The song sampled in the chorus is "Through the Fire" by Chaka Khan. Here's some other information about the song that I found on another site:
Kanye West was in a terrible car accident in October 2002 where he almost died. His jaw was broken in 3 places and in emergency surgery they had to put a metal plate in his chin. When he was in his hospital bed, with his mouth wired shut, he heard Chaka Khan's song "Through the Fire" playing in the background on a CD player. He was just lying back, then he heard her voice melodically singing the line, "Right down to the wire, even through the fire." That's when he got the idea of recording the song to describe what he was going through. Two weeks after his accident, he went to record the song, even though his jaw was still wired shut. He had to release all of his mixed emotions then and there, taking pain medications between takes to complete the song. He had a new appreciation for life - he was living so carelessly and the accident brought everything into perspective.
This is based on a sample of Chaka Khan's "Through The Fire." In 2004, Chaka performed this with West at the MTV Video Music Awards. Chaka was horribly off-key; she had a problem with her throat, but sang anyway because she wanted to honor her commitment.
In the lyrics, West mentions that he looked like Emmett Till after the accident. Till was a 14-year-old black boy from Mississippi who was mutilated by white men and dumped in a river because he whistled at a white woman. The case made headlines when the men who did it were acquitted.
The song sampled in the chorus is "Through the Fire" by Chaka Khan. Here's some other information about the song that I found on another site:
Kanye West was in a terrible car accident in October 2002 where he almost died. His jaw was broken in 3 places and in emergency surgery they had to put a metal plate in his chin. When he was in his hospital bed, with his mouth wired shut, he heard Chaka Khan's song "Through the Fire" playing in the background on a CD player. He was just lying back, then he heard her voice melodically singing the line, "Right down to the wire, even through the fire." That's when he got the idea of recording the song to describe what he was going through. Two weeks after his accident, he went to record the song, even though his jaw was still wired shut. He had to release all of his mixed emotions then and there, taking pain medications between takes to complete the song. He had a new appreciation for life - he was living so carelessly and the accident brought everything into perspective.
This is based on a sample of Chaka Khan's "Through The Fire." In 2004, Chaka performed this with West at the MTV Video Music Awards. Chaka was horribly off-key; she had a problem with her throat, but sang anyway because she wanted to honor her commitment.
In the lyrics, West mentions that he looked like Emmett Till after the accident. Till was a 14-year-old black boy from Mississippi who was mutilated by white men and dumped in a river because he whistled at a white woman. The case made headlines when the men who did it were acquitted.