Through the Wire

On October 23, 2002, Kanye West fell asleep at the wheel after a late studio session in Los Angeles. The resulting crash shattered his jaw in three places. Doctors wired his mouth shut. Two weeks later, still unable to chew solid food, West stood in a recording booth at The Record Plant and rapped the verses of what would become his debut single. The wires holding his jaw together gave the song its title and its central metaphor.

The track samples Chaka Khan's 1985 R&B ballad "Through the Fire," sped up and pitch-shifted into what became a signature chipmunk soul production. West wrote the lyrics from a hospital bed at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, mixing dark humor with vivid details: the jaws that "couldn't move" when he tried to talk, the nurse's reaction, the dream of a rap career that almost ended. He recorded the vocals in one take, the wires still in place, his delivery strained but clear.

Released September 30, 2003 on Roc-A-Fella and Def Jam, the single preceded West's debut album The College Dropout by five months. It peaked at number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Solo Performance in 2005. The self-financed music video, directed by Coodie & Chike, won Video of the Year at the Source Hip Hop Awards. The song established West as a solo artist with a story that could not be ignored. [edit]