Champion In Their Eyes
So you've all heard the new Kanye album. Pretty big right. Not as massive as Mr West may wish, and not a classic, but there is no doubting that Kanye West is a supremely talented individual. You may not like his arrogance or his trademark production style, and may not even rate him too much as a rapper and lyricist, but there is no doubt he knows how to fashion a catchy tune. I personally think, if anything, he is under-rated to a certain degree which may sound strange given his global superstar status, but some of his turns of phrase are totally inspired, and his choice and manipulation of samples equally so. What grates a little is his self-declarations of greatness. Okay, you're good, but let people acclaim you, no one likes a show-off, all of that.
But this is slightly off the point for now, because what I wanted to draw attention to, in true Twelve Bar tradition, is indeed one of the tools of Kanye's trade, the afore-mentioned samples. Speeded, up, slowed down, chopped up, it is his diverse mastery of influences and others' musical offerings which has got him where he is today. And the new album has got some classic choices. The flipping of P.Y.T on "Good Life" is big, but what caught my eye was the use of one of my favourite tracks of all time. Track 2, "Champion", using a big chunk of Steely Dan's "Kid Charlemagne" for the chorus.
"Kid Charlemagne" is an absolute classic, and if you needed an excuse to trawl Steely Dan's back catalogue this is it. Walter Becker and Donald Fagen's output is truly remarkable, and you may discard them as wierdy beardy white prog-rock jazzers, but to do so would be a mistake. More influenced by funk, blues and r'n'b, their range of melody, hooks and simply stunning production values is arguably unsurpassed from their peak period through the 1970s. Certainly hip-hop producers have long recognised the treasure trove of cuts in their discography, and a critical reappraisal is, I think, long overdue. I've always thought "Kid Charlemagne" was a sample waiting to be exploited in rap, and now I know it works. So all you budding beatmasters could do worse than digging a little deeper in the crates, and next time you are in the record store, hang a left past funk/soul and head straight for the "hard to classify". It might be worth your while!
But this is slightly off the point for now, because what I wanted to draw attention to, in true Twelve Bar tradition, is indeed one of the tools of Kanye's trade, the afore-mentioned samples. Speeded, up, slowed down, chopped up, it is his diverse mastery of influences and others' musical offerings which has got him where he is today. And the new album has got some classic choices. The flipping of P.Y.T on "Good Life" is big, but what caught my eye was the use of one of my favourite tracks of all time. Track 2, "Champion", using a big chunk of Steely Dan's "Kid Charlemagne" for the chorus.
"Kid Charlemagne" is an absolute classic, and if you needed an excuse to trawl Steely Dan's back catalogue this is it. Walter Becker and Donald Fagen's output is truly remarkable, and you may discard them as wierdy beardy white prog-rock jazzers, but to do so would be a mistake. More influenced by funk, blues and r'n'b, their range of melody, hooks and simply stunning production values is arguably unsurpassed from their peak period through the 1970s. Certainly hip-hop producers have long recognised the treasure trove of cuts in their discography, and a critical reappraisal is, I think, long overdue. I've always thought "Kid Charlemagne" was a sample waiting to be exploited in rap, and now I know it works. So all you budding beatmasters could do worse than digging a little deeper in the crates, and next time you are in the record store, hang a left past funk/soul and head straight for the "hard to classify". It might be worth your while!
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