So the next time you hear "Can we get much higher?" on Dark Fantasy (a later album, but the same ethos), remember: that question started with Led Zeppelin, but Kanye West built the elevator.
When you think of Graduation (2007), you probably think of stadium lights, the unmistakable "glow" of Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, and the anthemic thump of "Stronger." So the next time you hear "Can we get much higher
Kanye uses this trick constantly on Graduation . While most producers in the mid-2000s were digging
But beneath the glossy, electronic surface of Kanye West’s third studio album lies a surprising bedrock: the acoustic, blues-based DNA of . Led Zeppelin famously avoided simple major/minor chords
While most producers in the mid-2000s were digging for obscure soul records, Kanye was digging into the riff-rock of the 1970s. By borrowing the chordal logic and melodic phrasing of Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, Kanye didn’t just make a hip-hop album; he made a rock star album. Here is how Zeppelin’s ghost shows up in the music theory of Graduation . Led Zeppelin famously avoided simple major/minor chords. Jimmy Page loved suspended chords (sus2 and sus4)—chords that hang in the air, creating tension before resolving.