Dissect - S2E2 – Through the Wire by Kanye West

Episode Date: August 8, 2017

We dissect Kanye West‘s Through the Wire to get a better understanding of his sample-based musical style. Follow Dissect on social media @dissectpodcast. Purchase Dissect merch at dissectpodcast.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to Dissect, long-form musical analysis broken into short, digestible episodes. I'm your host, Cole Kushna. Today we continue our serialized examination of Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, with part two of our three-part introduction. On our last episode, we saw how the artistically gifted and confident young Kanye West ascended hip-hop's totem pole through his uncanny work ethic, unmatched determination, and unique production style. It was production so good it landed Kanye a record deal with Rockefeller, who signed Kanye as a rapper, if only to secure his beats within their camp. On October 23, 2002, just two weeks after his deal with Rockefeller was announced, Kanye was in L.A. working as a producer for Beanie Siegel and the Black-Eyed Peas.

Working late into the night, Kanye left the studio around 3 a.m., and fell asleep at the wheel while driving back to his hotel. He swerved into the opposing lane and collided headfirst into an oncoming car. Kanye's face buckled against the steering wheel. His jaw was broken in three places. His nose fractured. His face so swollen that his own mother, Donda West barely recognized him. Kanye underwent reconstructive surgery. His jaw wired shut for three to six weeks.

Kanye told MTV, quote, The accident was so painful. The first two or three days were like some of the worst pains in my life. I would not wish this on anybody, except maybe three people. I had so much blood coming out of my mouth. Every 20 minutes, I'd have to have one of them suction-type things. There'd be so much mucus and blood. When he checked out of the hospital just days after surgery,

he had recording equipment sent to his hotel room. He'd immediately begin working on his album. His sense of urgency was palpable. Kanye's friend Don Cee said, quote, It was almost like the album was the nurse that came to visit him at his bed. Just two weeks after his accident, and with his mouth still wired shut, Kanye would record through the wire, the song that would ultimately launch his rap career. Through the wire exemplifies Connie's early production and rapping style, and so we're going to

dedicate the majority of our episode today to unpacking it. Kanye's production style follows a long lineage of hip-hop production, the foundation of which is a technique called sampling. Sampling takes excerpts, or samples, of pre-existing recordings and repurposes them as sounds for a new piece of music. The practice has its roots in the 1950s. Composers manipulated small splices in bits of analog magnetic tape, creating abstract rhythmic patterns or dense layers of sound called tape loops.

The technique would find its way into the experimental underpinnings of 1960s popular music. The quote-unquote hidden track at the end of the Beatles' seminal album, Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club band, famously makes use of a cryptic, backwards-playing tape loop. Sampling as we know it today really took off in the 1980s, when technology advanced and digital sample machines became affordable. The technology coincided with the rise of hip-hop music, and soon sampling became the fundamental element of hip-hop production.

Producers sampled small chunks of music, sped those samples up or slowed them down, creating a loop beneath with strong percussion or electronic drum patterns were laid. Often producers would use multiple samples from diverse sources, creating a collage of layered sound. As an example, let's take a look at the extremely influential track Planet Rock of 1983 by African Bambata. Using a roll in 808 electronic drum sequencer, Bambata creates an energy drum loop. On top of this loop, Bumbata interjects various samples from a handful of sources. Let's listen to the song's memorable lead riff. The source of this riff is sampled from the pioneering electronic German quartet craftwork and their song Trans Europe Express of 1977.

Of course, the sample here sounds different. It's slower and lower in pitch. That means Bambada sped up the sample to match the tempo of his drum sequence, which will naturally pitch up the sample as well. Again, Planet Rock. Let's deconstruct one more example, this time with a track created entirely from samples without the use of a drum sequencer. Here's a tribe called Quest timeless 1990 anthem Can I Kick It, constructed with three central samples. Let's start with the drums, which are taken from two excerpts of jazz musician Dr. Lonnie Smith's spinning wheel of 1970. The main melodic section of Can I Kick It is pulled from Lou Reed's Walk on the Wild Side of 1972.

Holly came from Miami, FLA, hitchhiked away across USA. Lastly, on Can I Kick It, we hear a brief slide guitar placed intermittently throughout the track. This is sampled from the 1976 song, Sunshower, by Dr. Buzzard's original Savannah band. So combining the spinning wheels drum sample with Lou Reed's bass riff and Sunshower's slide, and we get Can I Kick It? Since the 1980s and 90s, technology has of course advanced, making some of the technical aspects of sampling easier. But the approach to beatmaking hasn't changed all that much. Samples are still the foundation of most modern hip-hop beats.

Critics of hip-hop often use sampling as a basis of their arguments against it, claiming it a talentless form of creating music because you don't need to know how to play an instrument to do it. Speaking as someone who's tried sampling, and who's written music for nearly 15 years, works for full orchestra, I'll tell you it quickly becomes apparent that sounds do not easily coexist with one another, that aligning tempos and key signatures between multiple samples takes both skill and patience, and there's a definitive, untrainable talent involved in hearing pre-existing pieces of music and having the imagination to create something entirely new with them. I would also point out that recycling and reinterpreting bits of music is nothing new whatsoever.

One such example would be theme and variations. a form developed in the Renaissance music of the 1500s, and last to this day. In short, theme and variations form takes a single theme, either original or borrowed from a pre-existing piece of music, and transforms that theme in various ways throughout a new piece of music. I think it best to just let you hear what I mean. Let's take a famous theme used by many composers over the years, Nikolai Paganini's Caprice No. 24 of 1817, played here by a solo violin.

That bit of music is the theme. It's important that you can recognize it, so I'm going to play it one more time. Okay, so now for the fun part. In a theme in variations form, a composer would take this theme, stated in the beginning of their piece, then continue to repeat this theme, each time altering it in some new way. They can ornament it, change it instrumentation or meter, bury it in syncopation, elongate it, whatever.

Let's listen to composer Sergei Rachmaninoff's interpretation of the theme we just heard. and his piece Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini of 1934 for piano and orchestra. After a brief introduction, the piece begins with the statement of Paganini's theme, followed by three variations. I'll point out the beginning of each variation as the piece plays. Theme. Variation 1. Variation 2. Variation 3.

So what did you think? In the first variation, it was still pretty easy to recognize the theme, right? But in variation two and three, things got a little crazy. You could kind of hear it, but his prominence was lost. It transformed into something new, even though it used a pre-existing piece of music. We could also find musical repurposing in jazz traditions. Musicians often created pieces based on the melodies and harmonic structures of pre-existing jazz standards. Again, an example serves as best explanation.

Here's George Gershwin's summertime from the 1935 opera Porgyne. and Bess. Summertime was adopted as a jazz standard sung by the likes of Billy Holliday, Ella Fitzgerald, and countless others. Tunes like Summertime became the foundation of instrumental jazz compositions of the 1950s and 60s, adapted by performers like John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and many others. Here's Coltrane's adaptation of summertime. Again, through musical innovation and artistic interpretation, the melodic and harmonic structures undergo a metamorphosis, and something entirely new but familiar is born. We can spend countless hours proving this point,

but I hope it's clear by now that sampling is part of music history's long lineage of borrowing, of reinterpreting, of creating something new with something old. I'd also point out that much of hip-hop was and continues to be created by men and women from impoverished backgrounds who may not have the resources to study music in a traditional. way, and who may feel those traditions don't reflect their background or artistic expression. Lastly, and I think this one is pretty important, music has and always will reflect the times in which it was created. And if you were forced to name one defining feature of our generation, of the last 20 to 30 years, I think we'd all agree that thing is technology, more specifically the internet.

And what is the internet but instantaneous organized access to immeasurable amounts of information? Isn't sampling in some way a metaphoric gesture and reflection of this? Music machines, music computers, processing the information of our past and spitting out something new. The composer or modern producer becomes collagist, a curator of musical documents, seamlessly synthesizing generations and genres, creating at once something familiar yet foreign. Plus, it just sounds good, and isn't that most important? And it's here that we come full circle, back to Through the Wire written and produced by Kanye West. Like most hip-hop producers, Kanye's production style makes heavy use of sampling.

Specifically, Kanye's early sound became known as Chipmunk Soul, as he'd often speed up samples from soul music until the vocals reached an extremely high register, resembling Alvin and the Chipmunk cartoon voices. Through the Wire makes heavy use of Shaka Khan's Through the Fire of 1984. Of course, the wordplay here is quite clever, as Through the Fire becomes Through the Wire, alluding to Kanye wrapping with his mouth wired shut. Through the wire begins with an introduction and opening hook that mirrors exactly the last hook on Through the Fire. Let's hear the two tracks back to back.

First, Shaka Khan. Kanye samples this piece essentially as is, but pitches it up four semitones until it becomes this. Behind this sample, Kanye layers drums from Outcast Players Ball remix. With those two samples fresh in your ears, let's listen to the introductory measures of Through the Wire. Yo, Chee, it can't stop me from rap, can they? For the song's verses, Kanye finds an instrumental snippet of Through the Fire just after the last hook is performed. Kanye takes this snippet, still pitched and sped up, and creates a four-bar loop. Behind this, Kanye drops the Outcast drum loop, used to the last hook,

on the hook and creates an original pattern using a kick drum, those early Kanye crispy claps, hi-hats, and bongo drums. An original bass line fills out the low end and together we get through the wire's verses. The two large sections we just examine the verse and the hook comprised through the wire's entire musical foundation. And while its compositional makeup seems somewhat simple, just two samples, drums, and bass, I would again argue that it takes a unique ear to hear this and transform it into this. Now we turn to Through the Wire's lyrics and delivery. In the song's introduction we just heard, Kanye's voice is muffled and slurred due to his mouth being wired shut.

The line, They Can't Stop Me from rapping, obviously refers to the wires he's speaking through, but also to the struggle Connie has endured attempting to launch his rap career. The metal wire attempting to force his mouth shut becomes a metaphor for the naysayers, his peers that laughed at his demos, and the major label A&Rs who chose not to sign him. And yet, in spite of his critics, in spite of a near-fatal car crash, Kanye perseveres, so dedicated and passionate that he spits it through the wire. As the introduction slash opening hook continues, Kanye plays off Shaka Khan's lyrics, which are through the fire,

to the limit to the wall, for a chance to be with you. I gladly risk it all through the fire, through whatever come what may. While Shaka Khan is talking about a man or lover, Kanye's reinterpretation of the lyrics speaks for his desire for rap stardom. Between Shaka Khan's words, Kanye says, I spit it through the wire. There's too much stuff on my heart right now.

I gladly risk it all right now. It's a life or death situation. Again, Kanye uses double meaning in risking and all and a life or death situation. These words could easily apply to the near fatal car crash he was in two weeks prior and his refusal not to only rest, but aggressively use his voice while his mouth is wired shut. But it would seem Kanye is also expressing the urgency he feels after his car accident, knowing his life can be taken from him at any moment.

Through the wire continues with verse 1, which contains nearly all the hallmarks that the public would come to love with early Kanye, honesty, confidence, cleverness, witty pop culture references, and comedic self-deprecation. Somebody order pancakes I just sipped a scissors That right there could drive a same man biser Not to worry Mr. A's to the Ezzles back to wizard I do you can soul my mom

Or give a light support Tellin' son's own life support And just imagine how my girl feel On the plane scared as hell that a guy looked like in mid-till She was quick made before the deal She's been trying to be mine She had dealt the so she been throwing that dynasty sign No use me trying to be lying

I've been trying to be signed Trying to be a millionaire high, I used to lifelines In the same hospital with Biggie Smalls died The doctor said I had blood clots But I ain't Jamaica man Story on MTV and I ain't trying to make a band I swear this right here It's free in the making man

The verse is chock full of comedic one-liners But for me the most impactful are the opening lines I drink a booze for breakfast And insure for dessert Somebody order pancakes I just sip the scissor Aside from being an extremely clever, funny line, it sets the lighthearted tone that makes through the wire so endearing. Kanye isn't constructing some tragic pity party narrative, nor is the over-the-top heroic

or masculine about surviving the crash. Mix that comedic tongue and cheek with deeply personal references to both his mother's anxiety and his girlfriend's fear of his face being disfigured or are bound to feel an immediate connection with Kanye. This combination of comedy and relatable honesty is what we're going to be able to be. what I believe to be the key of Kanye's early rap success. In the song's second hook, Kanye is self-referential, revealing the circumstances around the song's creation. For first time listeners, this section is where you realize Kanye is speaking with his mouth wired shut.

When hearing this for the first time, I remember feeling really uncomfortable listening to him rap after knowing his jaw was broken. It's almost like watching a video of someone getting injured, where you can almost feel their pain as your own. Of course, this only amplifies our connection to Kanye as we sympathize with his pain and admire his determination. The opening lines of verse 2 are half sung, which make it feel somewhat like a bridge. Here, Kanye explains his backstory and positions his narrative as underdog

attempting to break the mold of the rap industry. What if somebody's on the shot that was ill, got a deal on the hottest rap label of brand, but he wasn't talking about coke and birds, it was more like spoken bird, Except he's really putting it down. And he explained the story about how blacks came from glory and what we need to do in a game.

Good to, bad night, right place, wrong time in the blink of her eye. And so life changed. Remember, through the wire would be the first song the general public would hear from Kanye West, a name unfamiliar to most at this time. Kanye from the beginning is branding himself something outside the norms of both gangster rap

and conscious hip-hop that dominated the sub-genres of hip-hop at the time. It's a clever approach. By so forwardly defining himself, Kanye preemptively counters the confusion that might be caused by his individuality. It's as if to say, you don't have to figure out who I am, I'm going to tell you exactly. For an up-and-coming artist attempting to catch his big break, it would seem you couldn't write a better script than through the wire.

With its dramatic backstory, its extremely catchy production, and the novelty of rapping with his mouth wired shut, this song would seem to be every marketing team's dream come true, right? Not exactly. Even with Through the Wire in his back pocket, Rockefeller did not prioritize Kanye's album, at least not with the same sense of urgency that was bestowed in Kanye after his accident.

Kanye took matters into his own hands, releasing the mixtape Get Well Soon, a collection of tracks Connie produced, some freestyles and original tracks, including an early version of Through the Wire. Connie would then spend $40,000 of his own money to produce a music video for Through the Wire. In November of 2003, he hosted a premiere party at Jay Z's Club in New York, independently from Rockefeller. The Who's Who of the music industry attended the premiere, including the Rockefeller team who were somewhat forced to attend and supported the artist that was technically signed to their label.

The video and song were a huge hit. By all accounts, everyone there was thoroughly impressed, including Rockefeller head Dame Dash. Regarding the premiere, Dame said, quote, I was proud of him because it was something I would have done. And at that time, no one was listening, so he did what he had to do. Rockefeller's hand was officially forced. They pushed through the wire as Kanye's first single, and within four months, Kanye's major label debut,

the college dropout was released to unanimous critical acclaim. And all my people that's drug dealing just to get by, stack your money till the good sky. Hands up in. The college dropout went double platinum, selling over 2 million copies in just five months. They garner 10 Grammy nominations and top multiple year-end lists. After enduring years of naysayers and outright rejection, the success of the college dropout was a vindication Kanye was so desperately seeking for years.

We'll explore the album, as well as the rest of Kanye's early dysography leading up to my beautiful dark-twisted fantasy next time on Dysect. Dysect is written and produced by me, theme music by Birocrack. If you enjoy Dysect, consider dropping a review on Apple Podcasts, tell a friend about the show, or share a link on your favorite social media outlet. There's no team behind Dysect. It's just me, and I can use all the help I can get growing the show. Follow at Dysect Podcast on Twitter and Instagram and join our Dysk community group on Facebook by searching Dysk podcast. If you'd like to support Dysect, you can do so at patreon.com slash Dysect by pledging as little as $1 per month.

You can help Dissect become more sustainable and help me offset some of the costs of the show. A big shout out to my Diamond Level supporters Evan Sweat, Sam and Chaudry, and Jonathan Hardyway for their extra generous pledges. That's Patreon, spelled p-a-t-r-e-O-N dot com slash dissect. Okay, and one last thing. As many of you know, last season was dedicated entirely to Kendrick Lamar's to Pimp a Butterfly. I teamed up with a very talented artist and dissect listener, Hannah Sellers to create a book. That book is called The Blacker the Berry and it's a visual exploration of a single song, Kendrick Lamar's The Black or the Barry. Hannah created beautiful

graphic collages that accompany my analysis of the song and it really enhances your experience and understanding of Kendrick's message. Seriously, this thing is absolutely gorgeous, a true piece of art. Last month we launched a Kickstarter for the book. Right now you can visit Kickstarter.com, search the Black or the Berry, and back this project by pre-ordering your very own copy. We'll be donating $1 for every book order to Social Works, a youth empowerment charity founded by Chance the Rapper. The Kickstarter ends soon, August 12th, so be sure to pre-order your book now. Again, visit Kickstarter.com and search the black or the berry. Okay, thanks everyone. I'll talk to you next week.