Home » Everything »Shopping Tracks » Currently Reading:

Kanye West 2001 Beat CD…!?

12 Comments

Apparently someone came across an old Kanye West beat CD that he got way back in 2001.  The first thing that stood out to me is how plain and inconsistent the mixes are.  A lot of the tracks really do sound like Kanye tracks,  just really unpolished and at times horrible Kanye tracks.   Congrats to track #14 for winning the worst beat I’ve ever heard from an established producer.

Now I hope all you up and coming beat makers/producers have the RIGHT reaction to this…

  • Just because your beats are as good as these old ‘Ye beats now, it DOES NOT mean you will improve.  Unless you work for it.  I’m speaking to you, Mr “16 year old producer who thinks because he is young he will get better, but 8 years later is making the same exact tracks”.
  • Just cus his mixes suck, it DOES NOT mean you have the right to shop beats with sucky mixes.  Times have changed in the last ten years…

I actually found an old beat cd of mine from the same era… been thinking about posting it.  It’s horrible.

Head over to DJBooth.net now to have a listen and get the full story…

http://www.djbooth.net/index/mixtapes/entry/kanye-west-beats-disc-1/

Special thanks to Anthony “Scoop” Waweru aka The Mayor/ToneyMays/BlackJesusTheRealOne/TheBeemaster

  • http://www.stretchnyc.blogspot.com StretchNYC

    Yo JB what’s good homie…track 14 isn’t that bad I’ve heard worst, but I agree with your improvement comment. Have you decided on posting some of your old tracks?

    One thing I’ve noticed when I listen to my old tracks is how empty some of them sound, but at the moment of creation the track sound was full.

    Nice Post!

    • http://www.beabetterproducer.com Jim Bond

      Yeah, I’m definitely gonna post that old CD. It’s funny man… And yes, thinking your early beats sound great and then realizing later that they didn’t is pretty much a standard for up and coming producers haha.

  • http://soundcloud.com/theclericofdeath The C.O.D.

    Good find and write up about Kanye’s beat CD. And yeah, I’d be interested in you doing an article on how to create a proper beat CD and posting one of your older ones as well.

    • http://www.beabetterproducer.com Jim Bond

      Thanks. Good idea, even though beat cd’s arent really as useful as they used to be. I’ll definitely post some of my old stuff…

  • CynicVance

    I did my first beat CD using Acid 6.0 and all general midi sounds with a handful of drum audio files I downloaded off the internet. Kanye’s early stuff sounds 100 times better than anything I made starting out, so more power to him. I just wish I had that kind of sample repertoire.

  • http://@mrstraightfire MrStraightFire

    I think you definitely see more the RZA influence on these beats. There was less loop and more chopping “wu style”.

    And ohhhhhh god 14 is so awful. I think it was his first attempt at sample free beat besides the intro.

  • http://thejadedmusician.wordpress.com E.D. Miles

    Yo I feel you on this! I sometimes like to listen to the tracks I made back in 2000 just to see how far I’ve come. I think I’d stop making music if I looked back and realized my new stuff sound like the stuff I made when I first started.

    Yeah that track 14 off that Kanye’s joint is kinda weak, but everybody got a track they not proud of. But why he put it on that beat CD, I don’t know lol!

    • http://www.facebook.com/ Wanita

      I told my grnmaodther how you helped. She said, “bake them a cake!”

  • http://www.soundclick.com/ktek KTEK

    Number 14 was put on the beat cd as a strategy. If every beat you submit is a banga or every beat is sample heavy, or etc… It makes it difficult for the artists to pick out the hottest beats you def want to place. Basically he used an art form called contrast and comparison to make you pay attention to the specific tracks he wanted you to pay attention to. You see, by giving you something horrible to listen to located midways through the cd selection any hot track that played before this track or after this track will jump out at you. Hopefully this will make you (Artist) make a purchase. This strategy allows any producer to present the best of what he has at any point in time and experiment with presentations to close more sales. Ther’s more to this than just making great music, none of us start out great but we have to believe we are great from the start!

    Well that’s my take on the matter. Check out my blog at http://www.thehometek.net or my music at http://www.soundclick.com/ktek

    • http://www.beabetterproducer.com Jim Bond

      Interesting theory and great break down… but I have to disagree with it. Your perception of what is and isn’t a banger is likely going to be biased. So an artist may not feel the same about your bangers. So always go with your best tracks (especially for artists who you don’t have an open door with).

      I think the best way to break up a beat cd is to do it stylistically, not quality wise. I always tried to sequence my beat cd like it was a real album. If I had two loud riot tracks, I’d always put something in between them that was a different style to break things up.

      And for the record, I doubt Ye was thinking that was at the time.

      • http://www.soundclick.com/ktek KTEK

        Thanks for taking the time to answer my reply. I would like to learn more about your technique and possibly have you give me a PRO critique of a few tracks from my beat selection. Your blog is both informative and inspiring; I look forward to more info in the future.

        • http://www.beabetterproducer.com Jim Bond

          Sure. Shoot me some mp3′s… jimbond at beabetterproducer.com





Submit Your Music For FREE!

Secret Beat Submission Update!!!!!!

First off, I’d like to thank all of you who sent in beats for the secret beat submission …

Submit Your Beats To Juelz Santana…

Here is a nice fresh one for everybody…  Juelz Santana put out another call for beats a couple …

Send your beats to Rick Ross…

Rick Ross put a call out for beats.  So get your best maybach music together and send him …

Submit beats to Nicki Minaj…

It seems that the lovely Nicki Minaj is looking for beats.  She has posted up on her twitter …

Send Your Beats To Diggy Simmons…

Diggy Simmons posted this email on his twitter a while back.  Please no cursing in your beats… And …

Send Beats To Styles P…

As any other MC does, Styles P needs beats. He has posted this email numerous times, so I’m …

Submit Music To G-Unit For Free…

Dre McKenzie, head A&R over at G-Unit records, has put out an official open call to all producers, …

Essential Posts

Everything You Need To Know About Clearing Samples!

clearing samples

I’ve been digging through my old gmails trying to figure out which questions I’ve been asked the most over the years.  Questions about if, when and how to clear samples …

How To Find Music Submission Opportunities On Twitter!

send-beats-twitter

Have you ever wanted to know how to find people to send your music to on Twitter?  Look no further.  Through the power of the most powerful search engine in …

How To Write A Production Invoice…

Production Invoice

I got a good question from a reader named Anthony yesterday.  He wanted to know how to write up an invoice for beat sales.   For those of you that don’t …

The OFFICIAL Rules Of Labeling Mp3′s!

rules

I thought it would be a great idea to iron out a simple format, so whenever you send a track to some A&R, artist, manager, etc, you will make it …

The Pros & Cons Of Tagging Your Music.

pros-and-cons

The last few weeks I’ve come across a few discussions online about whether or not you should tag your music when shopping it.  So I figured I’d throw in my …

How To Place Beats: Networking to “Bright Lights Big City”

Jim Jones Hustlers POME

A bunch of people have been asking me how I placed the “Bright Lights Big City” track with Jim Jones. It was pretty easy actually. I Didn’t need a grand scheme or plan (which has worked for me before). I’ll try to make this sound as interesting as possible… but its really not. This is a straight forward example of how real networking pays off.

E-Digging 101… Soulseek Tips & Tricks

soulseek-5161

Soulseek (A peer to peer file sharing program) may very well be the greatest thing in the world for hip hop samples. Here are some tips for power usage on Soulseek…

The Top 10 “REWIND!” Moments In Hip Hop Sample History!

top_10_440

There are times when you are going through some old music & you get hit with a musical moment of perfection that is so great, you go back and listen to it over and over again. We will call this a REWIND moment.

Google+