Kanye West Sampled Dr. Dre’s “Xxplosive” Drums for Jay-Z’s “This Can’t Be Life”
One of Kanye West’s earliest career breaks happened when he met former Roc-A-Fella A & R Kyambo “Hip Hop” Joshua. After hearing some of his beats, Joshua asked Kanye for the instrumental that wound up becoming Beanie Sigel’s “The Truth”. The song was well-received and helped get Kanye a foot in the door, giving him a song with an established rapper to put on his resume. The two stayed in touch from there, with the still-unknown producer calling Joshua from time to time for feedback on his music.
During one of their phone calls, Kanye decided to play a rough draft of a beat he’d made from a sped up Harold Melvin sample. Joshua knew it had the potential to be Kanye’s next big record and suggested they give it to Jay-Z for the upcoming The Dynasty: Roc La Familia album. Though Kanye was amped to have an opportunity to work with Jay, he knew something was missing from the current version of the song. “At that time, like the drums really weren’t soundin’ right to me,” he said on “Last Call”.
Unsure of how to fix his drums, Kanye decided to take a major risk and sample one of the most powerful producers in the music industry. “I was listening to Dre Chronic 2001 at that time,” he said. “And really I just…bit the drums off ‘Xxplosive’ and put it…with a sped up sample.”
“I could say that was the the resurgence of the soul sound.”
Though sampling other producer’s drums was a credibility killer at the time, the gamble ended up paying off. With the new and improved drums layered underneath the Melvin sample, Jay-Z couldn’t resist using the beat. The significance of this moment wasn’t lost on Kanye, as he credits the song for shaping his sound at the beginning of his career. “It’s kind of like my whole style, when it started, when he rapped on ‘This Can’t be Life,’” he said. “And that was…really the first beat of that kind that was on The Dynasty album.”
Though Kanye was already on his way to making it, one can’t help but wonder how things might have turned out if he’d resisted the urge to borrow some Dr. Dre drums. We’ll never know, but his decision to commit a sampling taboo forever changed his career and the sound of rap music.
Connect with Kanye West on his website and on Twitter @kanyewest.
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