The surprising hip-hop duo Kanye West credits for shaping his rap style
Kanye West has never shied away from his influences. The Chicago rapper got into hip-hop through his love of MC Hammer, Kid ‘n Play, De La Soul, EPMD, Run-DMC, LL Cool J, Beastie Boys, and many other icons. But once he did become an artist, there was a hip-hop duo that changed the course of his career.
One of Ye’s earliest production credits came by way of Dead Prez’s ‘It’s Bigger Than Hip-Hop’, a remix of their iconic 1999 single, ‘Hip-Hop’. The song appeared on the NYC duo’s debut album, Let’s Get Free, released in 2000.
Prez, consisting of M-1 and stic.man, used to spend a lot of time with Kanye when he was a nobody – even as a producer. Ye admitted that his early rap style sounded similar to other big names at the time. Then, having been around Prez for a while, he realised exactly how he wanted to rhyme.
Not only did he rap like others, but he also produced like them. “I used to have tracks that sounded like Timbaland; I had tracks that sounded like [DJ Premier],” he told The New York Times. “But Jay-Z was an amazing communicator that made the soul sound extremely popular. And because I could make the soul sound in my sleep, it finally gave me a platform to put the message that my parents put inside of me.”
Ye cites Prez, Mos Def, and Talib Kweli as those who helped get that message out of him. “I was able to put it, sloppily rap it, on top of the platform that Jay-Z had created for me,” he said. His experience with Prez helped him write one of his classic songs on The College Dropout in less than half an hour.
“Before, when I wanted to rap, my raps sounded a bit like Cam’ron; they sounded a bit like Mase; they sounded a bit like Jay-Z or whoever,” he explained. “And it wasn’t until I hung out with Dead Prez and understood how to make, you know, raps with a message sound cool that I was able to just write ‘All Falls Down’ in 15 minutes.”
Little did he know that by making beats for the duo, his whole rap image would change. “That’s how I discovered my style,” he declared. “I was just hanging out with them all the time in New York. I would produce for them. You know, I was able to slip past everything with a pink polo, but I am Dead Prez. And now, because I was able to slip past, I have a responsibility at all times.”
Prez reflected on their time with Ye earlier this year, telling AllHipHop, “Kanye used to hang around our sessions – he was influenced by our message and even our fashion sense! He produced the ‘Still Bigger Than Hip Hop’ remix, which happened organically as our song gained momentum on MTV and BET.”
Prez have released three albums: 2000’s Let’s Get Free, 2004’s Revolutionary But Gangsta, and 2012’s Information Age. Although they haven’t released an album in over a decade, they have a long-lasting legacy with a classic hip-hop record and have inspired one of the most popular artists of all time.