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Kanye West is, IMHO, the coolest man on the planet. He samples wantonly and without shame. On Stronger he uses a Daft Punk sample to become the first rapper to ‘do’ house properly…

Kanye West - Stronger (samples Daft Punk)

Kanye West’s performance absolutely made the recent Diana concert. Unlike P Diddy, another rapper/producer who has made a career out of his choice of samples & his ego, his performance was life enhancing, rather than life-sappingly cloying. And the two high points were both based around blatant sampling.First there was his biggest hit to date, Touch The Sky, which is built on a wholesale use of Curtis Mayfield’s Move On Up; then came his new single, Stronger, which is basically him rapping over a sample of Daft Punk’s excellent Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger. Many rappers have tried to ‘do’ house, generally after a life-changing holiday in Ibiza. Generally they have failed. Kanye succeeds.

If you haven’t heard the track already, you really ought to buy Stronger now. It is, to say the least, better & stronger than just about any other mainstream hip hop available right now. I just can’t wait for the next Kanye album. In the meantime, here’s Touch The Sky from his last.

Kanye West - Touch The Sky (samples Move On Up by Curtis Mayfield)

I know that I said that I would be blogging some more about Anthony Wilson and his influence on music. All I can say is that I think he probably liked Kanye, if only for his chutzpah.