Through the Wire

Let's talk about Kanye West.

In 2003, Kanye released Through the Wire, built around a sped-up sample of Chaka Khan's 1984 hit, Through the Fire.

The song became an important part of Kanye's early career, but Chaka later made it clear that she wasn't happy with how her voice had been manipulated.

She had spoken about regretting giving permission for the sample, particularly because of the way the sped up vocals sounded.

He got in a car accident out in LA.

Uh, he made "Through the Wire," and he self-funded the video, self-funded the mixtape that "Through the Wire" was on, and it made everybody pay attention.

It made Roc-A-Fella, who had signed him but really wasn't planning to do anything with him.

Yeah.

They had signed him, but they really signed him because they wanted him as a producer, not because they thought he was actually gonna succeed as a rapper.

Um, so they sign him, and he's kind of on the shelf for a while until he invests in himself and says, "We're going to put 'Through the Wire' out.

We're gonna put this mixtape out.

We're gonna make the video." And then he started to gather a lot of buzz.

[laughs]

... "He is a genius." And College Dropout came out, and I remember hearing "Through the Wire" on the radio for the first time.

Mm.

[humming]