"Sky High: A We Got The Remix Special Edition" is a mixtape by Kanye West, DJ Benzi, and Plain Pat. This mixtape is considered official as West knew about the process of recording and posted about it on his blog.[1] As well, Plain Pat is a long-time collaborator of Kanye and did work on other official Kanye mixtapes. The mixtape mainly consists of remixes to Late Registration and Graduation songs. The project was released on November 20, 2008.[2][3]
Background[]
History[]
In 2008 DJ Benzi was creating mixtapes on the internet and was suddenly given the chance of a lifetime. Kanye's manager Plain Pat reached out and asked if Benzi would head up a project to rework Kanye's albums and meld his sound with this new dance/club culture that was just taking off. Benzi jumped at the opportunity and was given access to the stems/files to classic songs such as Flashing Lights, Good Life, and Stronger. Benzi enlisted a group of his friends that included Diplo, A-Track, The Kickdrums, and Nick Catchdubs so they began reworking and remixing.
Benzi hadn't known yet but he was then introduced to two young artists that Kanye West had just signed to his label G.O.O.D. Music and that West wanted to be involved in the project. They were, of course, the now-famous artists Big Sean and Kid Cudi and they went in and recorded new songs just for the mixtape and instantly the project was taken to the next level.
The result of this project garnished around 400,000 plays on the first day of release and even breaking out the website that was hosting it. The updated version was released in January of 2009[4] and the reception was relatively good. Benzi was anxiously waiting for Kanye's approval. He was unsure if he would embrace it at all. Until West posted the mixtape on his then-infamous website with the simple quote "I fuck with this!" It was a huge moment and helped snowball the press coverage, culminating with MTV NEWS covering it as if Kanye West had just dropped an actual new studio album.[5][6]
The tracks are usually different drum/instrumental versions of Kanye songs from 2004-2007 produced by many different producers.[2] The tape has one notable song, titled "Sky High," Sky High was the lead promotional single for the mixtape. Sky High was not a remix and was made specifically for the project. "Sky High" samples some of Kanye's other iconic songs with an original Kid Cudi verse and some original Kanye West vocals.[7] The mixtape had a small CD release.[8]
Blog post[]
On November 20, 2008, Benzi wrote a blog post about the mixtape and the process of making it with Plain Pat. He also tells the audience to go "cop" Kanye's album 808s & Heartbreak.[9]
Track list[]
Trivia[]
- Yassin Bey's first verse on Good Night (Plain Pat Remix) is extended.
References[]
- ↑ https://www.knotoryus.com/articles/archives/2699
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://genius.com/albums/Kanye-west-dj-benzi-and-plain-pat/Sky-high-a-we-got-the-remix-special-edition
- ↑ https://www.certifiedmixtapez.com/Main/Details?refId=947f7370
- ↑ http://metallungies.com/2009/01/dj-benzi-kanye-west-plain-pat-sky-high-mixtape-final-version/
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20160405034437/http://www.mtv.com/news/1599564/new-kanye-west-album-no-not-that-one-hits-the-web/
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153434697562093&id=18515247092&set=a.61060572092
- ↑ https://genius.com/Kanye-west-dj-benzi-and-plain-pat-sky-high-lyrics
- ↑ https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=413403
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20081202064958/http://djbenzi.com/