10 wild samples that make Yeezus the most chaotic Kanye West album ever, explained

Yeezus is one of the most experimental and divisive albums by Kanye West, and a lot of its anarchic greatness lies with its untamed, unhinged samples. From the industrial grunge of "Black Skinhead" to the abrasive, atonal textures of "I Am a God," Kanye West expanded what was possible in production in ways people did not anticipate.

Kanye West incorporated everything from psychedelic rock to European minimalism, sampling idiosyncratic sources like the Belgian electro artist Arca, and even a spoken word sample from a 1970s industrial movie.

The aggressive, raw energy of the album is the result of Kanye West's courage to combine genres and sounds that sounded completely incompatible, rendering Yeezus not only a daring statement but a revolutionary musical product that defied the conventions of contemporary rap.

Every song is like a wild ride, cementing Yeezus as Kanye West's most disorderly but forward-thinking album yet. What's more impressive about Yeezus, however, is how Kanye West weaponizes these samples, no longer just ambient textures, but as narrative tools to further his message.

Take "Blood on the Leaves," where he pairs Nina Simone's plaintive. The impact is dizzying, but emotionally moving, a clash of hedonism and history designed to underscore the album's inner tension.

In other places, Kanye West reappropriates Hungarian rock loops, German synth noise, and Caribbean vocal chops into fresh sonic shapes, so the album has the aural feel of a digital battlefield of times and cultures. It's unstructured, to be sure, but orchestrated unstructure, each sample a deliberate brushstroke in Yeezus's painting of dystopia.

Here are 10 wild samples that make Yeezus the most chaotic Kanye West album ever

Kanye West's Yeezus is not an album, it's an aural crash course. Constructed from jagged sounds, jarring shifts, and crazily misplaced samples, it dismantles musical conventions and resews them with a brash, avant-garde spirit. From industrial soundscapes to eerie soul to esoteric international loops, Yeezus feeds on its surprise.

Every track sounds like it's been ripped from another planet and twisted into Kanye West's definition of controlled anarchy. The samples aren't secreted beneath the surface, they're out front, loud, raw, and defiant. What ensues is a sonic rollercoaster that can't be ignored, redefining what sampling can be in contemporary hip-hop.

1) Blood on the Leaves

Blood on the Leaves is one of Yeezus' most gut-wrenching and emotionally intense songs, thanks in large part to its devastating incorporation of Nina Simone's cover of Strange Fruit. Once a hauntingly cold anti-racial-violence protest, Simone's voice is a ghostly apparition singing over pounding horns and nasty trap beats.

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Kanye West contrasts the burden of historical trauma with ideas of love, betrayal, and the poisonousness of fame, and the disquieting tension hangs long after the track fades. The sample isn't merely a background presence; it's the heart of the song, anchoring Kanye's mad soundscape in something horribly human and profoundly real.

2) Bound 2

Bound 2 closes out Yeezus in a surprising and emotive manner, constructed around the retrospective and sentimental sample of Ponderosa Twins Plus One's Bound. Following a record full of grating production and industrial textures, this song is a moment of emotional clarity.

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Kanye West turns the dusty soul sample into a contemporary love ballad, incorporating disorienting cuts, pitch manipulation, and sassy words that toe the line between sincerity and satire. The juxtaposition of the old sample and Kanye West's unbridled, modern expression makes Bound 2 an ideal, unexpected closer, one that secures the album's chaos with a wink and a fierce sort of tenderness.

3) New Slaves

New Slaves borrows its eerie bite from a surprising place: the 1969 Hungarian rock ballad Gyöngyhajú Lány by Omega. Kanye West takes the original's dreamy, mournful mood and reworks it into a harsh, in-your-face anthem. As the song moves from sparse beats to a soaring finale, the sample materializes like a specter from the past, its foreign words and old-school texture lending an otherworldly feel.

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This contrast reflects the song's consumerist and oppressive themes, turning the sample not only into a musical decision but also a poetic one, emphasizing the conflict between beauty and brutality.

4) On Sight

On Sight begins Yeezus with an irate, almost combative atmosphere, but lurking beneath the sound assault lies something softly divine. Kanye West tucks a sample of the peaceful gospel hymn "He'll Give Us What We Really Need" by Holy Name of Mary Choral Family, chopping tranquility into the chaos.

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The gospel break is a brief splash of divinity surrounded by mechanical chaos, yanked away as soon as it materializes. This mathematically calculated whiplash of religious calm and internet fury succinctly sums up what Yeezus is about: contradiction, tension, and disruption.

5) Black Skinhead

In Black Skinhead, Kanye West balances the aggressive ferocity of his production with the otherworldly intensity of Native American chant in a sample of "War Paint" by The Black Lodge Singers. The choir, on the verge of the hypnotic singing, attains a primal resonance that is equally well-suited to complement Kanye's unapologetic, outlaw vocals.

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The sample introduces a ritualistic element of ferocity to make the song an assertive statement of identity and defiance. The blend of old sound and Kanye West's characteristic experimental style elevates the raw, aggressive, and rebellious message of the song, putting "Black Skinhead" among the best singles of Yeezus due to cultural impact and sheer passion.

6) I Am a God

On I Am a God, Kanye West offers an unexpected interpolation of Capleton's Forward Imma Dem Clothes, a track that brings a hot, pyromaniac intensity to Kanye West's exploration of ego and spiritual self-realization. Capleton's tough-guy, reggae-tinged flow enhances Kanye's brash assertion of godhood, synthesizing the spheres of hip-hop and reggae in a dissonant way.

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The sample's furious, almost militant demeanor complements the brashness of Kanye West's lyrics, making the song a wild, but contained, exercise in his larger-than-life ego. The fusion of styles and the raw energy of the sample also fuel the track's fightin' spirit, putting "I Am a God" among Yeezus' most genre-pushing and adventurous moments.

7) Guilt Trip

In Guilt Trip, Kanye West uses Lords of the Underground's Chief Rocka, which gives it a 90s hip-hop feel but with a reflective twist. The funky beat and rapping of the song are often cheerful, and this adds to the feeling of the song. The melancholy of Kanye West's lyrics and the cheekiness of the sample help to create an interesting emotional tension. The sample is often humorous, and it allows listeners to feel nostalgic.

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The sample brings a lighthearted vibe, showcasing Kanye West's ability to combine old influences with new subject matter, so the song feels nostalgic yet new. It's a creative method of incorporating vintage hip-hop to enrich his own story.

8) Send It Up

Send It Up demonstrates Kanye's ability to mix genres, here using a Beenie Man sample from Memories. The reggae-esque song brings a flow to the album, contrasting with the harder tracks on Yeezus. Incorporating a few of his melodic elements and some more experimental drum tracks, Kanye blends dancehall and electronic rhythms to deliver a song that is both catchy and danceable.

The combination of Caribbean beats against Kanye's unique production style makes Send It Up sound like an echo of cultural explosion and the anarchy that still resounds in the spirit of the album.

9) Hold My Liquor

Hold My Liquor is an eerie track on Yeezus that stands out, not only for its powerful emotion but for its unique production. Unlike the rest of the songs on the album, it does not contain any samples from other recordings but was crafted by Kanye West with the help of producers Mike Dean, Arca, and Noah Goldstein.

The haunting backing beats provide the context for the soul-searching lyrics concerning hardship, frailty, and excess. Also contributing to the work's depth is the combined vocal work of Chief Keef and Justin Vernon. Chief Keef's gruff, auto-tuned vocals add dimension to Kanye's tragic verses, while Vernon’s mournful falsetto supplies a certain rawness to the chorus, underlining the song’s message.

The result is a piece that feels equally intimate and grand, well-suited to the chaotic, genre-defying sound of Yeezus.

10) I'm In It

I'm In It by Kanye is a song that really represents his aggressive approach to a blend of music styles. This song starts with Kenny Lattimore's soul ballad "Lately," and it samples it. Kanye West takes the smooth, romantic atmosphere of the original and turns it into something far tougher and more violent.

Kanye layers the sample with waves of screaming, raspy synth lines, staccato snare shots, and even the yowling timbre of a barking dog, evidently aiming to bring dissonance and delicacy to the track.

This sound mayhem is representative of the song's preoccupations with lust, obsession, and domination. The rough, near-sheer collision between the rich, sensuous morsel and the rubs of the throbbing rhythm is a testament to Kanye's ability to extract the familiar into a stripped, nervously new, aggressive sound.

I'm In It is an example of the kinds of risks Kanye is willing to take, predicting dynamics that in record form may not exist to sustain them, but which on stage become an interesting, inflammatory song that tests the limits of hip-hop today.

Yeezus by Kanye is a revolutionary record that tests the boundaries of experimental music and hip-hop, and its sampling contributes to its frantic, uncontainable energy. The record brims with twisted, manipulated, and explosive samples, which are responsible for its grating but irresistible sound. Kanye does not sample for nostalgia or tribute; he reuses and deconstructs sound in a manner that surprises and subverts listeners.

Whether reworking an old song as a dissonant, industrial timbre or using esoteric, unconventional snippets to make his rhymes shine, Yeezus shows Kanye's brilliance at making samples vehicles of protest and self-fashioning. On this record, Kanye reimagines the very definition of sampling in contemporary music to forge a sound world at once as bombastic and revolutionary.