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Kanye West · S2 E4
Izzo (H.O.V.A.)
Jackson 5, chopped up. The beat that made Kanye's name in the industry
It is 2001 at Baseline Studios and Kanye drops a needle on The Jackson 5's "I Want You Back," cranks the pitch dial, and presses play. Jay-Z stops mid-conversation and says: "Run that back."
Jay-Z, Izzo (H.O.V.A.) (official music video, 2001). Jay-Z rides Kanye's sped-up Jackson 5 sample through the Marcy Houses in Brooklyn, turning the beat into a celebration of where he came from.
TAP TO REVEAL: Did Jay-Z almost pass on the Izzo beat?
Izzo (H.O.V.A.), Jay-Z (2001)
The sample is The Jackson 5's "I Want You Back" from 1969, one of the most recognizable bass lines in pop history. Kanye pitches the vocal up, turning Michael Jackson's young voice into something hyperactive and euphoric, then anchors the whole thing with a kick drum that hits like a heartbeat. Listen for the way the sped-up "ooh" vocal loops create an almost hypnotic effect, building energy even when Jay-Z pauses between bars.
The Producer Steps Forward
Before Izzo, Kanye is one of several producers feeding beats into Jay-Z's sessions. After Izzo, he's the one everyone in the building is asking about. The song peaks at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100, and for the first time, radio DJs are saying the producer's name on air.
“When Kanye played me that beat, I heard it immediately. The Jackson 5, sped up over those drums. I'd never heard anything like it.”
— Jay-Z, "Decoded," Spiegel & Grau, 2010
Chipmunk Soul
Within a year of Izzo's release, the sped-up soul sample sound is everywhere. Producers across the industry start pitching vintage vocals, chasing the same energy Kanye found on that Jackson 5 record. The technique defines Kanye's early career and shapes The College Dropout, the album he's secretly building while everyone keeps telling him to just stick to making beats.
What song did Kanye sample for "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)"?
I Want You Back, The Jackson 5
The 1969 original that started everything. Listen to Michael Jackson's vocal on the opening bars and the iconic bass line, then imagine it pitched up, looped, and buried under booming drums. That's exactly what Kanye heard when he pulled this record from the crate.
Izzo is on every radio station in America, and every label in New York wants a Kanye beat. But when he walks into those same offices asking for a chance to rap, the answer is always the same: no.
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