Kanye West
Kanye first contributed to The Dynasty, producing the song “This Can’t Be Life,” which samples “I Miss You” by Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes. Kanye later produced memorable hits by Jay-Z, including “Izzo (H.O.V.A.),” “Heart of the City,” “Takeover,” “Encore,” “Lucifer,” and “Run this Town” to name a few. Kanye has a reputation of sampling from a rich history of music in his compositions for Jay-Z. Kanye instilled Jay-Z’s music with a sense of soulfulness by sampling music by The Jackson 5, David Ruffin, and the Marvelettes.
As a rapper and producer, Kanye’s work can be described as repurposing an existing song with a contemporary hip hop vibe. He’s known for picking out an obscure phrase or taking the most popular melody from a song and building an entirely new and electrifying track.
Kanye and Jay-Z have also worked on a collaborative album Watch The Throne that had hits such as “N*ggas in Paris” and “No Church in the Wild.” The album's lead single “Otis” samples the late Otis Redding’s “Try a Little Tenderness” as Jay-Z and Kanye play on the word “tenderness” to actually mean money.
After finishing the recording of Watch the Throne, Jay-Z recorded two new songs, “Holy Grail” and “Oceans.” He let his partner hear the tracks and, immediately, Kanye wanted to include the songs on the collaborative project.
It was reported that Kanye and Jay-Z went back and forth with each other for four days before Jay-Z explained to Kanye why the songs were so important to his 12th solo album. “Holy Grail” later became the lead single on Magna Carta Holy Grail.
