Watching the Throne: A Lyrical Analysis of Kanye West

My StorYe: Martin Connor, founder of Rap Analysis

Martin Connor analyzes production in hip hop music living on his website, Rap Analysis. In his StorYe, he discusses the evolution of Kanye's production from soul-sample-heavy to weird-as-shit.
Kanye’s soul samples have become the orientations through which all of his stories are experienced, even as they begin to occupy ever more fragmented parts of his structures, keys, or mixes. It seems, then, that soul samples for Kanye have always had a significance that is purely cultural, having come from a genre that was mostly nurtured and developed by Black artists themselves. It is just that, in his most recent albums, Kanye has brought this role of theirs fully to the forefront.
If you would like to support the show, visit our Patreon page.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is an in-depth-yet-entertaining dive into the lyrics and narrative artistry of Kanye West's music. We go track by track through Ye's discography, revealing the narrative and poetic techniques he uses, tracking his growth as a storyteller, and illuminating the narratives behind each of his albums.