Kanye West’s rise to fame go its start via his production work for the likes of Alicia Keys, Ludacris, Cam’Ron, and most prominently, Jay Z’s The Blueprint.
Today writer and musician Jensen Karp has delivered what he’s calling Kanye’s first beat tape. The beat tape is over an hour-long collection of instrumentals that was created back in 2001 and he came to own these Yeezy gems back when he was a signed artist at Interscope. Karp relates:
“I was stumbling through my garage, searching through old storage bins, when I came across some old beat CDs from my days as a signed Interscope rapper. I was shocked to find that two of them, both given to me in ‘01, had the name Kanye West on them. These two CDs…are the oldest Kanye beats ever released.”
“I think this collection of early Kanye beats shows you where he came from, even if it doesn’t necessarily sound like ‘Kanye’ now. He kept at it and became the incredible producer he is today. I remember he even had to leave the studio sessions early, so he could make the last train back to his mom’s house. He’s come a long way, and I’m proud to have been around, even if for just a second at the start.”
Talib Kweli’s “Guerrilla Monsoon Rap” (at around 26:15) and Mos Def’s “Sunshine” (41:50) are among the notable beats that appear on this collection that went to become hits of their own. Listen to the first tape after the jump, and check out the second one here.
http://youtu.be/kjnk-ryCk-s
