Kanye West

Not only is Kanye West one of today's greatest hip-hop artists, but he is also one of the top urban music producers of our generation and my inspiration. As an artist Kanye has reached the top of the Billboard charts many times, but as a producer and songwriter, he has reached it even more. Which makes him a very unique and special entity in our industry.

Kanye began focusing on his music career when he dropped out of Chicago State University. But while attending school, West produced for local artists. He later gained fame by producing hit singles for major hip-hop and R&B artists including Jay-Z, Talib Kweli, Cam'ron, Paul Wall, Common, Mobb Deep, Jermaine Drupri, Scarface, The Game, Alicia Keys, Janet Jackson, John Legend and more. West got his break in the year 2000, when he began to produce for Roc-a-Fella Records producing Jay-Z's critically acclaimed album “The Blueprint.” The album, which was heavily influenced by Kanye’s style, became very successful. With it’s commercial success, Kanye became a sought after producer in the hip hop industry.

At the same time that Kanye was gaining popularity in the industry, he was also gaining popularity with many rising music producers and artists including myself. If you listen to today’s music, you will most definitely hear influences of Kanye’s musical style. Kanye's original style was characterized from pitched up vocals and the usage of soul music samples, incorporating his own drums and instruments. But more recently he has been experimenting with sampling genres ranging from folk to electronica.

Kanye is somewhat infamous for his use of sampling other artist’s music, but to me the way that he does it is very unique, and if you never knew the original artist you would think everything was produced by him.

Speaking again on Kanye’s success, his first 5 albums went platinum. He has won 14 Grammy's and has been included in the Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world as well as being listed in a number of Forbes' annual lists.

As an industry professional music producer, to me Kanye was my first inspiration. When I heard the song "Jesus Walks" I became fascinated with how someone could create music like that. I learned how to produced hip-hop by listening and studying his instrumentals. Referencing his style over time I created my own, but I will always remember who inspired me to want to be in this industry.