KanYe West 1997 Beat Tape (KanYe West for president 2020) 

Geez I hope this guy makes it

At 10:06 you can clearly hear that Kanye had sampled an error sound from a Windows operating system that did not exist at the time. This is one of society's best examples of time travel to date.

“Lock yourself in a room doing 5 beats a day for three summers”

Kanye made these when he was like 20 21 years old. They got a picture of him at 16.

I dont think yall realize the ability you needed to craft tracks of this caliber as an entry level producer in 1997....the technology was very limited in comparison to today. He was gifted, dont ever get it twisted

Everyone's saying his beats sound modern....that's because he's shaped the music industry.

This guy should start a career in music he is pretty good

would be amazing if he came back and laid vocals on this 20 years later

Kanye was deadass making extremely good lo-fi music

Mind you, Kanye West cooking these beats up when Radiohead was making OK Computer and Biggie Smalls was still alive.

I wanna hear the 1,395 beats Kanye did over the course of 3 summers

our president is talented AF ngl

Damn Ye was really ahead of his time with that sample at 10:06

Sounds like some Adult Swim bumps from 2001- 2005

Sounds like some stuff I’d hear in the radio of GTA Chinatown Wars

“Kanye do you want your cranberry juice?” Kanye:

Why Kanye always lookin like he chewing on the whole pack on big league chew

When kanye said “👨‍💻” I really felt that

these beats sound like a menu of some ps2 game

This guy is dead ass one of the most inspirational individuals to ever be in the limelight

before it was lofi we called it boombap. a lot of us that started producing in 90's and early 2000's were making this sound. thanks in part to pete rock, large professor, premo, alchemist, stoupe, dilla, beatminerz, and many more NYC greats.

Hm. This kid might have potential.

Who’s here before he blows up 💯

I remember Kanye saying “I miss the old Kanye” in one of his songs. If this is what he’s talking about then damn I miss him to.

5 beats a day for 3 summers

He listened to a ton of Dilla

Imagine thinking Kanye is anything less than a legend

LOFI HIP HOP IS JUST THE GENTRIFICATION OF BOOM BAP

Some kids were expecting a trap beat or some😂

Plot twist: Microsoft sampled kanye for that windows 7 blurb

The beats were mad young but they had that Ye bounce even back then. It sounds just like he was just starting to find his sound a tiny bit. This is historic stuff

0:00 - Beat 1 1:48 - Beat 2 3:12 - Beat 3 4:56 - Beat 4 6:20 - Beat 5 8:16 - Beat 6 9:58 - Beat 7 11:54 - Beat 8

It’s amazing cause you can still hear his distinct sound, it was just more applicable to that time period. Literally he just evolved with the times but carried the same musical principals ... as a fellow producer this is actually inspiring to listen to ✊🏽

I cant stand how a dude who was already making beats like that back in 1997 couldn't being selected as prrsident

I wish he gave nas these beats for his new album

Thank you Kanye, very cool!

first track is sick

Kanye’s beats don’t sound modern, modern beats sound Kanye

"I'm ahead of my time, sometimes years out So the powers that be won't let me get my ideas out"

I wish Kanye still made beats like these.

premeditated murder

I feel like he could record any of these today and they'd still be just as relevant. He has such a concrete and definitive style now that it's so easy to imagine him rapping over these.

Love or hate Kanye, he's spitting straight fax

24/7 chill hip hop lo fi beats to study and relax to 😤

I remember hearing about him when I was in high school back then when I lived in Zion Ill. he was known locally as a cold producer and beat maker and this was in 95'

The pinned take is pretty bad, but it ultimately has some truth to it. Before Kanye started "chipmunking" old soul samples he was pretty much only producing for local Chi artists. It's only when he started pitching up soul samples, that he started producing for bigger artists, and as a result Jay Z and the execs at Roc A took notice. If he never started chipmunking soul samples he probably wouldn't have produced The Blueprint, and he never would have dropped TCD (supported by JAY Z's reluctance to have him leave the label after doing so much on The Blueprint) and as a result would have never become the superstar we know him as today. I don't think he would be "working at a car dealership in Chicago" but he would probably be an in-house producer for a small label. Realistically, Kanye only ever got the chance to rap because he was such a unique producer and Roc A didn't want to lose him. If he wasn't so unique (no chipmunking) he probably wouldn't have been allowed to rap and would had been relegated to a producer and wouldn't have blown up. You have to understand that Kanye didn't appeal to many labels back then. No matter how good he was labels would never sign him as a rapper because he didn't fit the mold of a "hard ghetto rapper" that many labels were after back then. Much in the vain of DMX or Jadakiss (two artists signed around that time.) Roc A didn't want Ye to rap, but they let him out of fear of him leaving. Either way, I'm glad he made it.

Y’all bugging these beats are fire.. especially for 97.. y’all don’t know shit

EVERY TRACK SLAPS GODDAMN

this was teenage kanye. Crazy to see his improvement in just a few years when he produced on blue print. Really inspirational tbh.

1:50 - Grav - City to City 8:25 - Infamous Syndicate - What You Do To Me

has a lo fi feel to it

I'm in a good section of RU-vid

Actually y'all, there's a lot of music we partied to in the late 90s that were Ye', but he didn't get credit. People he trusted to put him on basically took from him and he didn't get any credit, royalties, nothing. Not even a damn shoutout. So, he made his way to Jay and Dame and the rest is history. I always laugh how on Diamonds he said, A/Rs looking like pssh we messed up. Yeah, the whole mid-West messed up. You basically robbed dude and now he making diamonds with his bare hands.

Im here to say that kanye is the new president of united states

So many people seem to be hating on Kanye just because of his political standing. This beat tape is still good regardless of whether or not he supports Trump.

Man the only thing that would make this dude better is some sort of gospel album.

Damn he was born to make those Blueprint tracks, I can hear the early Jay all over these

waitin on him to pin that comment still

For 1997 these beats are fucking FIRE!! Especially since they were never professionally mixed and mastered.

6:34 Kanye radio - music to study / relax to

10:05 windows xp noise

He should release an album with these as his instrumentals.

Dilla influence is heavy

You can tell he listened to a lot of J Dilla's around this time... wish he did it more nowadays

10:07 yoo... windows 10 sound... kanye sampled the future....

0:00 | Beat 1 1:48 | Beat 2 3:12 | Beat 3 4:56 | Beat 4 6:20 | Beat 5 8:16 | Beat 6 9:58 | Beat 7 11:54 | Beat 8

It’s hard to be humble when you make good ass beats like this.

Kanye was making Lo-Fi Beats before it was a thing

He looks like he finna do his signature head bop in that picture

It takes alot of commitment and brain power to master the ASR-10 like Kanye did. I believe it was difficult as a middle class, grade A student to make it in the 90's rap-game, or at least get recognised by A/R's as an up and comming artist. In the 00's his career exploded and his name is now known all over the world. All this from hard work combined with faith and passion for what he loved to do. Now he got in the position to make way for new artists, wich he did. Hats off for Kanye I guess. Disrespecting him would be ignorant.

8:30 beat was the sickest!

Don't let fame and materialism corrupt your gift

My mc picks for the beats Beat 1 - Heltah Skeltah Beat 2 - Raekwon Beat 3 - Joey Badass feat. Rza Beat 4 - Freddie Gibbs Beat 5 - Kendrick Lamar Beat 6 - B-Real and 2pac Beat 7 - Nas Beat 8 - Pusha T and Kanye West

Kanye was really talented, you can tell did he did it with passion. Beat 10:11 does it for me👌🏾

So he used to make lofi chill hop beats?

That fifth beat 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥

I like seeing artists early work like this, and seeing what sticks as they go on. It’s interesting to see that he was using the pitched up soul vocal samples back then. I’m sure he didn’t invent it, but he used it well.

10:06 When you click on the wrong thing on Windows 10.

my uncle got a copy tape and once kanye start making it my uncle stopped playing. its not in a safty box in storage. kanye will for ever be my favorite producer and overall artist. dont believe the media kanye was probably the dopest person i have ever met.

Man I’m feeling these more than a lot of the stuff he’s put out in his career. Someone needs to lace these tracks with dat fire.

Imagine being this guys friend as a kid

Haven't heard this in years. I remember dude was pushing them tapes heavy.

I couldn't name a rapper that pushed himself harder than Kanye did.

6:20 the best one

This man still liking comments after 5 years 👌🙌

Kanye was way ahead of his time.

I've never been a fan of the mans personality but dammit this dude can make some tunes.

1997 KanYe was 20 years old. These beats are DOOOOOOOOOPE.

This is so dang pure. Nutrient!

Thats a Ensoniq ASR-10 in the picture if anyone was wondering. Most likely used that for this beat tape or perhaps a Mirage. Doesn't really sound like an MPC

Amazing! People be actin like this is easy! Genuine and genius works!

An old picture of the next president of the United States

This just makes me feel so bad about my own beat tape xD Nah for real though this is inspiring

Just that beat switch with the piano in 2:58, is why Kanye is one of the best producers ever

He could easily re-use the first beat and be ye all over again

First beat always sends chills down my spine

These beats are pretty amazing. And people diss Kanye and call him untalented. Such an amazing producer. I hear Madlib and dilla in these beats.

This is a lot different than Louis CK's 1997 beat tape.

If you played this for him now, I wonder if he’d remember these beats...

Beat 5 hit different then any other beat on the tracklist