Kanye West's 10 Greatest Samples Of All-Time
4. Through The Fire – Chaka Khan
When it comes to integrating a sample with your new composition, it is usually extremely inadvisable to name your song using a pun involving the sample’s original title. However, for his debut single, 2003's Through the Wire, West chose to ignore this advice and in doing so produced one of the decade's best hip-hop records.
The song, which samples Chaka Khan's 1984 single Through the Fire, told the harrowing, and often comedic, story of West's 2002 near-fatal car accident. The 'wire' is, of course, a reference to West rapping the entire song from his hospital bed with his jaw wired shut, a process which he began just 3 days after the accident.
Upon its release, the single was well received by audiences and critics alike and is widely credited for launching West's transition from producer to hip-hop icon.
The song even received a nomination for Best Rap Solo Performance at the 2005 Grammy Awards, but ultimately lost to Jay-Z's 99 Problems.
However, despite the song's success and the renewed attention it brought, Khan herself has recently revealed herself to not be a fan of the pitch-shifted chorus.
When discussing the song in a 2019 interview on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, she called the chorus "stupid" and stated she would have said refused the sample request if she'd known.