Features

Collaborative Album

Watch the Throne

JAY-Z & Kanye West · 2011

8 tracks

A luxury rap landmark. Ye and Hov traded verses over massive, maximalist production — the album that defined excess-as-art and spawned a world tour.

Collaborative Album

Kids See Ghosts

Kids See Ghosts (Kanye West & Kid Cudi) · 2018

7 tracks

Seven tracks of psychedelic rap therapy. Kanye and Cudi confronted mental health and mortality over warped, spiritual production — a career-defining collab album.

Released during Kanye's public dispute with Pete Davidson, the song's provocative lyrics and music video — depicting Davidson's claymation figure being buried — sparked significant controversy.

A posthumous collaboration with the late XXXTentacion, produced by Ye. A surprisingly gentle, introspective track about love and regret that stood apart from the rest of Donda 2.

Kanye co-produced this No. 1 debuting Billboard Hot 100 smash for Travis Scott. The eerie, minimalist production showcased Ye's ability to adapt his sound to the psychedelic trap era.

Kanye opens with an off-the-wall bar about 'shooting at the sunrise' and produces the blown-out, bass-heavy opener alongside Cudi. Pusha T's cameo is sharp and unexpected.

Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) delivers a show-stealing verse on this frenetic, high-energy cut. Kanye's production weaves together distorted guitars and vintage soul samples.

A Louis Prima sample gets flipped into something uncanny and existential. Kanye raps about self-discovery and the surreal while Cudi's production is at its most experimental.

A direct sequel to 'Ghost Town' from Ye, this soaring closer sees Kanye and Cudi rapping and singing about liberation and transcendence over massive, distorted rock production.

The emotional centerpiece of the album — Cudi's melodic hook about finding peace carries the track, while Kanye's verse about self-redemption is among his most earnest in years.

The title track leans into psychedelic rap, sampling Arthur Verocai and building into a triumphant, layered finale. It encapsulates the album's themes of mental resilience and artistic freedom.

The haunting closer samples Kurt Cobain's 'Burn the Rain' and ends the album on a raw note about gun violence and addiction. Kanye's production is stripped and confrontational.

Kanye co-produced this No. 1 hit for French Montana, demonstrating his ability to craft commercially dominant trap-era production. The atmospheric beat was one of the year's most-played records.

Ye delivered a standout verse during the Pablo era over ScHoolboy Q's menacing production. The collaboration felt organic — two artists at the top of their respective creative runs.

An original version of this Drake track featured full verses from both JAY-Z and Kanye West — the commercial release stripped them, making the original a sought-after deep cut. Kanye's verse was characteristically unpredictable.

An unlikely triumvirate — Rihanna, Kanye West, and Paul McCartney — stripped everything back to acoustic guitar and three voices. The minimalism was radical for all three artists at that point.

Over gospel-inflected, orchestral production, Kanye delivers a verse exploring faith and ego — themes he would fully explore on Yeezus and later DONDA. One of the stronger features from his mid-decade output.

Kanye co-produced this fan-favourite A$AP Rocky cut, lending it the dark, grandiose texture that defined his Yeezus-era production work. The instrumental alone is considered a highlight of Rocky's discography.

Kanye's absurdist verse ('All I want for my birthday is a big booty ho') became a meme unto itself. The track charted well and remains one of the most quoted Ye guest spots.

The GOOD Music posse cut — produced by Kanye, Lifted, and Lifted — became one of 2012's biggest rap songs. Each artist brought a distinct energy, with Ye's closing verse capping an already stacked track.

Kanye produced this slow-burning banger and rapped the hook alongside JAY-Z and Big Sean. The minimalist Mike Dean-assisted production was widely imitated in the years following its release.

Kanye co-signing Chief Keef during the peak of Chicago's drill era was a pivotal cultural moment. The remix version gave the song national reach and placed Ye in direct conversation with the scene that would define 2010s rap.

Built on an Otis Redding interpolation, the duo traded verses over a stomping, soul-flipping beat Ye produced himself. The music video — featuring a chopped-up Maybach — became an instant cultural moment.

One of the defining rap songs of the 2010s — Ye produced the Hi-Tek-sampling banger and delivered a quotable verse. On the Watch the Throne Tour they performed it back-to-back up to eleven times in a single show.

A philosophical opener about anarchy and religion, with Frank Ocean's haunting hook and Ye's production anchoring JAY-Z and Kanye's contrasting worldviews. Later appeared in The Great Gatsby soundtrack.

A chest-puffing brag-rap cut where both artists flex their taste and influence with disarming humor. Ye produced the track using a Roy Ayers sample.

Built on a Flux Pavilion dubstep drop, this was one of hip-hop's earliest mainstream flirtations with brostep. The production was wildly ahead of its time and baffled critics on release.

Both artists rap letters to their future sons over a Nina Simone-sampling backdrop — emotionally raw amid an otherwise bombastic album. One of Watch the Throne's most vulnerable moments.

Beyoncé elevates this space-themed anthem with one of her most ethereal vocal performances. Kanye's production is appropriately cosmic and cinematic.

A Watch the Throne B-side era cut that blends gospel samples with designer flex lines — quintessentially Ye in its contradictions. Often cited as a standout deep cut from the WTT sessions.

The remix version featuring Kanye topped the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks. His alien-themed verse leaned all-in on the song's sci-fi metaphor and introduced Katy Perry's music to a new audience.

Kid Cudi's hook defined this seven-minute epic, while Raekwon's Wu-Tang cameo added vintage credibility. Kanye produced and delivered one of MBDTF's most politically pointed opening verses.

Rick Ross delivers one of the greatest guest verses in hip-hop history on this soulful Smokey Robinson-sampling track. Ye's production floats between R&B and rap with effortless grace.

Kanye's verse — 'I'm just trying to protect my stature' — came amid the Taylor Swift VMAs fallout and felt self-aware in real time. One of the most high-profile features of his career.

Kanye remixed Beyoncé's confident breakout single, adding a typically grandiose verse that matched the song's energy perfectly. The pairing of two generation-defining artists felt momentous.

A superhero rap showcase — Drake, Ye, Wayne, and Eminem each delivered career verses over a massive, cinematic beat. Eminem's closing verse became one of 2009's most discussed rap moments.

Kanye was part of the production team behind this iconic New York anthem. The sweeping orchestral beat helped JAY-Z deliver what many consider his definitive New York statement.

A massive hip-hop moment where Ye raps movingly about his mother Donda's passing alongside Jeezy's Atlanta trap energy. The track peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100.

An international smash that reached No. 1 in the UK and earned a Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. Kanye's playful, charming verse elevated Estelle's transatlantic pop-soul hit.

Four of rap's biggest names on one track — and it delivered. The song sampled M.I.A.'s 'Paper Planes' and won a Grammy, representing the peak of rap's mid-2000s commercial dominance.

Lil Wayne joined Kanye on this emotionally raw 808s cut, with Wayne delivering a heartbreak verse that matched the album's stark, Auto-Tune-heavy aesthetic. A standout collab from one of rap's most prolific years.

A dream-team hip-hop posse cut assembled by DJ Khaled, bringing together four titans across different eras. Kanye's presence alongside Nas, KRS-One, and Rakim anchored his credibility as a hip-hop purist.

While technically a Kanye solo track, his collaboration with Daft Punk — interpolating 'Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger' — set a precedent for high-art electronic crossovers in hip-hop. Daft Punk received co-writer credits.

A heartfelt, introspective collaboration where both artists reflect on success and family. Kanye's verse is among his most vulnerable from the mid-2000s period.

Kanye guests on this aspirational Nas track, with Chrisette Michele's vocal hook grounding both rappers' ambitious verses. A standout from one of Nas's strongest commercial comebacks.

An early DJ Khaled anthem that helped define his 'posse cut' formula. Kanye's verse is celebratory and brimming with early-career confidence, bookended by John Legend's melodic contribution.

Kanye co-produced and co-wrote this Coldplay track, which samples Kraftwerk's 'Computer Love'. His fingerprint on the song's emotional architecture was Ye's most high-profile crossover production to date.

JAY-Z added a guest verse to Kanye's solo track, turning it into a definitive collab and sparking conversation about blood diamonds. The remix is widely considered superior to the original.

One of Kanye's earliest profile-building features, appearing right as College Dropout was launching. His verse is charming and self-assured, sitting comfortably in Brandy's R&B world.

Kanye produced and appeared on this sleek R&B-rap crossover for Chicago speed-rapper Twista. The Syl Johnson sample and Kanye's cameo verse made it a Chicago homecourt triumph.

While appearing on his own album, this track functioned as a Chicago scene posse cut — with Common and Talib Kweli both delivering career-worthy verses over Ye's exuberant production.

Kanye produced much of John Legend's breakthrough debut, establishing him as a hitmaker for soulful R&B as well as rap. His production fingerprint — warm keys, boom-bap drums — is unmistakable here.

Credited to both Twista and Kanye West, this was the song that simultaneously launched both artists to mainstream fame. Debuting at No. 1, it remains one of the most unexpected chart-toppers of the 2000s.

Kanye's production on this Ludacris smash — flip of 'Peter Piper' — was a multi-week No. 1 hit. The track cemented Kanye as hip-hop's most in-demand producer before his own debut even dropped.

Kanye co-produced this iconic Alicia Keys ballad, sampling the Main Ingredient's 'Let Me Prove My Love to You'. The track reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot R&B chart and became one of Keys' signature songs.

One of Kanye's most menacing early productions — sampling Max Romeo's reggae classic — providing the eerie, bass-heavy backdrop for JAY-Z's meditation on mortality and violence.

Kanye flipped Tupac's 'Me and My Girlfriend' into one of the most romantic rap songs ever made. The track introduced Beyoncé to mainstream rap audiences and helped forge the power couple's public identity.

Kanye's production breakthrough — flipping Jackson 5's 'I Want You Back' into a career-defining hit for JAY-Z. The sample-flip technique here became the blueprint for Kanye's entire early sound.