10 years ago Kanye West released Through the Wire

Yesterday marked the 10th anniversary of Kanye's Through the Wire, it was released as a single from Kanye's "The College Dropout" on September 30, 2003.

On October 23, 2002, Kanye was in a California recording studio. After leaving the studio at around 3 a.m. in his rented Lexus, he had a near-fatal accident when he was cut off by a car, ran head-on into traffic, and collided with another car. He was taken to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, mentioned in the song as "the same hospital where Biggie Smalls died," and had his jaw wired to his face in reconstructive surgery. The song was recorded two weeks after being admitted to hospital,at the Record Plant Studios with his jaw still wired shut, hence the song title "Through the Wire".

The track samples Chaka Khan's 1985 single "Through the Fire" and circulated on Kanye's mixtape "Get Well Soon..." before being officially released on September 30, 2003.

Here's what Kanye West had to say about his experience and the success that followed:

"Well, the only thing this accident's is saying is, "I am about to hand you the world, just know at any given time I can take it away from you." To nearly lose your life, to nearly lose your mouth, your voice, your whole face, as a rapper...and I had to be on TV! My face looks crazy to me now... But I have to just thank God for the situation that I am in... "Through The Wire" is the worst thing that could've possibly happen to me, and now it's obviously the best thing. Look how it exploded!"

The music video was directed by Coodie and Chike and it premiered in November 2003. It was awarded the Video of the Year at the 2004 Source Hip Hop Awards. Chike recalled the making of the clip, saying,

"One day Coodie calls me out the blue about a concept he and Kanye had for a video revolving around Polaroid snapshots. We just went to work. We infiltrated MTV something serious. I was leaving work at 7 PM only to come back at 10 PM, work all night then go home at 7 AM before going to my job at 10 AM. If we would have wrote a treatment for "Through the Wire" they would have shot that down. They had to see it to understand. Otherwise they'd have said, "No, Kanye should be rapping at a party, with lots of girls poolside,"