Kanye West has been in the industry for a long time, but according to his good pal and frequent collaborator Pusha T, the My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy hitmaker’s reputation and dedication to his craft doesn’t stop other artists from taking advantage of him – particularly when it comes to getting sample clearance.
Push has been making his rounds on the press circuit following the arrival of his first album since 2018’s Daytona, which saw him tap Ye and Pharrell Williams as producers (during a recent interview he explained the difference in working with the two masterminds) and receive features from names like JAY-Z, Labrinth, and Kid Cudi, just to list a few.
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During a sitdown with Vulture, the father of one opened up more about what it’s like to work with West, revealing that he hates to see the disrespect that comes his way at times.
“If you know anything about working with Kanye, it’s that it’s a very, very, very tough, tedious, annoying process about the samples,” Pusha said. “I’ve never seen people take advantage of a situation like they do when it comes to clearing samples for this guy. I tried to hide the fact he’s involved. As soon as his name comes up, it’s time to take him to the cleaners.”
In fact, the “Diet Coke” lyricist feels so strongly about the situation that he described it as “the most unfair shit [he’s] ever seen.”
“It’s almost like they know he literally doesn’t give a f*ck,” the 44-year-old continued. “He’ll be like, ‘Okay, well, great. They want 97 percent of the record. Give it to them! I want the record.’ People come up with the most outlandish rates and numbers. It has to be a known thing throughout the industry. It has to be! He’s such a f*cking artist. He just wants what he wants, and that’s it. The end-all, be-all is to get the song.”
Elsewhere in the news, Pusha T took some time to explain what prevented him from working with another well-known producer – Madlib – on his It’s Almost Dry album; read more about that here, and tap back in with HNHH later for more celebrity news updates.