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The College Dropout
''The College Dropout'' is the debut studio album by the American rapper Kanye West. It was released on February 10, 2004, by Roc-A-Fella Records and Def Jam Recordings. In the years leading up to its release, West had received praise for his production work for rappers such as Jay-Z and Talib Kweli, but he faced difficulty being accepted as an artist in his own right by figures in the music industry. Intent on pursuing a solo career, he signed a record deal with Roc-A-Fella and recorded the album over a period of four years, beginning in 1999. The production of ''The College Dropout'' was primarily handled by West and showcased his "chipmunk soul" musical style, which made use of sped-up, pitch shifted vocal samples from soul and R&B records, in addition to West's own drum programming, string accompaniments, and gospel choirs; the album also features contributions from Jay-Z, Mos Def, Jamie Foxx, Syleena Johnson, and Ludacris, among others. Diverging from the then-domina ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kanye West
Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer and record producer. One of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary. After dropping out of college to pursue a career in music, West began producing for regional artists in the Chicago area. As an in-house producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, he co-produced albums such as Jay-Z's ''The Blueprint'' (2001) before signing with the label as a recording artist. West's debut studio album, ''The College Dropout'' (2004), was met with critical acclaim and yielded the US Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100-number one single "Slow Jamz". He topped the chart on four other occasions with the singles "Gold Digger (Kanye West song), Gold Digger" (2005), "Stronger (Kanye West song), Stronger" (2007), "E.T. (song), E.T." (2011, as a featured artist), and "Carnival (¥$ song), Carnival" (2024). ''The College Dropout'', and five ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slow Jamz
"Slow Jamz" is a song by American rapper Twista together with the American rapper and producer Kanye West and American singer Jamie Foxx. Produced by West, it was released in November 2003 through Atlantic Records, Atlantic and Roc-A-Fella Records, as the lead Single (music), single from Twista's fourth studio album ''Kamikaze (Twista album), Kamikaze'' (2004), and the second single from West's debut studio album ''The College Dropout'' (2004). The song was written by Twista and West, with additional writing credits going to Burt Bacharach and Hal David for the Sampling (music), sampling of Luther Vandross' Cover version, cover of Dionne Warwick's 1964 song "A House Is Not a Home (song), A House Is Not a Home". Containing genres of Hip-hop, hip hop, pop rap, Contemporary R&B, R&B, and Soul music, soul, the song's lyrics reference slow jam artists and describes the role of lovermen. Upon release, "Slow Jamz" peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mos Def
Yasiin Bey ( ; born Dante Terrell Smith; December 11, 1973), formerly known as Mos Def ( ), is an American rapper, singer, and actor. A prominent figure in conscious hip hop, he is recognized for his use of wordplay and commentary on social and political issues, such as police brutality, American exceptionalism, and the status of African Americans in the United States. After embarking on his career in 1994, he joined his siblings in the short-lived rap group Urban Thermo Dynamics (UTD) and guest appeared on albums by Da Bush Babees and De La Soul. In 1996, he and fellow Brooklyn-based rapper Talib Kweli formed the duo Black Star, whose debut album '' Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star'' (1998) spawned the singles "Definition" and " Respiration" (featuring Common). His debut solo album, '' Black on Both Sides'' (1999) was met with critical acclaim, along with his fourth album '' The Ecstatic'' (2009). Bey's 2000 single, " Oh No" (with Pharoahe Monch featuring Nate Do ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gospel Music
Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music vary according to culture and social context. Gospel music is composed and performed for many purposes, including aesthetic pleasure, religious or ceremonial purposes, and as an entertainment product for the marketplace. Gospel music is characterized by dominant vocals and strong use of harmony with Christian lyrics. Gospel music can be traced to the early 17th century. Hymns and sacred songs were often performed in a call-and-response fashion, heavily influenced by ancestral African music. Most of the churches relied on hand–clapping and foot–stomping as rhythmic accompaniment. Most of the singing was done ''a cappella''.Jackson, Joyce Marie. "The changing nature of gospel music: A southern case study." ''African American Review'' 29.2 (1995): 185. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. October 5, 201 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drum Machine
A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds, such as synthesized electronic tones. A drum machine often has pre-programmed beats and patterns for popular genres and styles, such as pop music, rock music, and dance music. Most modern drum machines made in the 2010s and 2020s also allow users to program their own rhythms and beats. Drum machines may create sounds using Analog synthesizer, analog synthesis or play prerecorded Sampling (music), samples. While a distinction is generally made between drum machines (which can play back pre-programmed or user-programmed beats or patterns) and electronic drums (which have pads that can be struck and played like an acoustic drum kit), there are some drum machines that have buttons or pads that allow the performer to play drum sounds "live", either on top of a programmed drum beat or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhythm And Blues
Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to African Americans, at a time when "rocking, jazz based music ... [with a] heavy, insistent beat" was starting to become more popular. In the commercial rhythm and blues music typical of the 1950s through the 1970s, the bands usually consisted of a piano, one or two guitars, bass, drums, one or more saxophones, and sometimes background vocalists. R&B lyrical themes often encapsulate the African-American history and experience of pain and the quest for freedom and joy, as well as triumphs and failures in terms of societal racism, oppression, relationships, economics, and aspirations. The term "rhythm and blues" has undergone a number of shifts in meaning. In the early 1950s, it was frequently applied to blues records. Starting i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soul Music
Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in African-American culture, African-American African-American neighborhood, communities throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps and extemporaneous body movements, are an important hallmark of soul. Other characteristics are a Call and response (music), call and response between the lead and Backing vocalist, backing vocalists, an especially tense vocal sound, and occasional Musical improvisation, improvisational additions, twirls, and auxiliary sounds. Soul music is known for reflecting African-American identity and stressing the importance of African-American culture. Soul has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues, and primarily combines elements of gospel, R&B and jazz. The genre emerged from the power struggle to increase black Americans' awareness of their African ancestry, as a newfound consciousness led to the creation of music ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sampling (music)
In sound and music, sampling is the reuse of a portion (or sample) of a sound recording in another recording. Samples may comprise elements such as rhythm, melody, speech, or sound effects. A sample might comprise only a fragment of sound, or a longer portion of music, such as a drum beat or melody. Samples are often layered, Equalization (audio), equalized, sped up or slowed down, repitched, Loop (music), looped, or otherwise manipulated. They are usually integrated using electronic music instruments (Sampler (musical instrument), samplers) or software such as digital audio workstations. A process similar to sampling originated in the 1940s with ''musique concrète'', experimental music created by Tape splice, splicing and Tape loop, looping tape. The mid-20th century saw the introduction of keyboard instruments that played sounds recorded on tape, such as the Mellotron. The term ''sampling'' was coined in the late 1970s by the creators of the Fairlight CMI, a synthesizer with th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pitch Shift
Pitch shifting is a sound recording technique in which the original pitch of a sound is raised or lowered. Effects units that raise or lower pitch by a pre-designated musical interval ( transposition) are known as pitch shifters. Pitch and time shifting The simplest methods are used to increase pitch and reduce durations or, conversely, reduce pitch and increase duration. This can be done by replaying a sound waveform at a different speed than it was recorded. It could be accomplished on an early reel-to-reel tape recorder by changing the diameter of the capstan or using a different motor. As for vinyl records, placing a finger on the turntable to give friction will slow it, while giving it a "spin" can advance it. As technologies improved, motor speed and pitch control could be achieved electronically by servo drive system circuits. Pitch shifter and harmonizer A pitch shifter is a sound effects unit that raises or lowers the pitch of an audio signal by a preset inte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Music Industry
The music industry are individuals and organizations that earn money by Songwriter, writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music and sheet music, presenting live music, concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, represent and supply music creators. Among the many individuals and organizations that operate in the industry are: the songwriters and composers who write songs and musical compositions; the singers, musicians, Conducting, conductors, and bandleaders who perform the music; the record labels, music publishers, Recording studio, recording studios, Record producer, music producers, audio engineers, Record shop, retail and digital music stores, and Performance rights organisation, performance rights organizations who create and sell recorded music and sheet music; and the talent agent, booking agents, Promoter (entertainment), promoters, music venues, road crew, and audio engineers who help organiz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli Greene (; born October 3, 1975) is an American rapper. He first earned recognition through his collaboration with fellow Brooklyn rapper Mos Def (now known as Yasiin Bey) in 1997, when they formed the group Black Star. Kweli's musical career continued with solo success including collaborations with producers and rappers Kanye West, Just Blaze, and Pharrell Williams. In 2011, Kweli founded his own record label, Javotti Media. Early life Born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, Kweli grew up in a household in Brooklyn's Park Slope. His mother, Brenda Greene, is an English professor at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York, and his father is an administrator at Adelphi University. His younger brother, Jamal Greene, is a professor of constitutional law at Columbia Law School and a graduate of Harvard University and Yale Law School, and former clerk to Justice John Paul Stevens on the Supreme Court. As a youth, Kweli was drawn to Afrocen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American Rapping, rapper, businessman, and record executive. Rooted in East Coast hip-hop, he was named Billboard and Vibe's 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time, the greatest rapper of all time by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' and ''Vibe (magazine), Vibe'' in 2023. Known for his complex lyrical ability—which often uses double entendres and word play—and Braggadocio (rap), braggadocio, his music is built upon a rags to riches narrative. He served as president and chief executive officer of Def Jam Recordings from 2004 to 2007, and founded the entertainment company Roc Nation the following year. A protégé of fellow New York City-based rapper Jaz-O, Jay-Z began his musical career in the late 1980s; he co-founded the record label Roc-A-Fella Records in 1994 to release his first two studio albums ''Reasonable Doubt (album), Reasonable Doubt'' (1996) and ''In My Lifetime, Vol. 1'' (1997), both o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
