Before he was Yeezus, he was Kanye West, a struggling rapper from Chicago with hopes of changing the world with his music. On October 23, 2002, West was in a California recording studio producing music for Beanie Sigel, Peedi Crakk, and The Black Eyed Peas. After leaving the studio at around 3 a.m. in his rented Lexus, he had a near-fatal accident when he was cut off by a car. What happened next in “the same hospital that Biggie Smalls died” created West’s first single and a star was born to the world.
* West wrote and recorded the song with his jaw wired shut after a car accident in October 2002
*The song samples Chaka Khan‘s 1985 single “Through the Fire”
* It peaked at number fifteen on the Billboard Hot 100 and received positive reviews from music critics
*The single was nominated for a 2005 Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance, but lost to Jay-Z‘s “99 Problems”
* The music video was financed by West himself, who conceived ideas from an Adidas advertisement (well, would you look at that?)
*’Through the Wire’ won Video of the Year at the 2004 Source Hip Hop Awards.
Watch the video here: