Crack Music

"Crack Music" is a song by American hip hop artist Kanye West from his second studio album Late Registration (2005), which features fellow rapper The Game. rapped over the song's beat on his 2008 track "Jet Muzik".
The lyrics "That's that crack music ni**a/That real black music ni**" were quoted but changed slightly in PackFM's 2006 song "Nigga Pass" - the changes were replacing 'That's' with 'It's' in the first line and 'That' with 'The' in the second. CJ Fly sampled the acapella of "That's that crack music" in his 2013 song "Still The Motto".
Background
Within the same year that the "Crack Music" featuring album Late Registration was released, West produced Game's single "Dreams". In "Crack Music", West raps: "Who gave Saddam anthrax?/George Bush got the answers", which was coincidentally very shortly before his controversial comments about George Bush.
It was revealed that he originally tried to make it without any usage of the n-word.
Composition
The track samples drums from 1969 song "It's Your Thing" by Cold Grits. As well as this, a riff is sampled in it from 1977 track "Since You Came Into My Life" by "The New York Community Choir".
Critical reception
felt positively towards the song, described it as: 'a blustery martial stomp' and complementing 'its soaring choir and biblically extended outro'. Rolling Stone viewed "Crack Music" as showcasing West's 'hard-ass politics'.
When listing the 25 best Kanye verses of all time, ranked the first verse at number 22.
Live performances
On West's 2006 Late Orchestration, a live rendition of the song was featured on it.
Legacy
When publishing an incomplete list of times that the rapper had shown political views throughout the history of his career, paid reference to lyrics from "Crack Music". referenced it with praise when publishing an article about how we no longer see West 'boosting the self-esteem of black folks'.
Personnel
Information taken from Late Registration liner notes.
*Songwriters: Kanye West, Willard Meeks, Jayceon Taylor
*Producers: Kanye West, Jon Brion
*Recorders: Anthony Kilhoffer, Andrew Dawson, Brian Sumner
*Mixer: Andrew Dawson
*Assistant Engineers: Richard Reitz, Matt Green
*Additional vocals: Tony "Penafire" Williams, Keyshia Cole, Charlie Wilson
Alternative versions
Remix
On Game's 2005 mixtape Ghost Unit, a remix of "Crack Music" was released which had him as the lead artist and West as the featured one.
Poetry Style
When West released his 2007 mixtape Freshmen Adjustment 3, a poetry version of the track was included on it - this featured him delivering the entirety of it in spoken word.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu