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The Verge Compiles "A Listenable History Of Kanye West Samples"

Lenny Kravitz, Grace Jones, Lauryn Hill, Lion Babe, Thundercat, SZA & More Rock The Afropunk Festival 2015 in Brooklyn, NY.

Kanye West's production prowess is almost never debatable. Whether reimagining crucial soul offerings like Jimmy Castor's "I Just Wanna Stop" as his own "We Don't Care" or tailor-fitting Curtis Mayfield's battle-cries from "If There's Hell Below" as punctuation for his powerful breakthrough single "Jesus Walks," Ye rarely disappoints behind the boards. So when the formidable tech site The Verge makes it their nerdy duty to compile those decades of reference material into one extended-play list, we're all ears.

With a mere glance at the list, we find that it comprehensively tracks the progression of his sampling pallet, ranging from the vintage to the nuanced, the choice funk cuts of College Dropout and Late Registration to the electrified new-age rockers of 808s & Heartbreaks and his most recent Yeezus piece. Oh and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, a beast all its own. Now if we could just get them to put the same treatment to say J Dilla, DJ Premier or Pete Rock's massive catalogues, we'd really have something here. Go ahead and geek out with a laundry list of Kanye's righteous sample-work, just be sure to head over to The Verge for some added liner notes.