Lyrically , West admits his rapping ability is not as dexterous as peers Jay-Z , Eminem and Nas , so he compensates with subject matter . He elaborates , " the songs offer melody and message . That 's the main goal . I saw it as a simple math project : If I can rap 70 to 80 percent as good as the beats are , I 'll be successful . " West drew influence from mainstream rappers such as Mase and his Roc-A-Fella labelmates Jay-Z and Cam ' ron in conjunction with underground hip-hop artists like Mos Def , Talib Kweli and dead prez . Kanye stated that dead prez in particular helped him discover a style of making " raps with a message sound cool . " West imparts that he 's conscious of the circumstances of his surroundings and strives to speak in an inclusive manner in which groups from different racial and gender backgrounds can comprehend his lyrics , saying he desired to sound " just as ill as Jadakiss and just as understandable as Will Smith . " Asked about his early musical inspirations in 2008 , he named artists such as A Tribe Called Quest , Stevie Wonder , Michael Jackson , George Michael , LL Cool J , Phil Collins and Madonna . Other musicians West has invoked as general inspirations include David Bowie , Miles Davis and Gil-Scott Heron . West was formatively mentored by Chicago producer No I.D. , who introduced him to hip hop production in the early 1990s , allowing a teenage West to sit in on recording sessions . West has cited Wu-Tang Clan producer RZA as a prominent influence on his style . He stated , " Me and my friends talk about this all the time ... We think Wu-Tang had one of the biggest impacts as far as a movement . From slang to style of dress , skits , the samples . Similar to the production style I use , RZA has been doing that . " On his part , RZA has responded favorably to comparisons between him and West . He said , " All good . Kanye West , I got super respect for Kanye . He came up to me about a year or two ago . He gave me mad praising and blessings . He had a lot to say about things I did . " Early in his career , West pioneered a style of hip-hop production dubbed " chipmunk-soul " His method of sampling technique is reminiscent of record production from the 1990s , involving the manipulation of tempo in order to chop and stretch pitched-up samples from soul songs . This is done on an Akai MPC or an Ensoniq ASR-10 and combined with his own instrumentation . West further developed his style on his debut studio album , '' The College Dropout '' ( 2004 ) . On the album , West formed the constitutive elements of his style : intricate hip-hop beats , topical subject matter , and inventive wordplay . His songwriting and vocal delivery places an emphasis on lyricism laden with transformative and slant rhymes , often altering the pronunciations of his words . After a rough version was leaked , West meticulously refined the production , adding string arrangements , gospel choirs , and improved drum programming . The album saw West diverge from the then-dominant gangster persona in hip hop in favor of more diverse , topical lyrical subjects including higher education , materialism , self-consciousness , minimum-wage labor , institutional prejudice , family , sexuality , and his personal struggles in the music industry
institutional prejudice
Institutional racism
Kanye West