This is going to be a new series on our blog and Instagram page where we talk about who influenced some of the most prominent artists we have in music today. What better way to start this series off than discuss Kanye West, one of the most popular figures in hip-hop, music, and entertainment as a whole. Like him or not, even the president of the United States today is good friends with him and is apparently helping him with a presidential campaign of his own in 2020. How crazy is that!? Kanye has started out as a producer-first artist who drew most of his influence from rappers like Mase and his Roc-a-Fella counterpart Jay-Z. Now, Kanye’s roots may have started with hardcore rap but he really blew up once he started taking on Hip-Hop and mixing a little bit of everything into his music like soul, house music, indie rock, electronic, bit of dub step, mumble rap, the list really just goes on and on. A Tribe Called Quest, the Wu-Tang Clan, Michael Jackson, David Bowie, and Stevie Wonder are some famous groups and artists that he has specifically thanked for his sound and production. In terms of rock, Kanye’s music has been inspired by bands and artists of this genre as much as hip-hop. Radiohead, The killers, Daft Punk are some of those bands as well as stating how he drew a lot of influence from famous singer/songwriter John Mayer, a true lady killer might I add. Kanye west has drawn from so many popular artists as well as some Japanese animations I forgot to mention like the 1989’s Akira. This just shows how diverse and respectable his influences are. Kanye has also obviously influenced so many different artists over the course of his music career and is undeniably changing the face of music as we know it. Without these artists and groups, the Kanye West we all know and love today in 2019 may not even have existed! For this we thank you Kanye, for revolutionizing the game of music.

Who would you guys want us to talk about next?

Who is Rex Orange County? Well Rex is a new, young, and very talented artist that most people don’t really know by name but could be recognized by his voice in an instant. Rex is an Englishman who’s true name is Alexander O’Connor and he really blew up in America in his terrific inclusion in Tyler the Creator’s hit album Flower Boy. Rex can be heard as the chorus in most of the songs in that album as well as having co-wrote the songs “Boredom” and “Foreword”. Only after hearing these two songs, I immediately searched up all of his work prior to his feature on Flower boy and was so pleasantly surprised that the projects he created on his own, rival the “other artsy, post-genre teen artists” here in America. While Rex doesn’t have a huge library of music to listen to, the songs that he has created have been very enjoyable to us here at Blonded and we couldn’t recommend him any further. Since then, Rex has released a single titled “House” back in February and if you haven’t listened to him yet, this song is a good place to start. Rex creates very laid back music that you can just relax, vibe, mellow out to, or maybe even listen with a special someone. Some interesting facts about Rex is that he actually plays all the instruments in his songs, then records them, and then sings over those recordings. In January of 2018 Rex came in second in the BBC Sound of 2018 award after Norwegian singer Sigrid. Rex Orange County got his stage name from a nickname one of his teacher’s gave him with the OC, after O’Connor.

I hope he releases another project soon. Do you guys listen to Rex Orange County? What do you think of him?

Ah, Drake, What a controversial and influential figure in the music industry. While so many mainstream listeners adore him and feel as if every project he touches can do no wrong, there are also the people who try and stray away from the mainstream and dive deeper into the community. These brave souls either hate drake or like him but are too afraid to actually say something cause most of the hardcore music fans have roasted him to pieces. Our opinion on the artist now has changed since his claim to fame with Thank Me Later in 2010. At first we all thought he was this up and coming rapper who had game and could back it up, but in these recent days it has been revealed that drake had used ghostwriters for most if not all of his projects as well as starting pointless “beef” with other famous artists and kind of just ruining his image. Well, at least for us he was ruined. Besides these setbacks, no one can deny that drake still had impacted the music community and although he had ghostwriters, he had the voice to back himself up. When you think of 2010, every young adult thinks of Drake’s famous single “Headlines.” It was catchy, dope as all hell, and had some pretty meaningful lyrics about being in the spotlight, a very relate-able dream pretty much every listener thinks about. Drake in his golden age had produced Take Care to Nothing Was the Same to If you’re Reading This It’s Too Late all in short stretches in a short amount of time. In these albums, Drake did have a ghostwriter but Drake had a fire and a purpose while making these tracks. These albums are so good because he just goes at anybody who he chooses and he doesn’t seem to care about the consequences. At the time we thought it was cool and granted, it did sound really dope but that’s the reason why the community started to hate him as well as us at Blonded. In the end, all of us here enjoy the old Drake as more of a guilty pleasure and respect the grind and change he brought to this community. What do you guys think of Drake?

Side Note: Drake would have never existed if 808’s didn’t exist so this is more evidence as to why Kanye is such a good artist and genius.