[abap_rocky]

I agree 100%. I think hip-hop in particular makes it very easy to trace these relations with it's heavy use of samples and collaboration.

For example, Common's Album "Be" is the album that started me on my path back in 2009. I really liked the album and using those relations I was able to discover so much more music:

1. Kanye West produced it

  -> Check-out other Kanye production credits

    -> Jay-Z's "The Blueprint"
    -> Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter III"
    -> Kanye's solo albums

2. Marvin Gaye's "God is Love" is sampled in the song "Love is..."

  -> Check-out Marvin Gaye's album "What's Going On"

3. John Legend is a feature on "They Say"

  -> Check-out John Legend's album "Get Lifted"

Of course, it might be a little silly to think I needed to discover big names like Kanye, Common and John Legend but the process of discovering them through the music itself can help separate the artist from some of their non-musical pursuits that might not be as interesting.