There’s a famous line in one of Timbaland’s songs that goes as follows: “I’m a real producer, and you just a piano man.”
The line refers to Scott Storch, with whom Timbaland had fallen out with over credits on Justin Timberlake’s ‘Cry Me A River.’ Timbaland is implying that he’s the one behind the success of the song, while Storch just played a few keys on the piano.
This may seem like a strange way to introduce an article about Kanye West, but there’s a reason. Before Kanye became one of the most recognisable figures in pop culture today, like Timbaland, he was a producer.
He worked with artists such as Jay-Z and had success producing his album, The Blueprint, which revitalised Jay’s career. Today, it may seem like it was inevitable that Kanye would become one of the most successful artists of the 21st century. The truth is that it was far from certain.
Kanye had to fight to become more than just a producer, to paraphrase Timbaland’s lyrics. He was rejected by multiple record companies before Roc-A-Fella records signed him up to a deal. Things could have turned out differently for Kanye.
Kanye isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. He’s a polarising figure. Still, whether you like him or hate him, there’s a lot you can learn from his life. Kanye has struggled to get his voice heard, been involved in multiple controversies and procured multiple best-selling albums.
Success is never guaranteed for anyone, and Kanye’s no exception. Before he released his first album, I doubt many of the executives at the record labels that rejected him would have said he’d become one of the biggest selling artists of the 21st century. If he had suggested the idea, I think most people would have laughed in his face.
Kanye who?
Well, he’s the one who had the last laugh. Kanye may appear to be an odd figure to take life lessons from, but you’d be surprised how much can learn from his success and missteps.
Don’t be afraid to experiment
When Kanye burst onto the scene with the release of his first album, The College Dropout, it had a distinctive soul feel to it, while sampling numerous R&B records. It was different from the mainstream rap at the time, which was exemplified by the likes of Eminem and Snoop Dogg.
While his second album, Late Registration, didn’t represent a notable break with his first album, his subsequent albums did. As you progress through Kanye’s albums, you can see how he became bolder and decided to experiment more and more.
This is perhaps best exemplified by his fourth album, 808s & Heartbreak. It’s completely different from any of his other albums and is a significant departure from the tone and lyrics you’ll find in any other music he wrote.
The album was written in response to several difficult events that Kanye had experienced following the release of his third album, Graduation. Instead of reverting to type, he decided to express his anguish in a different way, using auto-tune, electric sound and limited use of rapping.
Kanye expressed the change by stating, “melodies that were in me, what was in me I couldn’t stop.” When he felt like he needed to try something different, Kanye wasn’t afraid to experiment. The result was what I consider to be one of his best albums.
If you’re a creative, and even if you’re not, experimentation is important. If you keeping pumping out the same sounds, the same articles, or the same types of painting, soon, your work will lose its originality and become stale.
It’s important to reach beyond your comfort zone and try something different. Life becomes boring fast when we settle into a routine and do the same things over and over. Experimenting and changing things once in a while is a good way to keep you on your toes instead of settling into monotony.
Check your ego at the door
Controversy has followed Kanye around for as long as he’s been in the public eye. Some will say he courts it, others will say it’s the result of the unfair scrutiny he’s placed under.
While both points have their merits, I’m not interested in this debate. What I prefer to do is to look at what lessons I can take from these moments. Arguably, Kanye’s most controversial moment is when he stepped onto the stage at the 2009 VMAs, while Taylor Swift was giving her acceptance speech, after winning the award for best video.
At first, Taylor appeared to think Kanye was coming to congratulate her, but as he began to speak, you can see how uncomfortable she became when Kanye declares that Beyonce had “one of the best videos of all time.” Instead of enjoying the moment, Taylor is left to contemplate what just happened and how to respond after Kanye’s brief appearance.
This isn’t Kanye’s greatest moment, and it’s not his last controversy either. In recent years, he seems to have become more and more outspoken and almost seems to revel in the controversy he creates.
What’s clear from the incident with Taylor is that sometimes it’s best to check your ego at the door. Kanye could have stayed silent instead of jumping on stage and declaring that he felt someone else should have won the award. His ego got the better of him in that situation.
When you let your ego dictate your actions, you become self-absorbed and only think of yourself instead of the impact your actions may have on others. Kanye has previous in this regard, and his mistakes teach us that we should stay humble when we become successful and suck up our pride from time to time.
In the long run, humility trumps pride.
Use adversity to build your success
Before he started working on his first album, Kanye was involved in a car crash in October 2002. He fell asleep at the wheel while driving home from a recording studio in California.
Kanye was left with a shattered jaw after the crash, which had to be wired shut in reconstructive surgery. He was lucky to still be alive given how serious the accident was. Many of us would have been overawed by such an accident, but Kanye used it as inspiration.
Two weeks after the accident, he recorded the composition to ‘Through The Wire’, which detailed his experience after the crash and became the foundation upon which the rest of the album was based.
It would have been easy for Kanye to rest in hospital and recover, but his desire to record music and use his experience as a creative tool drove him onwards.
No matter how much we’d like to, we’ll never eliminate suffering from our lives. It’s always going to be there. Instead of running away from suffering, we should embrace it. We should use these moments as teachable moments, rather than wallow in pity.
Kanye used his experience to set the foundation for his first album. When I had a similar experience after getting hit by a car while cycling home from work, I used it as motivation to take control of my life, quit my job and go backpacking.
The bottom line is that none of us will be free of adversity. How we react to it defines our lives. We can let it consume and overperform us, or we can accept what’s happened and use it as fuel to better ourselves.
Don’t let the expectations of others hold you back
Before Kanye became the megastar that his known as today, he was a producer. He worked with Jay-Z, Ludacris and Alicia Keys among others. His success in working with these artists led him to become an in-demand producer.
But Kanye was not satisfied. He aspired to become a rapper, something which he had been working on long before he became a producer. There was just one problem, most record companies ignored him because he did not match the image of the mainstream rappers of the time.
A lot of us would have been tempted to call it a day in light of the rejections, but Kanye persisted. Eventually, he signed a deal with Roc-A-Fella records. The main reason the company signed him was to stop other record labels signing Kanye. A fact confirmed by Jay-Z years later.
Often, it’s our own expectations that cause us grief, but sometimes, it’s the expectations of others that can hold us back. In this case, it was the belief of many record labels that Kanye wouldn’t cut it.
With hindsight, it’s easy to dismiss considering Kanye’s success, but hindsight is 20–20 for a reason. In the moment, would many of us had taken a punt on a renowned producer, in the hope that he would become the next big thing?
I doubt it.
What Kanye did was to believe in himself regardless. He didn’t let others expectations of him to dictate how he behaved or what he thought he could accomplish. This attitude has led to some of the controversies that Kanye was involved in down the years, but if you don’t take it to the extreme, this approach can pay dividends.
Don’t let your life be determined by the beliefs of others. If you believe you can achieve something go for it. Sure, you might not succeed, but if you don’t give it a shot you’ll never know.
We miss all of the shots we don’t take, but even if you sink one out of ten, that one could lead to great things.
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