
In the early 2000s, the young Kanye West had enough clout to get through the door but not enough clout to make it into the right rooms. As a producer, West was much in demand and was delivering beats to the likes of Jay-Z, Ludacris, Scarface and Talib Kweli — but as a rapper, he was just another hopeful with a demo CD, trying desperately to get someone to listen to his work.