Kanye West- artist background/ Style

West gained fame by producing songs for Roc-A-Fella Records. He eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album, The Blueprint as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and Janet Jackson. His style of production originally used pitched-up vocal samples from soul songs mixed with his own drums and instruments. However, subsequent albums saw him extend his music style he began expressing influences that ranged from '70s R&B, to synth-pop, and classical music.



After the critical and commercial success of his debut album The College Dropout, West went on to experiment with his production style for further albums. Late Registration, another album of great success, saw West collaborate with film composer Jon Brion where West began to introduce a more "cinematic" approach to hip-hop sound, combining his signature sampling style with horn riffs, piano loops, string arrangements, and various other orchestra to produce rich, multi-layered instumental sections in his songs. His style took even greater leaps forward as a later album, Graduation went through the stages of production, for which he made heavy use of synth-based beats and futuristic sound effects while doing his best to distance himself from soul samples, opting for more dynamic productions via the inclusion of artists ranging from Elton John and Michael Jackson to Daft Punk and Public Enemy.