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Brandy, "Talk About Our Love" (2004)
West reminisces about a faded romance, tempering his production's sweet soul vibe with a hint of bitterness. He also adapts a Reese's Pieces ad into a double-entendre and devises six rhymes for "Juwanna Mann," which is some kind of accomplishment.
Consequence, "Getting Out the Game" (2004)
West signed rapper Consequence to his G.O.O.D. Music imprint and produced five tracks for his 2004 Take 'Em to the Cleaners. The Louis Vuitton Don himself dominates this fantasy of settling down, thanks to a long, deliciously loopy verse that cites porn actress Linda Lovelace, wedding-dress designer Vera Wang and -- for the third time that year -- John Ritter.
Dilated Peoples, "This Way" (2004)
Reconciling work and sex is a classic hip-hop problem; reconciling sex and God is a classic soul problem. West gets pulled in all three directions at once on this 2004 workout (the church choir on the hook is what's tugging him upward), and he admits a moment of weakness: "I wasn't really spittin' game -- I was scrimmagin'."
Ludacris, "Stand Up (Remix)" (2004)
West produced this massive 2003 hit, but only the twelve-inch remix features his free-associative wonder of a verse in which he name-drops Anthony Kiedis, Dave Meyers, James Brown, Latrell Sprewell and, uh, Jack Tripper.
John Legend, "Number One" (2004)
Over a loop from the Staple Singers' "Let's Do It Again," West augments Legend's not-quite-an-apology for infidelity with a complaint about eBay wanna-be's, and he passes along a romantic message from his dick: "I know he love you/He told me you was his favorite."
Cam'ron Featuring Kanye West and Syleena Johnson, "Down and Out" (2004)
Cam'ron calls West's production "that 1970s heroin flow" at the beginning of this Purple Haze track, but the chorus -- a horny, chopped-up call-and-response between West and Johnson (who backed him up on The College Dropout's "All Falls Down") -- is a twitchier kind of dope.
Common, "The Corner" (2005)
For all of his legendary ego, 'ye knows when to get out of the way. This highlight from Common's Be features the West trademark of sped-up soul samples, but his only vocal presence is a little hook with immaculate flow (the "ah-ah, ah-ah-ah" makes the track) that clears the way for devastating lines by the Last Poets.
Jay-Z, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Kanye West, Busta Rhymes, "Get By (Remix)" (2005)
Talib Kweli's 2002 track "Get By" was one of the first top-rank beats that West produced. This version, which appears on Jay-Z's mix tape S. Carter -- The Re-Mix, finds West meditating on music-business pressures, preparing to be "an entity" once his album hits and rhyming "Michelangelo" with "Maya Angelou."
Jamie Foxx, "Extravaganza" (2005)
After Foxx's appearance on "Gold Digger," the buzz for his Unpredictable was so loud that this trifle of a first single stiffed. But it's redeemed by West's stab at a Southern-style flow -- check out the way he chews on the "dranky-drank"/"stanky-stank" rhyme, and gives his final girrrrl! a drawling spin.
Rhymefest, "Brand New" (2005)
The album from the co-writer of "Jesus Walks" won't be out until March or so, but his first solo single has a killer hook you'll never hear in its entirety on the radio, and a hilarious, bragging verse -- both courtesy of the man who 'Fest notes later in the song will "hook me up, as long as I don't ask him for too much."