Man, I cannot wait!  In less than two weeks, Kanye West’s new album Graduation will be in stores!  Lately I’ve been Diggin’ In The Crates, looking for samples that Kanye’s used in his songs.  There are a ton!  We all know Mr. West is the sample king; he relies on them heavily to create his beats.  I ain’t hatin’ though, cuz he really switches it up and brings new life to these old classics.

I didn’t want to flood this post with all his samples, so I just picked a select few for now for everyone to get a taste.  So this will be part one of the never-ending list of Kanye West samples. I picked songs from Mos Def, Jay-Z, Twista, Alicia Keys, Scarface, Talib Kweli, and Kanye West himself.

If there are any specific songs you wish to know the sample for and you want to see it up here, let me know in the comments and I’ll try to track it down and include it in the next series.  For now… happy diggin’!

Edit (07/19/2008): Check out our latest Kanye West samples collection!

Sample:

Norman Conners: Invitation

Used in:

Mos Def: Brown Sugar (Fine)

Sample:

Daft Punk: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Used in:

Kanye West: Stronger

Sample:

John Holt: I Will

Used in:

Jay-Z: Encore

Sample:

Lenny Williams: Cause I Love You

Used in:

Twista: Overnight Celebrity

Sample:

Marvin Gaye: Distant Lover

Used in:

Kanye West: Spaceship

Sample:

Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes: Miss You

Used in:

Jay-Z: This Can’t Be Life

Sample:

Lauryn Hill: Mystery of Iniquity

Used in:

Kanye West: All Falls Down

Sample:

The Main Ingredient: Let Me Prove My Love To You

Used in:

Alicia Keys: You Don’t Know My Name

Sample:

Luther Vandross: A House Is Not A Home

Used in:

Twista: Slow Jamz

Sample:

The Originals: Sunrise

Used in:

Scarface: Guess Who’s Back

Sample:

Nina Simone: Sinnerman

Used in:

Talib Kweli: Get By

Sample:

Bloodstone: I’m Just Doing My Job

Used in:

T.I.: Doin’ My Job