Kanye West's 10 Greatest Samples Of All-Time
8. Woods – Bon Iver
Taking an almost acapella song and using it as the basis for a hip-hop classic is no easy feat, but My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’s penultimate track, Lost in the World, managed to do just this using Bon Iver’s 2009 song Woods.
Featuring both the sample and back-up vocals from Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, the track perfectly marries Bon Iver's atmospheric original with West's characteristically heavily auto-tuned flow to produce something far better than the sum of their parts.
The song's lyrics, which West originally wrote as a poem for his then-future wife Kim Kardashian, expand on the feelings of alienation found in Vernon's original lyricism and lead to a state of total symbiosis between the two tracks.
Upon its release, the track received almost unanimous praise from audiences and critics alike, with many considering it to be My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy's crowning jewel.
The song's legacy also acts as a perfect case study of West's influence on others. Following their collaboration with West, Bon Iver drastically changed their sound for their 2016 album 22, A Million and began experimenting with sampling and making extensive use of auto-tune.