Kanye West has more in common with his mentor Jay-Z than we knew. In an excerpt from Ice-T’s directoral debut The Art Of Rap, West said that he didn’t write down his lyrics for his first four albums.
“I didn’t write my raps down for my first four albums—like all. I did it from the head straight to the booth, but on this last album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, I wrote it because I really put myself in the zone that my life was dependent on the success of this album,” West said.
“With that being the case, I said, ‘You know what? No matter what anybody says about me, I can write something that can make someone that hates me the most have to really respect or love the song.’ So even a song like Power, I spent 5,000 hours writing it, and it’s really the psychology behind the lyrics; it’s not just blatantly, ‘I’ve got all the powers’ –[it’s] ‘No one man should have all that power.’ It’s word[ed] in a really sensitive way that opens it up for everyone.”
The four albums West was referring to, The College Dropout, Late Registration, Graduation, and 808’s & Heartbreak were all certified platinum. Late Registration remains West’s biggest album to date, selling over 3 million records worldwide.
West isn’t the first to freestyle entire albums, as rap greats from The Notorious B.I.G to Jay-Z have created some of the most memorable music in hip-hop history without actually putting a pen to paper.
West admitted that he will continue to write his lyrics from now on, as he feels writing it down makes the songs much better.
Kanye West’s latest release, the highly anticipated Cruel Summer collaborative effort from his G.O.O.D. music camp, is scheduled to hit stores September 18th. The album was pushed back two weeks to allow for four new songs to be added to the album, including a feature from Brooklyn MC Mos Def.
