Music

'School Prep': Matching Kanye West's Very Good 1997 Beat Tape With Classic 1997 Rap Verses

What if your favorite '90s rappers flowed over Kanye West's recently leaked 1997 beat tape?

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Complex Original

Remember the Kanye West beat tape that leaked last week? Super rare, sample-heavy beats from Yeezus back when he was just a mortal man, circa '97. And, unsurprisingly, the instrumentals are fire, a perfect mix of boom-bap sounds to play when you're in a throwback vibe. But what about when you're in the mood for something more than instrumentals? A couple of these beats ended up getting placed, but what if Kanye was already Kanye—the superproducer chef serving to the A-listers—when he made them? Welp, we took the what-ifs and turned them into a straight up fire mash-up. Some of your favorite 1997 rappers and their most classic 1997 verses over Yeezy's 1997 beats. What more could you ask for?

Enjoy Biggie, Busta, Bone Thugs, and more over 'Ye's lost beats in our mix below, via DJ Gosteffects—call it School Prep. Thank us later.

The Notorious B.I.G. "Hypnotize" (Beat 1)
Busta Rhymes "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See" (Beat 5)
The Notorious B.I.G. — "Sky's the Limit" (Beat 6)
Puff Daddy f/ Notorious B.I.G., the LOX, and Lil’ Kim — "All About the Benjamins" (Beat 7)
Will Smith "Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It" (Beat 4)
Capone-N-Norega "T.O.N.Y. (Top of New York)" (Beat 2)
Bone Thugs-n-Harmony "Look Into My Eyes" (Beat 3)
Camp Lo "Luchini (This Is It)" (Beat 8)

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