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The Shocking Sample Secrets in Kanye's College Dropout - FULL EDIT
🕑 Added 2024-02-16 17:15:00 +0000 UTCThis past week, Kanye West's debut album, "The College Dropout" turned 20. This was a groundbreaking album that catapulted him into another level, and despite where he's gone since, this album remains a classic.
My very first Digging The Greats video was breaking down "Through The Wire" from this album, and I also covered "All Falls Down", which Ken Lewis recreated the acoustic guitar sample for. But TODAY - I'm diving into 5 more songs to look at the production style, mixing samples with live instrumentation, and sometimes... surprisingly, they aren't samples at all!
This video features clips from my recent conversation with Ken Lewis where he tells me exactly what he did for this album (I guarantee you won't see them coming)
Bonus Features For This Video
- In addition to this video being slightly longer than the YouTube Edit, I'll also be posting my full recent conversation with Ken Lewis where he talks even more about this album. This will be available on ALL TIERS (Free included)
- If you're in the Producers Tier, you can expect a link to the beat recreations from this video later today
- Lastly, the video I link to at the end of this video can be found here.
A HUGE thank you to Ken Lewis for our conversation in this video! You should absolutely check out his livestreams on YouTube where he breaks down songs and albums that he's worked on. Also check out his website and instagram
Comments
Brandon Shaw
Yep, I’m right there with you. Early Kanye was something special. Can’t roll with him now. This album still puts me back to a specific place and time though
Tay Evans
I was 12 when this record dropped. I had just started getting into music production a couple years prior. Everything about this album impacted & inspired me greatly. I remember previewing the album in Wal-Mart on one of those "CD playing stations" with headphones (anyone remember those? lol). But the beginning chords on "Family Business" played and gave me chills. Mom bought the album for me and I played it constantly. This album introduced a young me to Common, Kweli, Mos, ATCQ and countless others from their lineage. Breaks my heart to see where Kanye is now. But THANK YOU for this amazing video, BShaw. I had no idea Ken Lewis replayed so many joints on this and the vocal samples blew my mind! I will be revisiting this video a lot. Salute! ❤️
Steve Pappalardo
I will never listen to this album the same again. I was tripping out on all the samples Ken Lewis had to recreate. Such a classic album. Thanks for the video!
Brandon Shaw
It’s a hard thing, cuz this album was groundbreaking, and is undeniably good. And also, he has actively burned down everything he built. From a historical perspective I want to talk about this album (in this video specifically there are several surprising non samples) But from a “who he is now” perspective, I can’t support him. Haven’t even bothered with the new album
prod_tfm
Respectfully, this used to be my favorite album, until it became a platform for spreading hate
Cameron Mead
common digging the greats w
Ambree Williams
This was a great video! An education for sure, because I *never* heard this album all the way through. Now I'm inclined to at least give it a listen. Ken Lewis is a trip lol. I'll have to check out that interview too...
