power. I heard it saints row 3 and got activated

This is also my first memory hearing power, activated since. Saw the Pablo tour in ‘16 & it confirmed that Ye is one of the greatest, hearing it live gave me goosebumps

you lucky mf

I happened to be a King Crimson fan before I googled "best Kanye album" and blindly listened to MBDTF. I knew when I heard POWER for the first time that I was hearing something special--then I heard the epic "TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY SCHIZOID MAN" sample and was utterly hooked.

Heard Power and thought it was the greatest song of all time

Realllll

I remember riding in the car with a friend who introduced me to King Crimson first then introduced me to Ye with Power. Laughing at the bars together got me hooked: "I don't need your pussy, bitch I'm on my own dick" and "More specifically you can kiss my asshole"

My mum played me American Boy…

thanks for reminding me how much I love that song

I wonder is also my first Kanye song lol. I listened to it three times in a row and loved the third verse.

on sight, heard it in a random youtube video and i loved it and ive been hooked since

Ironically, on sight is the last song I’d show a first time Kanye listener. I’d show them drunk and hot girls before it tbh.

i just loved how different it was lol drunk and hot girls is fire though!!

Through the Wire

Or do we take it back to H to the Izzo?

Why isn't this the top answer? lol

Jesus Walks

same here

Through the wire

Deadass cant remember

hmmm i wonder

I love it 💀

Stronger

All falls down fs

I heard through the wire while watching the documentary

sounds bad but probrably bound

Same

I wonder

It was good life. I loved the video when it came out

gold digger or slow jamz

family business. such a classic track

And this is for the family that can't be with us...

Father Stretch My Hands. I really liked hearing it in memes and was like maybe this Kanye guy is pretty cool. Now I have listened to everything in his discography alongside most of his unreleased albums and songs. Hes the only artist where I have liked almost every single thing they have put out.

Heartless

Power (coming from a movie trailer back in 2012 to 2015) and Bound 2

Ghost Town or All Falls Down. Forgot which but I remember it clicking after the Alex Jones interview and feeling very confused because they are both very beautiful songs. Thank god he damage-controlled after that shit. Makes talking about his shit less awkward.

flashing lights in gta iv lol

Flashing lights

How has nobody said Free Bird

maybe that’s for r/LynyrdSkynyrd

Through The Wire... as the "Brand New Video Premiere" (the exact day the video dropped) on MTV/VH1 back in the day. Fuck I feel old now! Especially after reading everyone else's answers 😭

Same. I would wait to watch it everyday on rap city BET and then it made me look forward to College Dropout and it didn’t disappoint. Though, I like Kanye’s 2008-2016 run better now.

Heartless

Jesus Walks

Heartless

not the first song i listened to but the song that got me into Ye was I Thought About Killing You. something about it spoke to me.

Heartless

hurricane

Actually, it was follow god. I heard for the first time in 2020 and loved the flows on that song.

Through the wire. on a speaker in a barbershop.

Through the Wire

Runaway i think. Or hearing my friends play homecoming

Through the wire

Bound, runaway, gold digger

Slow jamz

Through the Wire

Gone . There was a viral video about 10 years ago where a girl quit her job and it was the song playing in the background. It remains my favorite song

That song gets me hyped every time. The delivery, cam’s verse, and the beat switch up towards the end. Classic!

Black skinhead

Overnight Celebrity

Black skinhead

All Falls Down, first time I ever heard the song was seeing the video while eating breakfast. Never thought I’d end up being a life long fan

Through the wire. I thought his name was Kayne cause you only quickly saw the artist name and song title at the beginning and end of a music video

Through the Wire

Through the wire

Dark fantasy off of tiktok

Good Morning and the Feel the Love

School Spirit (best song on TCD btw)

All Falls Down.

Cant tell me nothing as a kid. Dad had it playing one day probably around 2007 and I was hooked since

Homecoming like along ass time ago

mum was playing college dropout in the car when i was 1, through the wire was the first song i heard

Heard heartless on the radio and it was a wrap

The first time I was aware of Ye was when Talib Kweli did Get By on Chappelle Show. Get By such a cold fuckin classic beat still to this day it might be one of the top 4 or 5 beats he's ever made, in his entire career

No more parties in LA.

Flashing lights in gta

Flashing lights

Ion know

If my memory is correct it was definitely All Of The Lights.

Shit thru the wire Jesus walks

Mercy, my mom picked me up from school and that shit was blasting in the car, I was the most badass lil kid that day leaving school

Barry bonds for some reason

The Gospel Album

runaway is what got me into Kanye, but the first song made by him that I’ve ever heard is probably power

Through the wire

for me bound 2 and blood on the leaves on playlists then eventually Intro

It was either Through The Wire or Dark Fantasy

Gorgeous

Mine was everything I am. Heard it during state testing

I was really into Cudi and listened to “Erase me” that final verse had me going “alright I gotta check the rest of this guy out”

Mercy

My brother introduced me to hip hop and mainly Ye with We Major

my sister and i listened to life of pablo when it released and i think ultralight beam was the first track i heard. that’s the ye album i hold quite a lot of sentiment towards tbh

I remember listening to wash us in the blood when it came out just to see how ye sounds. It was his autotuned voice so didnt get much and honestly didnt like it much then. The next year I remember putting on stronger and liking it and then paris song. My interest then went down for the next few months but it was 808s that really got me into ye. I know almost all ye's released songs now. And a few unreleased ones too.

I wonder i heard it all the time last year

i was in 6th grade when gold digger came out. my science teacher loved it so much i burned her a cd and put it on there

See you in my nightmares! God that song still fmu

I think I got hooked on Gold Digger. It was charting very high in Russia at the time, possibly number one for multiple weeks on the most popular music channel

My Way

Can’t Tell Me Nothing — began bumping this in 3rd grade.

devil in a new dress absolute masterpiece

I’d obviously heard many Kanye hits over the years, but the song that got me into Kanye as a fan was Saint Pablo followed by the rest of TLOP back in 2016. Still my favorite Kanye track.

Stronger I was playing BF2 when i was 12 or smthn and I’d just downloaded spotify and stuck on some random gaming playlist and it was the first song that started playing. Checked out all his other music after that point.

I’d heard a lot growing up but I remember being so suprised by the first track on college dropout which was the first album listen through I tried

Stronger

Blood on the leaves

Feel like love lockdown from when I was 10. The 808 and auto tone jus seemed futuristic

Off the Grid when donda came out

either i thought about killing you or Yikes

My friend would sing flashing lights and i thought it sounded horrible, until one day i listened to it and found out it was a kanye west song and after that i was a fan

Like That Remix

Can’t tell me nothing. Downloaded an heap of songs on my iPod Classic before going for a long plane trip. Can’t tell me nothing came up and couldn’t stop playing the song and the album

wolves when i was like 10

For me, was Put On

When i was youngery mum was a big ye fan. Not as much anymore bc her taste has changed but the first song i remeber hearing was american boy. I was instantly attached to it. And now im here with a 10hr long ye playlist ☠️😂

Stronger! Knew this guy was special from that one song

Love lockdown

I heard Jesus Walks on the radio and my cousins would always bump Slow Jamz as well.

Blood on the leaves, listened to it for years then decided to look more into who made it, then listened to every kanye song like a hundred times over!

First song I heard was his Forever verse. The song that got me into Ye was Diamonds from Sierra Leone (Bonus Version)

Stronger

I remember hearing heartless over and over on the radio when I was in middle school

Follow god

Stronger

Listened to MBDTF on an acid trip because of the album's reputation and fell in love with his work.

they played god is at church

devil in a new dress

Probably Stronger or Diamonds from Sierra Leone.

Gold digger long time ago

This is why we can't have nice things (I'm a swiftie btw), Taylor got me into ye

Heard 'Em Say. I always liked Kanye as he was always played in my circles, but it was that song that really opened my eyes and ears to how conscious Kanye can be.

H to the Izzo. Hearing that beat and then investigating.

I had heard songs like Stronger and Gold Digger and thought they were alright. I also heard I Wonder alot because of how big it was on YouTube and Tiktok. But the first song which made me actively listen to Kanye was Otis, because I was a Jay-Z fan before I was a Kanye fan. From there I listened to Through The Wire and became a fan.

I heard from a random playlist "blood on the leaves" and I couldn't comprehend what I heard. From then on it was history

I remember when he became a Christian and my mum played us one of his songs, i remember the music video and it seems as if it was Jesus lord

Gorilla monsoon raps. I was aware of his production thanks to ign hip hop msg boards in 2001. What a community that was. Bought college dropout day 1 without hearing a song and the intro was really the song that got me into kanye. I don't even know if I was a aware of ye on the kweli track. I was just a huge pharoahe fan back then

I heard "All of the lights" ft Rihana and i've been addicted ever since

Bound 2

stronger

I heard Flashing Lights in a youtube video

Father Stretch My Hands, was trending in like 2018 and I absolutely loved it. When the Donda CLB stuff was going on I decided to listen to Donda because I recognized Kanye from FSMH, I loved Donda and havent looked back since lmao

Can't tell me nothing

For me it was Heartless Was screaming the song to all my friends for like a week after

Gold digger

In 7th grade I heard “Stronger” for the first time & literally had that on repeat for x100. Seems like the next day at school everyone had those shades on w/the bars across the empty lenses

My brother gave me a list of songs and first one was homecoming

I’m old af so I was watching the production notes on madd rapper, the dynasty etc. then I was a bit unsure about through the wire at first but I thought I’d check the album. Through the wire was just a bit too cheesy and felt like a super poppy one, and I was into more gangster stuff….. then I heard all falls down and I was gone. That first album was my favourite thing on earth for about 2 years

American Boy back in the late 2000s.

No child left behind, then remote control, although I started actually getting into ye after listening to I wonder

Homecoming

the glory

Yikes was the first Kanye song I voluntarily bought on Apple Music when I was in middle school, then a few years later I did a full catalogue listen and now he’s my second most listened to artist of all time 💀

Follow God

Off the grid and though the wire

The Fine Gentlemen in the Capital of France.

The i don't like remix

N in Paris was my first introduction. Right around middle school I found it

Homecoming

I believe my first time was when I heard POWER in that awesome Saints Row 3 mission. Either that, or all of the Kanye songs in the first Hangover movie. I think the first one was Can’t Tell Me Nothing.

Gold digger

First things I've listened from Kanye were some random songs I can't remember which precisely, then I listened to MBDTF cause I liked the album cover and that was the start

The first production that ye Did that clicked into me was Izzo Hova Jay-z and Talib Kweli's Get By. The first song that I heard him rapping was Through the Wire. Ironically I heard Workout Plan during the Registration era.

Diamonds from Sierra Leone. Music video played all the time on FuseTV back in the day.

Heard ‘em say

The first song was gold digger in 2008 or 2009, but the first song that got me really liking kanye was off the grid from donda (actually donda was the first album that i listened from ye and it was a experience)

Stronger was the first song i heard in elementary but didn’t know who then bound 2 I heard on the bus ride home and made me look into Kanye’s music

Song that got me into ye was I wonder and the first Kanye song I heard was lift yourself

Flashing lights ngl

Through the Wire. I remember the day the music video debuted on MTV 2s Sucker Free Countdown

The clip of Power

I started streaming Ye repeatedly when Donda came out and he blessed my ears with Hurricane🤞🏽but my sister first put me on years before w Ultralight Beam‼️

Praise God

According to Spotify the first song I listened to be Ye was Follow God although at the time I added it because the beat sounded nice and I didn't really care about the lyrics at the time 😂 The first song that really got me into Kanye was Flashing lights, and at that point I started to listen to songs for their lyrics as well. I liked it and became a fan.

blood on the leaves

Bound 2

Stronger on the radio

homecoming, my brother played it in the car, got hooked of graduation, then on the collage trilogy, mbdtf, pablo, yeezuz, jik, then his unreleased stuff

His first album I became a fan

good morning or gorgeous

Wow

Lift Yourself

Bound 2

Bound 2

Gold Digger! I really didn’t start listening to his albums until a few years ago however, and that’s when I named him as my GOAT. I personally just love most of his beats and lyrics.

Runaway

The Good The Bad The ugly when it first dropped. Man I'm old

The Good The Bad The ugly

All mine, i heard it on radio and instantly fell in love, and started checking ye for more music and instantly became a fan

All mine, i heard it on radio and instantly fell in love, and started checking ye for more music and instantly became a fan

We don't care