lil Wayne just can't go wrong when the production is this good. Check it out and enjoy!

Favourite line: "Gotta get it clear, suck my dick with red lipstick and don't let it smear!"

Kanye Appreciation: Jay-Z - "Encore"

I wanted to post the original "Encore" on my blog for those of you that have been poisoned by the whole Jay-Z/Linkin Park mash-up crap, where Kanye's great production was thrown out the window and replaced with some emo, rock 'n' roll bullshit. In fact, the whole Collision Course album was a complete massacre of Jay-Z's music, and a real stain on the history of Hip Hop. That's why this one goes out to all the true Hip Hop fans, so they can hear the original "Encore" in all it's glory. Enjoy!

Kanye Appreciation: Common - "Be"

Kanye West produced 9 of the 11 tracks on Common's 2005 album, Be, which is probably the reason why I enjoyed it so much. Here, witness how Kanye produces the perfect intro track to a Hip Hop album, creating a beat with a great build up and a strong finish that gets the listener excited about hearing the rest of the album.

"Be" starts off with some random plucking of guitar strings, but slowly turns into a nice rhythm. A second instrument is layered over the guitar and suddenly comes the realisation that the beat is building up to something. Then the piano kicks in, and it adds a whole new dimension to the beat. Finally, the whole orchestra begins to play, the track is now in full swing, and Common begins his rhymes, completing one the greatest Hip Hop album intros I've ever heard. This songs leads right into another great Kanye-produced track, "The Corner", but that's another blog entry. For now, here's "Be":



Speaking of great Hip Hop album intros, here's another one I came across just the other day, off Black Milk's 2008 album, Tronic. The song is called "Long Story Short", and it's produced by Black Milk himself. The track begins with an alien-type sound but soon turns into a soothing piano. The piano sounds great, even though it doesn't quite represent a typical Hip Hop beat. Suddenly, the alien sound picks up where the piano left off, the drums kick in at the same time, and another great Hip Hop album intro is born. The fact that Black Milk rhymes about his journey through the Hip Hop game thus far is just the icing on the cake. Enjoy!

Kanye Appreciation: Kanye West - "The Glory"

For today's entry into Kanye Appreciation, I wanted to post a Kanye West track with a Kanye West beat. I've chosen a song off his 3rd album, Graduation, called "The Glory", which I only heard for the first time last week. I can't believe I slept on this song for so long as it demonstrates everything I love about Kanye West. The beat starts off great, but when the bass kicks in at around the 38 second mark, the song is taken to a whole other level. Kanye also spits a few hot verses that sound right at home on the beat, and I'm left wondering why this track was never released as a single. I could have loved this song YEARS ago! Oh well, at least I'm loving it now. Enjoy!

Favourite line: "I guess after I live I wanna be compared to Big; anyone, Big Pun, Big L or Notorious!"

Kanye Appreciation: Teriyaki Boyz - "I Still Love H.E.R."

If there's anyone in the Hip Hop world that needs a bit more appreciation, it's Kanye West. It seems that all the controversy surrounding the man has blinded people from the fact that he's actually a musical genius! Now when I say musical genius, I'm not referring to his skills on the mic, but rather the many wonderful beats he has produced over the past 10 years. Apart from producing all of his own albums, he has also made beats for the likes of Jay-Z, The Game, Lil Wayne, Lupe Fiasco, T.I. and Talib Kweli just to name a few.

For today's entry into the Kanye Appreciation feature, I've picked the track "I Still Love H.E.R." by the Teriyaki Boyz. Although more than half the song is in Japanese, you won't mind because Kanye's beat is the real star of the show. In fact, I love the beat so much that I wouldn't care if they did the whole song in German! But to be fair, the Teriyaki Boyz do sound nice over the beat, and even Kanye comes on at the end to do a verse of his own. I heard that even Taylor Swift loves this song (nah, I just made that up), so let's stop hating on Kanye and just enjoy the music that he makes so well.

Favourite line: "Lick the black, get the cream, like an Oreo"