Songs like "Good Life" and "Flashing Lights" showcase West's ability to blend catchy melodies with meaningful lyrics and varied musical backdrops, which might draw comparisons to the dynamic range and musical depth of Led Zeppelin. However, these elements are also common in hip-hop and electronic music, making it difficult to attribute a direct influence without West's explicit statement.
So the next time you hear "Can we get much higher?" on Dark Fantasy (a later album, but the same ethos), remember: that question started with Led Zeppelin, but Kanye West built the elevator. Songs like "Good Life" and "Flashing Lights" showcase
Champion samples Steely Dan, but the attitude is Zeppelin. The track uses a simple, repetitive acoustic guitar loop that feels like the intro to Over the Hills and Far Away . In Zeppelin’s world, the acoustic guitar represents the calm before the storm. Kanye flips that: the acoustic loop is the storm. It’s the sound of a champion walking through a lobby in slow motion. Champion samples Steely Dan, but the attitude is Zeppelin
While most producers in the mid-2000s were digging for obscure soul records, Kanye was digging into the riff-rock of the 1970s. By borrowing the chordal logic and melodic phrasing of Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, Kanye didn’t just make a hip-hop album; he made a rock star album. Here is how Zeppelin’s ghost shows up in the music theory of Graduation . Kanye flips that: the acoustic loop is the storm