I miss the old Kanye, straight from the 'Go Kanye, Chop up the soul Kanye, set on his goals Kanye, I hate the new Kanye, the bad mood Kanye, The always rude Kanye, spaz in the news Kanye...
I made my entire first tape using Beats headphones - the studio headphones and halfway through the second one, because I finally started making a home studio. But I record and make all my beats with the Beats headphones.
I'm a young dude from Chicago who grew up with Kanye as my image of hip-hop. Finding your voice in a room where you have to challenge Kanye is scary - but it's also life-affirming.
I met Kendrick, and we were in the studio. He picked a bunch of beats out; that was great. He's a great guy - we vibed out for the day.
People who mock rap and say, "I don't like it," they should go and check out Kanye [West] in the studio rapping, or Marshall, Eminem, when he's in the studio. It's a phenomenon. Don't knock it until you've seen it. It may not be your cup of tea, but don't ridicule it.
I used to call Kanye, Kanye pick up on the first ring, now Kanye don't even got no phone, that's how much times have changed.
Kanye is producing in the true sense of the word. 'Real Friends' was an idea started by me and Boi-1da. We passed it off to Kanye, and Kanye kind of stripped it down and had Havoc add some drums to it. Kanye had the vision. That's really true-school production.
Don't forget, I've been fired by studios; I'm not the studio's guy. I'm a guy who can work with studios, but if you ask any studio, I stand up to these people.
On the low, I've been in Kanye's studio, No Name, out in L.A.
You come to my studio, it says 'No photography on premises.' I picked that up from Kanye. We don't need all that. In the old days in the Wu, we didn't allow anybody in the studio, not even women. We didn't start allowing women until five years after our debut. ODB used to get mad.
I love Kanye for that. Being a producer, making beats, and being a rapper. He does it all.
When I was younger I was influenced by Kanye, his story of coming up and how he kept producing and producing and saying, 'I'm more than just a producer. I'm more than just a writer. I'm more than just a guy in the studio here to give you ideas. I have a story.'
I don't use any real vintage hardware any longer. That's always been the object as far as gaining control of the studio environment, going back to when I built my first studio, Secret Sound, in New York City. The whole point was to not have to pay studio bills anymore and not be looking at the clock.
A lot of people have said 'people should see you work in the studio,' because a lot of people don't realize I'm an actual engineer. I don't walk in and have some guy grab the board. I have my own studio and soldered every wire in the studio.
I can get very philosophical and ask the questions Keats was asking as a young guy. What are we here for? What's a soul? What's it all about? What is thinking about, imagination?
Jordan Ruddes does [have a home studio], but it's all self-contained. I'll be the only guy with a fully built recording studio. So they'll have to come to me.