{"id":89043,"date":"2015-05-03T23:57:47","date_gmt":"2015-05-03T21:57:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.blackouthiphop.com\/?p=89043"},"modified":"2015-05-03T23:57:47","modified_gmt":"2015-05-03T21:57:47","slug":"kanye-wests-lost-beat-tape-from-2001","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/kanye-wests-lost-beat-tape-from-2001\/","title":{"rendered":"Kanye West&#8217;s Lost Beat Tape From 2001"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"344\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kjnk-ryCk-s\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Before The College Dropout, Kanye West was just another producer trying to climb the industry ladder. The soul samples that define his early work have remained a fan favorite, from \u201cSchool Spirit\u201d to the work he did for Jay Z on The Black Album.<\/p>\n<p>Today, we get an unparalleled look at Kanye\u2019s thought process well before his first album. A writer and musician named Jensen Karp has shared what he describes as Kanye\u2019s first beat tape, a 70-minute mix of instrumentals allegedly created in 2001. Karp apparently came to own the tapes during his time as a signed artist at Interscope, and only rediscovered them while rummaging through the garage:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was stumbling through my garage, searching through old storage bins, when I came across some old beat CDs from my days as a signed Interscope rapper. I was shocked to find that two of them, both given to me in \u201801, had the name Kanye West on them. These two CDs\u2026are the oldest Kanye beats ever released.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think this collection of early Kanye beats shows you where he came from, even if it doesn\u2019t necessarily sound like \u2018Kanye\u2019 now. He kept at it and became the incredible producer he is today. I remember he even had to leave the studio sessions early, so he could make the last train back to his mom\u2019s house. He\u2019s come a long way, and I\u2019m proud to have been around, even if for just a second at the start.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The tape includes the beats for some eventual classics: Talib Kweli\u2019s \u201cGuerrilla Monsoon Rap\u201d appears around 26:15, Mos Def\u2019s \u201cSunshine\u201d surfaces at 41:50, and many more. Listen to the first tape below, and check out <a href=\"http:\/\/www.djbooth.net\/index\/mixtapes\/entry\/kanye-west-beats-disc-1\/\">the second one here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>(via <a href=\"http:\/\/pigeonsandplanes.com\/2015\/04\/listen-to-a-lost-kanye-west-beat-tape-from-2001-2\/?utm_campaign=complexmag+socialflow+05+2015&#038;utm_source=facebook&#038;utm_medium=social\">Complex<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/kanye_2001mix_00.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"89044\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/kanye-wests-lost-beat-tape-from-2001\/kanye_2001mix_00\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/kanye_2001mix_00.jpg?fit=600%2C400&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"600,400\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"kanye\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/kanye_2001mix_00.jpg?fit=540%2C360&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/kanye_2001mix_00.jpg?fit=600%2C400&amp;ssl=1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/kanye_2001mix_00.jpg?fit=640%2C360&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"kanye\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-89044\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/kanye_2001mix_00.jpg?resize=540%2C360&amp;ssl=1 540w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/kanye_2001mix_00.jpg?w=600&amp;ssl=1 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Before The College Dropout, Kanye West was just another producer trying to climb the industry&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pG6fW-nab","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89043\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}