Kanye West hooks up with Daft Punk!
Kanye West has embraced the dancefloor.
In an extraordinary move, America's premier hip-hop uber-producer Kanye West has been bitten by the house bug and hooked up with Daft Punk to crank out an electro disco cut entitled 'Stronger'.
DJMag cornered him in Las Vegas at the weekend, quizzing him on his upbringing in Chicago and whether the city's house music scene has ever been an influence. He enigmatically hinted at a new house-style tune in his repertoire.
"The next single I'm dropping really has a house feel," Kanye revealed. "It has a four four beat, one half of the song has, and the other half is my type of drums so I mixed it up. You'll definitely see that influence on it."
DJMag had a chance to check out the track at an exclusive Kanye West live performance, which was part of Heineken's Thirst Studio Global Sessions contest. Taking place in Vegas over the bank holiday weekend, the competition set out to determine the best new producers on the planet.
As a hugely successful and original producer himself, Kanye was asked to appear live, and didn't disappoint, with a truly electrifying and charismatic performance in which he dropped 'Stronger' - the track busting out of the speakers like a particularly virulent strain of Ed Banger electro filth and classic hip-hop.
Tentatively scheduled for release on 1st June, 'Stronger' will be the first single from West's forthcoming 'Graduation' album - the final part of his college-related trilogy after 'The College Dropout' and 'Late Registration'. It samples heavily from Daft Punk's classic track 'Harder Better Faster Stronger', from their sophomore LP 'Discovery'.
Daft Punk have given their blessing to West's use of the track, with the funky cyborgs even appearing alongside the rapper in his forthcoming video, fully decked out in those distinctive helmets. The hook-up certainly bodes well for more electro and house collaborations between rappers and dancefloor producers in the future.
Stay tuned for a full review of the highlights of the Heineken Thirst Studio Global Sessions weekend, coming soon.