Kanye Didn’t Write Down Lyrics For First 4 Albums

A segment from Ice-T’s upcoming documentary, The Art Of Rap, Kanye talks about methodology used in producing his first 4 albums. He says he didn’t write down any of the lyrics for those 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," he said. "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. 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' -  'No one man should have all that power.' It's word[ed] it in a really sensitive way that opens it up for everyone."

The full interview is here:

For those familiar with Jay-Z’s in-studio work, he tends to operate the same way. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree! Here’s a really cool clip of Hov’ and Timbo in the booth. It’s very cool to see Jay’s initial reaction to some beats that would eventually end up on some of his albums.