July 15th, 2007
Kanye and Tupac enjoy Crawford Jazz
In 1996 when 2Pac released All Eyes on Me, the album was a hit and went on to define rap of that decade. I always enjoyed the track Shorty Wanna Be a Thug but never gave it much thought. In 2006 I finally listened to Late Registration, the sophomore album from Kanye West and immediately I recognized the sample as the same one from the aforementioned Tupac Shakur track.
Crawford Wrote the Score
Finally sitting down to write this blog I started researching the tracks to see if I could find the original song (it only took me 1.5 years). Unfortunately my search was complicated by the fact that my mp3 rips were misnamed which led me down the wrong path. A mistake I didn’t realize until after publishing this entry. Fortunately a Google search revealed a blogger entry on this exact subject; I even found out about a remix of the track which I enjoyed a lot. Suffice to say that if this person and I were to meet, we would have a little something in common. It turns out in 1973 Hank Crawford wrote the song called Wildflower which served as an inspiration for music on these Rap singles from Kanye and Tupac.
Inspiration
I figure Tupac was a Hank Crawford fan, or was it the producer of the track, Johnny J, who was a Hank fan? Was Kanye a fan of Crawford jazz tracks because of the Tupac song? I don’t know for sure, but this certainly illustrates why I continue to enjoy Rap and Hip-Hop music. The collaborations and samples serve to create new takes on existing ideas and Hip-Hop has proven to be the music genre flexible enough to embrace this type of creativity. Certainly everyone wants to have unique ideas but we can not help but be influenced by those before us. In music often these remixes almost perfect or hone the originals, at the least giving old tunes new life.
Sonic Evidence
Though my work is not of the same ilk as any of these artists, I created a track that includes samples from all these songs to show you what I heard. I used Garage Band to mix the tracks and ITunes compress the Garage Band aif format to smallish vbrmp3. The track below, tupac-kanye-crawford, is cut by the order in which I heard them in my life.
tupac-kanye-crawford
July 16th, 2007 at 10:56 am
I nearly broke a tear on the “Inspiration” section. That was really deep. I think you’re a good writer. What I like about your entry is that it’s very personal and I felt that it was.
I wasn’t a Tupac fan when “All Eyes on Me” came out (east coast / west coast war) but I did get to listen to his music when all the smoke cleared (literally) and feel the guy was waaaaaaaay ahead of his time. I think his music still stands strong today compared to the trash that is coming out. I wouldn’t be surprised if Tupac was a Hank Crawford fan because he did go to a high school for the arts. The interesting thing about Tupac was that many, many people didn’t know anything about the guy but what was given to them by the lovely media. There’s a great documentary on his life called “Tupac Resurrection”. If you haven’t seen it, it is definitely a must own. I think it won an Oscar too.
Kanye is an interesting character. Like Tupac, I think he’s a good guy but went through something that tipped him over the edge. What I like about him is that he’s really into making music. You know there are some guys out there that just makes beat and maybe raps over it and calls it a day. Not Kanye. Late Registration told me exactly who or what Kanye was. I wouldn’t be surprised if he wanted to just release the album with no vocals. I can definitely see him as a Crawford fan, whether it’s because of Tupac, I’m not sure either but I wouldn’t be surprised.
You are definitely right about the creativity of rap music (at least I agree with you). Like rap, a couple of my stories are based off of someone else’s work whether it be a story or a song. I like to look at a story and say “Wow, that was great! Now what would happen if…”
I don’t think anyone would argue that Tupac is the Bob Marley of rap, Kanye West in my eyes is the one to replace Dr. Dre, and Hank Crawford… I guess I’ll have to listen to some of his music now.
July 16th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
I mentioned the producer, Johnny J, because it’s something you have to think about. Many people don’t realize that in rap, hip-hop and even pop, the producer of the track has more to do with its feel than the artist. It’s like in country music where many artists only sing, rarely play instruments and almost never write their own songs; the writer is really the person you should follow if you like the song.
I always envisioned Tupac as more of a battle rapper who could just pour out lyrics to anything. Kanye produces most of his stuff, which doesn’t necessarily mean he is better, just a different approach.
James I know you dislike Justin Timberlake, but someone the other day was praising his music on his latest album. I was listening patiently and then mentioned that Timberland actually created the music… it went over his head. There is a lot more depth in music than most people realize, I guess that is why there will always be Pop.
October 7th, 2007 at 3:39 am
Hey! Interesting insight into Kanye and Tupac enjoy Crawford Jazz. I have often thought about this myself. I think listen to rap music is somewhat related. On Sunday I have the day off, so will look more into it.