“Blood on the Leaves” – Kanye West (2024)

FAQs

What was the original meaning of the song blood on the leaves? ›

Billie Holiday originally sang the song about lynching in 1939.

The song protests the lynching of Black Americans with lyrics that compare the victims to the fruit of trees. Such lynchings had reached a peak in the Southern United States at the turn of the 20th century and the great majority of victims were black.

West earned his first career GRAMMYs for 2004 for Best Rap Album (The College Dropout), Best Rap Song ("Jesus Walks") and Best R&B Song ("You Don't Know My Name").

The track runs 6 minutes long with a D key and a minor mode.

West delivers his vocals through an Auto-Tune processor, like on his 2008 album 808s & Heartbreak. It contains samples of both singer Nina Simone's 1965 rendition of Billie Holiday's song "Strange Fruit", and "R U Ready" by the duo TNGHT, who co-produced the track.

Kanye West's "Blood on the Leaves" contains samples of Simone's cover of "Strange Fruit" that Kanye uses to create controversy. Lyrically, "Blood on the Leaves" ignores the racism discussed in "Strange Fruit" and instead portrays women as gold-diggers, going against the tenets of Simone's feminist activism.

It became known as a powerful protest anthem that irked the conservative US government at a time when it was starting to crack down on suspected communists in the entertainment industry and beyond.

Meeropol's original poem was inspired by the famous image of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith hung from a tree by a mob of white men (Richman). His lyrics that describe the "black bodies swinging in the Southern Breeze" ironically compare the lynchings to fruit hanging from a tree.

"Strange fruit" is a euphemism for the lynched bodies of African Americans hanging and swaying from trees. Strange Fruit is also the name of one of most powerful protest songs ever written: a haunting song made famous by Billie Holiday, the Jazz diva.

Kanye West, who legally changed his name to Ye in 2021, received his first diamond certification that same year for "Stronger." His second award was bestowed in 2023 for "Ni**as in Paris," a single from his joint album with Jay-Z, "Watch the Throne."

What Song did Kanye sample for Jesus Walks? ›

It was released on May 25, 2004, as the fourth single from his debut album The College Dropout (2004). The song contains a sample of "Walk with Me" as performed by the ARC Choir.

Common Becomes First Rapper To Win GRAMMY, Emmy And Oscar | GRAMMY.com.

Jail is written in the key of E Major.

West was born on June 8, 1977, in Atlanta, Georgia.

POWER is written in the key of C Minor. According to the Theorytab database, it is the 3rd most popular key among Minor keys and the 9th most popular among all keys. Minor keys, along with major keys, are a common choice for popular music.

In her 2014 Rolling Stone cover story, Swift revealed that “Bad Blood” was written about a fellow female pop star, a year after Perry had supposedly poached three of her dancers from Red World Tour to bring on her own California Dreams tour.

“Blood on the Tracks” came at a crucial time for Dylan, who had returned to Columbia Records after a stint with Asylum. His marriage to Sara Lowndes was breaking up, and the songs on “Blood on the Tracks” are mainly about love and loss. “This is the meatiest piece of work he has ever done,” Odegard says.

"Strange fruit" is a euphemism for the lynched bodies of African Americans hanging and swaying from trees. Strange Fruit is also the name of one of most powerful protest songs ever written: a haunting song made famous by Billie Holiday, the Jazz diva.

Undoubtedly, a product of Bob Dylan's own struggles to come to grips with the dissolution of his 8-year long marriage to Sara Dylan, the album is deeply rooted in the dark side of life through themes of love lost, being lost, revenge, and regret.