The rappers who inspired Kanye West to be ‘so real’: “Those were my favourites”
Kanye West is never afraid to speak his mind. For better or worse, that energy has been instilled in him from a young age, offering no filter and constantly getting himself into trouble. Part of that is due to the rappers he looked up to from a young age.
Coming out of Chicago, it goes without saying that MCs like Common and Twista influenced his hip-hop career. The two rappers, considered at the very top of their craft, were born and bred in his home city and eventually became collaborators of Ye. However, it was an Oakland rapper and New York City duo who moulded him into his unfiltered self.
“The reason I’m so real today is because of MC Hammer and Kid ‘n Play,” he told Complex in 2002. “Those were my favourite rappers back in the day. I felt like they was real. They making music that I wanted to hear. I remember someone played me some Jungle Brothers, and I was like, ‘Ew, I’m not feeling that right there.’
“De La Soul’s ‘Me, Myself and I’ was the first hip-hop song I liked. At that point it was EPMD, Run-DMC, LL Cool J, Beastie Boys. Remember that? I’d be at my mama’s crib. This is back when people used to sit they record player on top of they TV.”
Hammer is widely considered the pioneer of pop rap with hits such as ‘U Can’t Touch This’, ‘2 Legit 2 Quit’, and ‘Pumps and a Bump’ in the early ’90s. Kid ‘n Play, made up of Christopher Reid and Christopher Martin, were big in the ’80s and ’90s with songs like ‘Ain’t Gonna Hurt Nobody’ and ‘Rollin’ with Kid N Play’.
Ye cites A Tribe Called Quest, The Pharcyde and Lauryn Hill as rappers who’ve released some of his favourite albums of all time. “Midnight Marauders,” he replied when asked about other inspirations. “I listen to certain classics to figure out where I want to go. I listen to Lauryn Hill’s album, Pharcyde’s first album, that’s one of my favourite albums of all time. That joint still sells 1,000 a week.”
Speaking on his ear for sound, he said, “I got that from No ID, from Common Sense’s first album, which is much later than the Jungle Brothers. It’s the same thing but the way they was doing it wasn’t like they made me want to do it.
“It’s kind of like how people had soul beats, but there’s something about the way me, Just Blaze, Bink, and Jay Z did on The Blueprint that made everybody want to do it. People had throwback jerseys for the longest. I went out and bought that actual jersey soon as I saw Big Boi in the ‘Sky High’ Goodie Mob video.”
Today, Kanye is the same inspiration to some of the music industry’s most prominent artists, influencing everyone from Drake to Travis Scott to Kid Cudi to J Cole. His loud mouth might have damaged his reputation, but his musical legacy can be heard throughout the music of the most popular artists on the planet.