Would Kanye West Rap Over This?

Golden Dream MockySaskamodie (Crammed Discs, 2009) Holy shit,...

Wed, 20 May 2009 09:35:17 -0400

Golden Dream
Mocky
Saskamodie (Crammed Discs, 2009)

Holy shit, it’s been a month? Well let’s reorganize, re-energize, and reprioritize.

With ‘Ye in emotional free-fall (being called a gay fish repeatedly will do that to a guy), it’s time he broke out of the mopey 808s state and started dabbling in the brighter, more optimistic arts. All you need is a beat and a style, and he’s got the latter in spades. That said, a little pep-me-up in the form of Mocky might help.

Mocky is a Canadian guy with a fondness for twee, bright electronic music, and it’s no surprise he cut his teeth with the likes of Feist (don’t like), Jamie Lidell (like much), and Peaches (NO LIKE AT ALL)… in Kanye’s hands, this malleable little slice of instrumental dance-jazz (at WK? we believe in making up genres like there’s no tomorrow) would be well and truly a lamb to the slaughter.

The tempo is juuuust right for some machine-gun lyric spitting, not to mention it’s got that smooth feel that the ladies like. Something about getting the hips moving. The piano flourishes are a sweet, sweet touch too. What girl isn’t gonna ditch her purse and flood the dancefloor upon hearing a few bars of that beat?

C'mon, Mr. West. Get a little Mocky in your life. Sure, it’s eccentric, but last time I checked, you were wearing houndstooth ascots in the middle of spring.

Epic Faith No MoreThe Real Thing (Slash / Reprise, 1989) buy...

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:17:10 -0400

Epic
Faith No More
The Real Thing (Slash / Reprise, 1989)
buy [album] | [mp3 album] | [mp3 single]

Part 4 of 5 4 in WK?’s weeklong look at Faith No More. Sorry!

Finishing off the week on one of Faith No More’s biggest tracks, “Epic” isn’t a question so much as an inevitability. It’s been pulled for Hip-Hop’s sake before (1:35), but never for an entire track - why not? It’s big, iconic, brazen, uncompromising - the kind of sound that’d make a track before Kanye ever showed up to the party. Bringing his flow to this is simple, like doing math on your fingers.

The track is primed for his arrival, no matter what he’s looking to do. Want to keep it upbeat? Chop up the intro chords (one or all), lay some supporting synth work, and go to town. Need a softer sound? Play with that piano in the outro for maximum emotional impact. The dude could straight-up Flo Rida the chorus, changing “you” to “I” and removing the “can’t,” and this shit would hold together.

A truly enterprising engineer might even pull a full a cappella for the song with a copy of Rock Band 2 and “No Fail” mode enabled - which opens doors that we won’t even dare to go through.

We’ll keep our fingers crossed in ‘09.

Last Cup of Sorrow Faith No MoreAlbum of the Year (Reprise /...

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 06:33:00 -0400

Last Cup of Sorrow
Faith No More
Album of the Year (Reprise / Wea, 1997)
buy [album] | [mp3 single]

Part 3 of 5 4 in WK?’s weeklong look at Faith No More.

It’s sad to consider, but for as deep as Kanye’s roots go, fame doesn’t last as long as it used to be - and it could all be over in an instant. Driven to quit the game (I mean really quit) by the anguish that took him over in 808s and Heartbreak, pushed to the brink by the paparazzi, the television parodies, how long before he drops off the radar? A month? Six months? A year?

Faith No More’s got a melancholic ode to questions like these in “Last Cup of Sorrow.” Ostensibly, it’s a break-up track, urging you to get the crying out and get on with life - certainly something Kanye’s familiar with. Is it enough for him to rap over it?

Like everything FNM’s produced, “Last Cup” is a tough one to crack - it’s all over the place, blending tinkling music box chimes with heavy, crunching guitars. There’s little to sample here without taking a collateral chunk of sound along for the ride, but ‘Ye could just grab 2 bars of the intro and work 'em up with some backing percussion. The music box floats alone later in the song, if 'Ye were interested in making that the main element of the track - but it’s a little light to power an entire song.

There are no clear answers, here, and whether or not Kanye Would, it’s tough to say exactly where he could. “Last Cup of Sorrow” remains potentially untapped.

Digging the Grave Faith No MoreKing For A Day…Fool For A...

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 09:35:00 -0400

Digging the Grave
Faith No More
King For A Day…Fool For A Lifetime (Reprise / Wea, 1997)
buy [album] | [album] | [mp3 single]

Part 2 of 5 4 in WK?’s weeklong look at Faith No More.

If there’s anything Faith No More ever did in their initial run of the music industry, it was to keep the listener guessing - bending and mashing-together genres in a way that seldom made sense and was nearly impossible to replicate. Finding a song of theirs that sounds like any other group is best left to basement-dwelling musicologists and haters. We’re not trying to draw the wrong crowd.

The above is certainly an aim that your boy could aspire to as his Maybach career races forward - in all things musical, be a leader. Be original. And fuck those musicologists. So Would Kanye pay tribute to one of FNM’s edgier tracks on the boards?

“Digging the Grave” is punky, thrashy, full of screams and generally unsuited to Hip-Hop in any form that doesn’t suck. It’s too uptempo, for one - there’s no keeping up with the raw speed of this beat unless you’re willing to go at it in half-time, not a popular technique. And while the energy’s good, and the lessons learned (discovering what you really want out of a relationship) an easy fit for a man who’s gone through as many women/fish as Mr. West, most of it’s too ragged to be thrown into the MPC.

You could use those drums at the start of a bridge, but that’s not much to build on anymore; today, choosing to sample something is a seriously conscious move, more sending an image across than doing it for lack of a drum pattern. And Yeezy’s production library’s got to be stacked.

Though no doubt a fan of the group and what it stands for, make no mistake: ‘Ye’d pass this one over.

Midlife Crisis Faith No MoreAngle Dust (Reprise / Wea, 1992) buy...

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:09:00 -0400

Midlife Crisis
Faith No More
Angle Dust (Reprise / Wea, 1992)
buy [album] | [mp3 single]

Part 1 of 5 4in WK?’s weeklong look at Faith No More.

One innovator deserves another - and while Faith No More’s long done pushing out the boundaries of Rap-Rock (the good kind, not the bad kind), Kanye’s still got plenty of work to do. This week on WK?, it’s a marriage that hasn’t happened - should it? We take it song by song.

First up is “Midlife Crisis” - a somber, third-party take on the fetishization of celebrity rise and decline in the public eye. Originally leveled at Madonna, it might find a contemporary target in Mr. West. He’s repented for his egotism, but is far beyond a little more reproach. If he were smart, he’d cut the haters off with a sample like this underneath a song to match the struggle of wrestling one’s ego down in full view.

On the boards, this song is a strong fit - slowed down a touch, Mike Bordin’s stark tribal drum intro could go under any of Kanye’s recent stuff. Unfortunately (for ‘Ye’s sake), Patton’s guttural vocals jump into the mix straightaways and obscure the clever sampler from lifting those eerie strings or thumping bassline by themselves - but they could easily be tracked anew in the studio. And Patton’s haunting chorus hook could underpin a soul-searching Hip-Hop track just as easily as it holds the original together.

If it has to have a second coming, “Midlife Crisis” is one of those tracks that’s better off redone than reused. This song has more to give, and it might just take a man like Kanye to bring it out.

Princes of the Universe QueenA Kind of Magic (Hollywood Records,...

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 13:11:26 -0400

Princes of the Universe
Queen
A Kind of Magic (Hollywood Records, 1991)
buy [album] | [mp3 album] | [mp3 single]

No significant words. Just listen, then scroll down to read.

While it’s an undeniable no, simply because the hooks are too gargantuan and arranged in bursts, with Brian May wielding the AK-47 and dispatching his melodic bullets into the crowd, make no mistake; the song is an epic blast of face-melting rock that Friday deserves.

I hear snippets that ‘Ye could maybe assimilate, like Brian May’s first pre-solo wailing (beginning at :33) that Roger Taylor pins nicely under his thundering, booming bass drum, but overall, this is one that Mr. West should sidestep. Don’t try to fight the force of four thousand years of heroics; admire in front of a speaker wall and appreciate the cock-punching fury of Queen’s vocal harmonies, and several beastly riffs emanating from Brian May like light bursts free from the sun’s gaseous boundaries.

Watch as the power of his licks demolish brick walls like they are dominoes! As sparks hiss and crackle across the landscape, Queen remain unmoved. They are as timeless at Christopher Lambert. 'Ye could use the song to perhaps practice dance moves for 808s and Heartbreak Pt. II: Electric Boogaloo, but that’s about it.

As big as Kanye and his ego might be, there are still supernatural forces that are stronger. Queen, in full glory, is one of them.

Badhead BlurParklife (Food, 1994)buy [album] | [mp3 album] |...

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:57:00 -0400

Badhead
Blur
Parklife (Food, 1994)
buy [album] | [mp3 album] | [mp3 single]

[Alright, so this is one of those where WK? is reaching, but it’s alright. After all, remember just how sampling started; a tidbit of a song looped into infinity to create something new. And yes, we know this is the demo version; tough to find good audio of the real deal on YouTube]

In a weepy, emo phase, ‘Ye would love this song. Sitting around his opulent home, alone, no-one to talk to, he’d dig on the lyrics about frayed relationships and his gradually failing ability to reach out to someone in “the real world” and begin a meaningful dialog. Trapped in the dungeons of his own largesse, he is isolated. Lost. Despondent.

Out of the ether comes Blur, a band that lived through this. Before the bright, shiny, chavvy anthems that helped them launch Britpop (please don’t mention Oasis, thanks), they were loafing around their Essex studio apartments with not a care in the world. And yet, through this mire came some deceptively sweet music, full of hope and optimism, that would serve as the perfect counterpoint to their downtrodden lyrics. “Badhead” is the perfect example.

Likening their loneliness to a hangover is surely something Mr. West can relate to; once the Courvoisier and Belvedere is all gone, so are all the girls wearing dental floss underwear and inhibitions on their high heels.

If you let the song percolate to 1:53, you’ll hear the heavens open up, and finally, his chance to grab the hook by the throat and choke it into submission: no flourish, just a simple instrumental bridge continuing the main melody, accentuated by a neat, no-frills solo and forcing you into a smile. When WK? hears it, we think Jay-Z, and perhaps a snippet for some brave mash-up maker who’s three years too late.

And yet, Jay-Z has everything; the gorgeous wife, the branded liquor, the flash cars and the court-side seats. After 2008, what does Kanye have but his name? Hence, “Badhead” is a world to which Jay-Z doesn’t belong. It’s Kanye’s Bat Cave. It’s his turn to find that same bright spot amid the gloom that Damon Albarn and friends mined 15+ years ago.

Hard yes.

The Majesty of Rock Spinal TapBreak Like the Wind (Mca Special...

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 08:44:47 -0400

The Majesty of Rock
Spinal Tap
Break Like the Wind (Mca Special Products, 1992)
buy [album] | [mp3 album] | [mp3 single]

Song suggested by @RJCresswell via our Twitter feed: @wouldkanye. Thanks!

It’s not just about the backpacker circuit anymore: these days, ‘Ye’s got bigger ambitions for his tracks. Rolling waves of retro synths that could flood a stadium, themes so universal and powerful that you’d think he was auto-tuning straight into the heart of mankind - Kanye’s music plays for keeps. It’s all a bit grand. And as the samples struggle to match, the suggestive hearts of our readers turn naturally to…Spinal Tap.

Half-real - like Kanye’s vocals - and half-legitimate, Spinal Tap has been galvinizing the the world behind mock anthems like “The Majesty of Rock” for over thirty years. Like any rock comedy group (okay, they’re the originals), there’s more than a kernel of musicianship behind the absurdity of the performance. It’s all enough to make you wish they were a real, touring band. Except that they are. But would Kanye have anything to do with them on the boards?

Admittedly, the dude hasn’t had a ton of room for humor on his albums since he dropped the skits a couple of releases back, so he’d probably do the dramatic thing and take this track somewhere serious. And if he did, he’d have a couple of options: he could easily splice out a couple of guitar chords from the intro voices and spin into a boom bap classic, else slow down the chorus to turn the track into an ode to the majesty of Hip-Hop for its 30th anniversary.

More likely, he’d pull a guest vocalist to sing a rewritten “majesty” hook over whatever he crafted - just like T.I. wouldn’t have Rihanna singing Dragostea Din Tei, there’s not a ton of room in popular Hip-Hop for a pitch-shifted British musical comedian. Kid Cudi or any of Yeezy’s entourage of up-and-comers might go over just a little bit better.

We don’t see Kanye going near this one on anything but a dare from Tenacious D, but there’s always that chance.

Unbelievable EMFSchubert Dip (Capitol, 1991) buy [album] | [mp3...

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 08:53:00 -0400

Unbelievable
EMF
Schubert Dip (Capitol, 1991)
buy [album] | [mp3 album] | [mp3 single]

Song suggested by @dice_j via our Twitter feed: @wouldkanye. (No) thanks!

Where sampling’s concerned, the one-hit wonder’s a potential spot of trouble - if it only worked once for the first time, why try your luck? Sometimes, it pays out, but in the worst case, you’re dooming your track to the same instant rise and fall as the last guy’s. We live in an age where fame is hyper-compressed, so why shorten your moment up even more?

Okay, we’ll bite. Kanye’s in debate over whether or not to life from the one and only thing EMF’s ever done that’s worth a mention in print: that nauseating, toothless hit of the early 90’s, “Unbelievable.” From a career perspective, this sample is suicide. It’s one thing for a rapper to rock out in wooly grey sweaters and Buddy Holly glasses, but it’s another entirely to use one’s celebrity to hoist some shit like this out of its shallow grave (right next to N.K.O.T.B. in the cementary) and force it onto the millions who are tracking your every musical move. There are clauses in the Geneva Convention, for fuck’s sake.

Nothing in here can be made good for what Hip-Hop is in 2009 (and God help us if this ever changes). The cheesy cowbell, the factory-stock piano patch, the lilting, adolescent British accents and the uninspired chromatic ups and downs during the chorus: we think it’s safe to say that no one needs to hear this song ever again. Mr. West might have a couple of crazy ideas about the future of music, but he’s no sadist.

We’re sorry.

Psycho Killer Talking HeadsPsycho Killer (12") (Sire...

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 10:23:00 -0400

Psycho Killer
Talking Heads
Psycho Killer (12") (Sire Records Company, 1977)
buy [album] | [mp3 album] | [mp3 single]

At the heart of Mr. West’s career has always been a D.I.Y. work ethic that beats clear and strong. Kanye might have the world swinging from his neck now, but it hasn’t always been that way: long before he first stepped to the mic, started rapping about college girls or The Gap, he was clawing his way into the game via production, beat by painstaking beat. And when making his own music got boring, he turned to accessories - and then shoes. It’s the same at-all-costs ethic that drove New York’s music scene straight through the end of the 1970s.

Punk, Art Rock, the CBGB Kids, whatever you want to call them and those like them - the Talking Heads were at the forefront of a musical movement that stood for something new, a sound full of so many contradictions that it’s hard to even talk about. “Psycho Killer” is a good example - it rings clean and straight-laced as David Byrne’s trademark warble belies the chaos right underneath the track.

If Kanye wanted to send a salute to those who fought authority, changed the whole system from right underneath it - like a certain recent album that’s got everyone pirating an age-old plug-in - a Talking Heads sample would certainly do the job. But would he?

“Psycho Killer”’s got a signature sound, for sure, and could stand on its own against any number of washed-out, sped-up female soloists and funk breaks - a track built on it would make a serious impression - but it’s a little uptempo for the way Kanye usually likes to flow. [Bassist Tina] Weymouth’s bass is a nice foundation to go on, but maybe a little too bouncy to cut straight into a loop. And what the fuck do you do with David Byrne? If ‘Ye could do anything with this, he might slow down the intro pattern and take the pieces he needs, else speed up and chop the chorus wails into a recognizeable hook.

But we’re not counting on it.

They’re So Incredible RevengeRevenge of the Nerds: OST...

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 11:23:00 -0400

They’re So Incredible
Revenge
Revenge of the Nerds: OST (Volcano, 1984)
buy [album] | [mp3 album] | [mp3 single]

Being an geek in the 80’s wasn’t a lifestyle anyone tried to emulate; it wasn’t punk, metal or anything on television. It was kids trapped in a DnD rulebook, grad students bumming computer time on the university UNIX terminal. They were the classically misunderstood. But as Revenge of the Nerds showed us, rarely - but rarely - they’d come together to do something great. Like invent the internet, or put on a concert.

We owe the nerds out there more than we can ever repay them - and there’s only one way for the world to repay them: as the backing sample on a Kanye track. No question, your boy is down for this one.

Track analysis: The original song is banging enough, but the movie cut (above) is where the action’s at. Nylon jumpsuits, thick-rimmed glasses and red leather were worlds away from cool when Revenge of the Nerds first hit theaters - now, the Tri-Lam/Omega Mu performance plays like a Kanye West stage show. The dude could jump on and drop 16 bars with Lamar without losing a single fan; so’s the way he’s built his new sound.

But sharing the spotlight’s too generous on a beat this fierce - no way could ‘Ye resist making this track his own. And it’s ready for him: the synths, the bouncy bass, the retro-electro drum kits all come off like something Kanye might’ve built himself. Chop it up, loop it, rework the instrumentation to add a little low-end, and this shit is ready to go. If you hit “play” before you started reading, your neck’s probably broken by now.

There’s only one final question: why hasn’t this happened already?

The Breaks The Black KeysThe Big Come Up (Alive Records, 2002)...

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:29:00 -0400

The Breaks
The Black Keys
The Big Come Up (Alive Records, 2002)

The grungy swamp-rock sounds of The Black Keys should be news to no-one at this point. Like a fine wine, they get better with time, filling the airwaves with music done better than Jack & Meg ever could. WK? loves ‘em some Black Keys, and with this fat slab of SRV-esque blues (replete with Hendrix-esque vocals!) is primed for some divine raps from the West Incarnate.

The beat is so rap-ready, one wonders if guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney weren’t tapping into the universe’s shared consciousness in the hope that some day, a rapper might lead their sweet song ever further into the mainstream.

With a heavy 4/4 shuffle, layered perfectly with that wailing guitar sound, it wouldn’t take much. 'Ye could sit back, comforted by their lazy, carefree sound, choosing his words carefully. In light of recent PR moves, like his bizarre name change decree, that could only be a good thing.

Crystal Planet Joe SatrianiCrystal Planet (Sony, 1998) buy...

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 10:11:22 -0400

Crystal Planet
Joe Satriani
Crystal Planet (Sony, 1998)
buy [album] | [mp3 album] | [mp3 single]

We’ve talked before about what dreams may come to life when Hip-Hop and virtuosic Rock meet and procreate - rap in odd time signatures, counterpoint guitar flying under counterculture lyrics, sixteenth-note triplets on the MPC.

But this isn’t the song where it happens.

“Crystal Planet” is about as accessibly epic as the genre comes - it’s the kind of track you’d want echoing through your Gundam as you take off for one, final, earth-saving mission to the stars. ‘Ye’s done the DeLorean, and a large-scale human mech-as-hood-travel isn’t much more of a leap.

It’s got melody to spare, but it doesn’t separate well - and would take some seriously abstract work to blend Satch’s cosmic shredding on the track into something you can nod your head to, much less go over. Plus, you’d have to make double sure to clear the sample; Joe’s been known to serve a few papers. As our hero filters the frontiers of Progressive Rock for that first, genre-bending beat, this track would be tossed aside. We’ve got to give it the No.

Now, “Borg Sex”, on the other hand..

Not Gonna Get Us t.A.T.u.200 Km/h In The Wrong Lane (Universal...

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 08:59:00 -0400

Not Gonna Get Us
t.A.T.u.
200 Km/h In The Wrong Lane (Universal Int'l, 2003)
buy [album] | [mp3 album] | [mp3 single]

If you knew where he was headed next, he wouldn’t be Kanye. With the hardcore 80’s-and-autotune turn that was 808s & Heartbreak, ‘Ye’s made it clear that he wants his moves to be untraceable. He’s already gone from cypher to stadium - could the trancehall be next?

Not-lesbian duo t.A.T.u. moved quickly on and off the scene with their self-titled album, and “Not Gonna Get Us” was one of the tracks that stuck. It’s hard-driving, bubblegum pop - a quirky, throwaway tune that nevertheless manages to leave an impression. Love it or don’t, it’s got appeal, and sampling’s the perfect way to bring their audience into Kanye’s world.

Just because he could, however, doesn’t mean he would. From a technical P.O.V., the song’s rough to approach - it’d be tough to lift anything out from amongst the percussion without bringing a lot of unwanted Electronica along for the ride. And the tempo’s up enough that Kanye’d have to work to keep on beat; he’s Gifted, but this track might not be worth the effort.

It is the opinion of WK? that Yeezy wouldn’t touch this shit with a guaranteed endorsement deal - and that’s a good thing.

Eminence Front The WhoIt’s Hard (Warner Bros., 1982) buy...

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 11:03:24 -0400

Eminence Front
The Who
It’s Hard (Warner Bros., 1982)
buy [album]

Kanye West has never been the type to check his ego - more than the beats, the flow, the auto-tune, it’s that larger-than-life persona that keeps the public eye locke on the fro mullet. With every step, the dude comes closer to leaving the world behind; you want him because he doesn’t need you. The word here is excess, and it’s a recurring theme here on WK?

No doubt about it: “Eminence Front” is a straight banger, even before the Hip-Hop treatment. This track is aching to be sampled - and ain’t nobody does it better than ‘Ye. The tune’s about the meteoric ups and downs of the cocaine lifestyle that came up in the late 70’s, when flash ruled over substance and your roots were something to hide. No doubt Mr. West can speak to all these things.

Musically, “Eminence Front” hits hard. It sparkles and shines as it kicks in the speaker. It’s glam rock before glam rockers copped out on the songwriting and it all ran together; it’s a glam rock track written by The fucking Who. The intro bars come ready-made for a vocal overdub, and the main riff doesn’t get in the way.

Let’s face it: a 10-year old with Garage Band could turn this thing into a hit. In 'Ye’s hands, a beat built upon it would simply demolish.

How Soon is Now? The SmithsHatful of Hollow (Warner Bros / Wea,...

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 13:10:29 -0400

How Soon is Now?
The Smiths
Hatful of Hollow (Warner Bros / Wea, 1985)
buy [album] | [mp3 single]

Song suggested by @thelostviking via our Twitter feed: @wouldkanye. Thanks!

Before he was just Morrissey, he was Morrissey of the Smiths - a British group out of the 1980’s who crafted heartbroken, outcast anthems from washed-out synthesizers and dreary vocals. Re-read that last part.

Shoegaze, Alt-rock and so much emo owe a lot of what they’ve got to the group, and theirs is one of the sounds that musically defined the 80’s. If Kanye’s looking to pay his respects by ripping a sample, he need look no further than “How Soon Is Now?”

The song depicts an overaverage character awash in misery, trapped by his own shyness and yearning to break free. Issues your boy Kanye seems to have no trouble handling on his own, for sure, but the track’s overcast vibe echoes with where he is in his career just the same. You could see the newly self-exiled Mr. West turning this into a consciousness piece, a melancholic joint on the 808s B-Side or European import.

“How Soon Is Now?” doesn’t provide a lot of sampling options, but what’s there is powerful stuff. Everything that makes the song so iconic - the track’s stuttering, gated guitar and shrieking slide down the neck - stands alone in those first few bars. It’s as friendly a loop as you’re likely to get in this genre, and it’s not a sound you’ve really heard anywhere else. ‘Ye could lay that effect across an intro or verse and bring something new to Hip-Hop all over again.

With a little purpose behind him, with a little nod to the forefathers of the sound that’s making him so much money today, there’s no doubt that your boy could make this work..

Tenth Man Down NightwishOver the Hills and Far Away (Century...

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 09:16:18 -0400

Tenth Man Down
Nightwish
Over the Hills and Far Away (Century Media, 2004)
buy [album]

Song suggested by Norphen via our Facebook page. Thanks!

This was a tough call.

For the uninitiated: Nightwish are the new, European kings of the Symphonic Metal scene - a genre held up by powerful musicianship, the classical use of the choir sample and more than a few D&D campaigns. Few commercial rappers (since 2001’s’ “lost era” - see write-up“) can go over guitars this dirty and come away from it, rep intact. (Ice-T is one of them.) And Yeezy’s a forward-thinker: a lot of this sound has already been done. Why would he go anywhere near it?

But let’s set the scene: Mr. West, gone beyond the edges of his ego on cocaine and anonymous head in an airplane bathroom, decides to take a risk and throw it back to the rap-metal era with a Nightwish sample. What next?

If there’s any track to forge out of this solid ingot of rock, it’s coming from its sonic edges - the quiet parts, the stretches of music that aren’t beaten out with a double-bass pedal. There’s the soaring vocals at 0:45, which - with the right beat underneath it all - could set anchor down a slow, larger-than-life orchestral track for Yeezy to go over. The post-chorus breakdown from 2:40 might work as Ye’s own bridge - as long as he cuts the MPC off before the de rigeur dramatic fantasy monologue comes in.

A track built on a sound like this has got to come big with no apologies, throw shout-outs to God and crush lesser Hip-Hop beneath its wheels. If you’re the dude on this track, you best take up the sword and demand the listener fall in line, else be laughed out the room.

"Tenth Man Down”? At the height of his delirium, when your boy was the uncontested tastemaker of planet earth, Kanye might’ve. Today’s meeker, newly reformed Kanye West? We’re not so sure - and so this song gets a low “Maybe.”

My Favourite Game The CardigansGran Turismo (Island / Mercury,...

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:43:00 -0400

My Favourite Game
The Cardigans
Gran Turismo (Island / Mercury, 1998)
buy [album] | [mp3 album] | [mp3 single]

Song suggested by @SaikoSakura via our Twitter feed: @wouldkanye. Thanks!

If you know The Cardigans, it’s probably because of this. They built their short-lived reputation on the back its lilting vocals, and slow, candy-coated pop instrumentation - but most of their stuff comes a little harder, if you’re willing to look.

Girl Talk would work over “Lovefool” in a heartbreak, but your boy ‘Ye is down for more than scratching the surface - he’d go for “My Favourite Game.” And it wouldn’t be easy.

What’s Yeezy got to do to make this work? From a sampling perspective, the problem with “My Favourite Game” is: while the core sound of the track (that signature guitar line) is solid, the way it all comes together still pretty flimsy. Fine for modern rock airplay in 1998, not so fine for 106th and Park. The drums are paper-thin, the bass just sort of ambles along, the production values are too acoustic Alt-rock to really bang on the boards - it needs weight.

If 'Ye’s taking this on, he could start by cutting up the guitar line, have it come in between a hard-hitting beats 1 and 3 - that might get the sample across while letting the track punch like it needs to. He could ape those military-style 5-hit drum rolls that lead back into the verse, give the drum pattern a chopped and screwed sort of vibe. And that quiet chorus could be easily spun into an eerie vocal hook: “I’m losing…”, “You’re losing your mind” - Mr. West is famous for playing with pieces like this and could no doubt bring something together.

That said, there are no guarantees with this track - and the risks are huge. If a track built on “My Favourite Game” doesn’t go home, it’s flooding the club with waify Alternative from a two-hit wonder: not a good look. Too close to call.

Dream On Depeche ModeExciter (Wea/Warner Brothers, 2001) buy...

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 08:56:00 -0400

Dream On
Depeche Mode
Exciter (Wea/Warner Brothers, 2001)
buy [album] | [mp3 album] | [mp3 single]

Rap’s not too big on the Goth scene (is anyone?) - Apathy and the Demigodz have cut tracks over Manson’s “The Beautiful People” and Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus”, Reznor’s with Saul Williams, and this shit happened somehow, but processed, down-and-out electronic isn’t the kind of sound you want to throw on to keep the club moving or the fans jumping at the show.

Hold up - a “down-and-out electronic” sounding Hip-Hop album? From Kanye? Pause.

Depeche Mode are originals in the goth game, and despite the pale, grey-green, runny mascara feel of a lot of their work, they’ve always done it with a nod towards radio friendliness. ‘Ye wouldn’t be the first to pick up on their sound, but could cut ahead of the crowd with “Dream On,” from the band’s resurfacing around the year 2000.

It’d have to be a pretty melancholy joint, but Dream On is dead and ready for disassembly on the boards. There’s the straightahead version of this hypothetical beat that’s got the looping guitar line, but there’s the hook about feeling the love and the titular vocals besides. Plenty to work with, made easier by the fact that the song’s components were released in their broken-down entirety years ago for a Sony ACID Remix contest.

Where 'Ye would take “Dream On” take it doesn’t matter - no matter the treatment, the collaboration is to be one of those tracks you discover on the B-Side of the CD, the kind you write journals to. In any scenario, it makes the cut.

Disarm Smashing PumpkinsSiamese Dream (Virgin Records US, 1993)...

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 14:42:00 -0400

Disarm
Smashing Pumpkins
Siamese Dream (Virgin Records US, 1993)
buy [album] | [mp3 album] | [mp3 single]

The Grunge and Alternative scenes deserved the rep they got - the noisy, disaffected, apathetic anthems of a growing Gen X - and so it’s easy to forgot some of the beauty that came out of the same period. Take “Disarm”: straight-up ahead of its time, it can still turn heads all these years later.

Emotionally, the track is ready for where Mr. West stands now - Corgan’s screams, the rising strings, the church bells are all dark and tortured, while not without a certain hope. ‘Ye might spin this into a resurrection song, a track for falling out of touch with the family, a memorial to a simpler life gone by.

But there are cons: Like a lot of alternative, there aren’t a lot of clean divisions to sample from, no quiet parts to pull the vocals. There are a few moments where you’ll catch the strings alone, but that’s it.

The track runs too slow for 'Ye’s flow - probably somewhere around 60BPM - and definitely needs some help. But then you run into the problem of pitch-shifting Billy Corgan up ever higher: not a good look. The enterprising producer needs to step lightly, pitch-lock what he takes and rebuild the lush feeling of the rest of the song somehow else.

In the end, “Disarm” can’t drive a Hip-Hop track on its own - but where there’s a will, there’s a way for turning this one into a beat. The soul of this track belongs on the boards. It’s in 'Ye’s hands.