Fivio Foreign Describes Kanye West’s Chaotic “Donda” Recording Process

Fivio Foreign has been working closely with Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, for the last few years, contributing a standout verse on “Off The Grid” and working with the living legend further on Donda 2 and his own album, B.I.B.L.E., which is executive produced by Ye. Most recently, the two collaborated on “City Of Gods” with Alicia Keys, which will be included on Fivi’s album.

We previously got an eye into Fivio’s relationship with Ye through our own interview with the New York-based drill rapper at Rolling Loud last year and during a new interview with DJ Akademiks for the Off The Record podcast, the 31-year-old spoke in-depth about Ye’s chaotic recording process inside of a stadium for Donda, as well as his work with the artist on Donda 2.


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Revealing that his relationship with Ye is more friendly than it is business, Fivio said that he hasn’t considered signing to G.O.O.D. Music after speaking about Ye’s creative process, telling Ak, “I’ma keep it a buck with you, that n***a is in-tune. Like, he wakes up every day at 6 in the morning no matter what country he at, he’s in-tune, like he’s always working. He’ll be in the studio recording and he’ll be like, ‘Hold on,’ he’ll have somebody from some type of big company or the Prince of Saudi Arabia fly over and he’ll do something, work something out, building-building, designing, go lay a few more bars down and then work on some Yeezys real fast. He’s doing it like that.”

A true Gemini, it seems like there’s always something on Ye’s mind that he needs to complete that very moment. He went on to speak about Ye’s workout sessions during the Donda live streams, explaining that since he had just gotten out of jail at the time, he was frequently working out with his bodyguard (who has since passed away) and Ye would join them, trying to be a part of what was going on. 

Fivio reveals that when Ye was living inside of the stadium, he had a makeshift studio in one room, which included a laptop, a microphone, and speakers. He says that Ye recorded his “City of Gods” verse without headphones and with the beat playing off the laptop, going two or three bars at a time before finishing the song in fifteen minutes.

Check out the full episode of Fivio Foreign on Off The Record below, and let us know what you think about Ye’s recording process in the comments.