10 Greatest Debut Singles Of All Time

Perhaps we should have seen the last 5 years of the artist formerly known as Kanye West’s public persona coming. After all, this was the guy who had his jaw wired shut after a horrific car accident left it fractured in three places, and it still couldn’t shut him up.

In fact, it provided the inspiration for his debut solo single, which he recorded with the muzzling frame still in place. The difference is that in 2004 both the music and his message were nourishing and utterly joyous.

Beginning with Ye slurring “they can't stop me from rappin', can they?” before the Chaka Khan sample lifts this into the stratosphere. Kanye, never the virtuoso rapper his contemporaries were, instead turns to utter, blinding sincerity for impact. Confronting his brush with mortality without flinching along unforgettable lines like “How do you console my mom or give her light support / Telling her her son's on life support?”

Even the typical Kanye clunkers are there for all to see (see the cringe-worthy “blood clots” line for proof), but it works when you have a song as honest as this one. Ye himself might have learned all the wrong lessons over time, but Through The Wire is an opening salvo loaded with mythology, emotional weight, and most importantly of all, one hell of a beat.