Kanye’s debut album, The College Dropout, had its greatest impact in changing the rules of what a hip-hop artist has to be like.
In this era, there seemed no place in the mainstream for observation on topics such as religion, family, prejudice and materialism that is until Kanye stepped into the void. The biggest rap artist of the time, 50 Cent, followed this formula nearly perfectly. The early 00’s in rap is often referred to as the ‘Bling Era’ a time when the music of the genre had to have the Timbaland sound, the lyrics glorified expensive lifestyles and nearly all artists had to uphold a tough persona in order to be taken seriously. Hip-hop in the early 2000’s tended to follow a defined set of rules. Kanye Changed the Standards for a Hip-Hop Artist Even before releasing a proper debut album, Kanye was influencing the industry and quietly becoming a part of hip-hop history. “Takeover” was ranked as the 51st best song of the 2000’s and is widely recognized as one of the most important rap songs ever.
While Kanye cannot be credited as the only cause of the soul-centric sound (producer Just Blaze also played a huge role), he did produce 4 tracks on the 13-track project, including the classic Nas diss track “Takeover”. Cowie states, “ the reign of the digitally cold keyboard-driven production style dislodged as the predominant sound.” The Blueprint helped cause a revival in the use of samples as the basis of production, and Ye was a big reason why. But by incorporating more soulful samples into The Blueprint, the album’s production sparked a shift back to more sample-reliant sounds within the hip-hop industry.Īs writer Del F. Hip-hop in the early 2000’s revolved around the so-called ‘Timbaland sound’, a style that favored beats with scattered drums and digital keyboards. On the record, he delivered a collection of samples that provided the album with a clear soul influence, using songs from The Jackson 5, R&B group Bobby Blue Band and soul artist David Ruffin. Kanye received his first big break in 2001, producing songs for Jay-Z’s most critically acclaimed album The Blueprint.
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