About This Sample
Nina Simone's devastating rendition of Billie Holiday's anti-lynching protest song was sampled for 'Blood on the Leaves.' Kanye paired Simone's anguished vocal with thundering trap 808s and Auto-Tune, creating a jarring collision between civil rights-era grief and modern excess — a track where the horrors of racial violence bleed into personal betrayal.
Hear the Original
Web of Influence
1965
Nina Simone
1
Kanye
song
