Kanye West and Jay-Z may be at odds with each other now, especially after West’s comments about the Brooklyn native’s kids. But the two seemed to be as close as brothers back in the day, even influencing one another’s music. One famous Jay-Z record, where he goes after an entire sub-genre of music, was actually inspired by West.
Jay-Z once said ‘D.O.A.’ was Kanye West’s idea
Jay-Z made a statement against a growing trend in hip hop back in 2009 with his Death of Autotune song. The record, abbreviated D.O.A., was meant to call out certain artist’s overuse of the software. During its time, the song succeeded in hitting a few nerves. T-Pain confided that he was cut by the harsh lyrics in the song. But the record might not have come to fruition if it wasn’t for West’s influence. In a resurfaced interview with Billboard (via Clash), Jay-Z confided that he didn’t even know what the song would be about until West made a suggestion.
“He actually sparked the idea,” he said. “When he heard the beat he said, ‘Man, this is just so hard! This has to be against everything – no auto-tune, none of that type of stuff!’ He didn’t know what I was going to do or where I was going to take it, but it was actually his fault.”
Ironically, it was noted that autotune was a trend that West helped inspire with his 808s And Heartbreak record. Additionally, West and Jay-Z would apply autotune to the latter’s Blueprint 3 album. But the “99 Problems” rapper and West would later scrub all traces of autotune from the record.
“In hip-hop, our job is once a trend becomes a gimmick, to get rid of it. We’ve done that since the beginning of time,” Jay-Z said. “Now people are using auto-tune even in (fast food chain) Wendy’s commercials, and it’s like, ‘Oh no! That’s has to go!’ It’s become part of main culture. It’s the same thing like when the old lady in Oregon starts saying, ‘Bling, bling.’ It’s like, ‘I’m never saying that again.’”
Kanye West admitted that he received a lot of backlash for using autotune
Before autotune became a trend, West used the software because it inspired him to experiment with his music in a way he never did before. The Donda rapper was well-aware that his use of autotone wasn’t looked at too favorably by everyone. But he reassured that he’d be able to perfect his records thanks to the technology.
“I get a lot of backlash for using [Auto-Tune] because it’s a tool people use when they can’t sing,” West once said according to Music Radar. “What it does for me, if I sing off-key, it really points that out. It points out the bad notes. So what I have to do is sing more perfect.”
In an interview with Hip Hop DX, West further teased what fans could anticipate from him merging autotune with hip hop.
“I created a thing I call ‘Heartbreak,’ that’s like a mixed drink. It’s Auto-Tune meets distortion, with a bit of delay on it and a whole bunch of f***ed up life. And that’s what I call my ‘Heartbreak.’ And that’s what every record basically has,” he said.
“I’m delivering what I feel like is art, and that’s what I want to deliver from this point on. The records I’m doing right now might not have high hats and s*** like everything else has. But when I go out and be listening to shit like Jimi Hendrix and The [Rolling] Stones and Lenny Kravitz, they wouldn’t play no Hip Hop records in the midst of that,” West added.
