He’s featured on the track “Spaceship” on The College Dropout and was later signed to West’s GOOD Music label.Ĭharles “88 Keys” Njapa: During West’s early years in New York, the rapper and producer was a close friend and collaborator of his in the film, he appears at an early listening session in West’s home. Tarrey Torae: The singer from Chicago is featured prominently on the track “Family Business” on The College Dropout, the lyrics of which are inspired by her anecdotes about her own family in the documentary, there’s a clip of her doing an early recording of the song at West’s apartment.Ĭonsequence: The Queens rapper and music executive, who is also the cousin of A Tribe Called Quest‘s Q-Tip, was a close friend of West’s after he moved to New York, often socializing with him at his Newark apartment, as seen in the documentary. ” More from music history: during a studio session for the album, Ivy came up with John Legend’s stage name.
![mos def the ecstatic shirt mos def the ecstatic shirt](https://cdn.trendhunterstatic.com/phpthumbnails/10/10353/10353_1_800.jpeg)
He found camaraderie with West as a fellow Chicagoan and creative in New York during the early aughts, and he eventually co-wrote and performed alongside West on the College Dropout track “Never Let Me Down. Ivy is the lead writer for Jeen-Yuhs, but he’s also featured prominently in the documentary. Later, he became the longtime A&R for West’s GOOD Music label. While Lewis and West were both from Chicago, they didn’t strike up a friendship until they were in New York City in Jeen-Yuhs, Lewis can be seen working on the track “Two Words” at the makeshift studio in West’s Newark apartment. Greg “OlSkool Ice-Gre” Lewis: The rapper and music executive met West when he bought a beat from the producer for his band, Abstract Mindstate. apartment, during an informal hang with other Chicago natives. In the documentary, he bests West in a spirited game of pool at West’s Newark, N.J. JB Marshall: Now a manager and music executive, JB, also from Chicago, was a close friend of West’s during his early days in New York. In a particularly moving scene in the documentary, Mos Def and West perform an a cappella rendition of what later becomes the track “Two Words” on the album. Although West did not receive a record deal with Rawkus, both Talib Kweli and Mos Def appeared on tracks on The College Dropout. Talib Kweli and Mos Def: The rappers, who rose to prominence as the hip-hop duo Black Star, were both early supporters and collaborators of West’s, advocating for him to get signed to Rawkus Records, the conscious hip-hop label they worked with. Jay-Z has since appeared on four of West’s 10 studio albums, including his most recent release, Donda, and the duo paired up for Watch the Throne, a collaborative album. This marked the start of a long and fruitful creative partnership and a complex friendship.
![mos def the ecstatic shirt mos def the ecstatic shirt](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61PpmFKUKsL._AC_UX569_.jpg)
As the co-founder of Roc-A-Fella Records and the biggest name in rap during the late ’90s and early aughts, Jay helped give West his big break as a producer when West produced the song “This Can’t Be Life” for his 2000 album The Dynasty: Roc La Familia. Jay-Z: The rapper, songwriter, music executive, and entrepreneur played a huge role in West’s rise in the rap industry. Mase and Harlem World: Rapper and pastor Mase, formerly signed to Sean Combs’ Bad Boy Records, and the hip-hop group he founded, appear in the documentary alongside West in an interview with Simmons for the Chicago hip-hop program Channel Zero while at a 1998 birthday party for producer Jermaine Dupri. Here’s a rundown of every celebrity and industry cameo (in order of appearance) in parts 1 and 2 of Jeen-Yuhs. And West wasn’t the only person in the scene whose star was on the rise in Jeen-Yuhs, a young (and then-up-and-coming) John Legend is seen working on West’s iconic debut album The College Dropout, while Jamie Foxx is seen recording his feature on the song “Slow Jamz” off the same album, ahead of his Oscar win for Ray. The film highlights many of the connections that West made during his early years as an artist people who became close friends, collaborators and creative partners who helped shape his musical legacy-and vice versa.
#MOS DEF THE ECSTATIC SHIRT FULL#
It’s no surprise, then, that Jeen-Yuhs-for which filmmakers Coodie Simmons and Chike Ozah followed West for more than 20 years-is full of familiar faces.