Nina Simone + Kanye West: the Core Relation
Two endpoints. 3 steps. Where would you dig next?
Blood on the Leaves samples Nina Simone’s 1965 rendition of Strange Fruit.
Follow the route
Nina Simone → Strange Fruit → Blood on the Leaves → Kanye West
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Nina Simone performed Strange Fruit. Source
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Blood on the Leaves samples Strange Fruit. Source
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Kanye West performed Blood on the Leaves. Source
Keep the detail straight
The sample links recordings of these songs; it does not assert a collaboration or endorsement.
Three more rabbit holes
Nina Simone and Prince: two very different chapters of Montreux.
Continue through Nina Simone.
Nina Simone’s 1976 and Prince’s 2009 performances connect through the Montreux Jazz Festival series.
Nina Simone → Nina Simone at Montreux Jazz Festival, 1976 → Montreux Jazz Festival → Prince at Montreux Jazz Festival, 2009 → Prince
Explore the full route and its sources.
Madonna’s ticking dance-floor hit has an ABBA core.
An editorial recommendation in the same sample trail theme; this pairing does not assert an extra factual connection.
Hung Up samples the instrumental hook from ABBA’s Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!.
ABBA → Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) → Hung Up → Madonna
Explore the full route and its sources.
The Clash are hiding inside M.I.A.'s Paper Planes.
An editorial recommendation in the same sample trail theme; this pairing does not assert an extra factual connection.
Paper Planes samples the Clash’s Straight to Hell; the connection is in the recording, not just the attitude.
The Clash → Straight to Hell → Paper Planes → M.I.A.
Explore the full route and its sources.
Find a different route
Open Find, choose Nina Simone and Kanye West and explore the graph. This is one documented route; the finder may offer a shorter one. Follow a person, a record or a place that catches your ear.
Spot a missing credit or a better source? Open the relevant entry and contribute what you can document. A cover, sample, shared city and shared stage mean different things; the source should support the exact relationship.