S. Samuel
Terror Squad leader Fat Joe recently talked about fans pigeonholing their favorite artists and explained why he wants Kanye West to return to rap.
Joe said he did not support his 2008 album, 808’s & Heartbreak.
“I love hip-hop music, there’s really nothing I can’t do as far as musically,” Joe promised in an interview. “I’m in the studio so much that I know how to make all types of music. I could make you a Dirty South smash hit right now. I can make you a New York banger to the highest level. I could make you a West Coast, girl song, whatever. I can do it all. I think [fans] pigeon hold their favorite artists and they don’t want their favorite artists to step out the box. I’m guilty of that too. My favorite rapper is Kanye West and when he did the singing album, I purposely didn’t buy it. I was like, I’m protesting it man, I’m boycotting it. I ain’t with that sh*t. I want the Kanye rapping about his moms, rapping about this sh*t.” (Ozone Magazine)
DJ Premier recently said West did not want any electro-sounding music on his new album, Good A** Job.
“I’m working with Kanye. He reached out to me like, ‘Yo, you at the studio?,'” Premier said in an interview. “He came by at 8 p.m. and didn’t leave until three in the morning. We were drinking Grey Goose and just bugging out. It was me, Kanye and Showbiz, from Showbiz & AG talking about the whole industry…He told me how he wanted this album to be really boom-bap, hard, hard beats. He said, ‘No electro Preem, I swear no electro [Laughs].’ Ye is still that crazy dude he’s always been. He’s really focused on making this album raw. So I gave him a banger and he said he wanted two more on top of that one. I’m giving him two more this week.” (VIBE)
Premier recently hinted at the project being more raw than past efforts.
“Well, first of all, if you look at all of Kanye West’s output, he actually did a lot to bring back sampling and make it cool again, even though he’s more of a mainstream artist” Premier explained. “But his new album is strictly hard beats and rhyme. He’s totally done with electro. You’re gonna be surprised what you hear.” (Amajanese)
Fellow hip-hop pioneer Pete Rock recently confirmed being in the studio with Ye.
“I mean, I’m working with him,” Rock told radio host Peter Rosenberg. “That’s all I can say is that I’m working with him. I went out [to Hawaii.] It’s beautiful man, like, he just feels like a little brother to me. You know what I’m saying? Like, my little brother that’s doing it. And we got along just fine. He’s definitely hip-hop, his roots, I was testing him on joints…He takes it to another level which is dope. He had these musicians and this song, they played around my little raggedy beat and made it real [big]. I love the way he works — he goes from one room, writing rhymes then goes to another beat and goes to another room and does something else — I love what he’s done, I always thought he was clever. I used to bug out over the ego thing but once you get to know him, it’s like ‘Oh, okay, he’s a sweetheart.’ [laughs] We got along just well.” (Noisemakers)
Check out Fat Joe speaking on Kanye West below:
Ozone Magazine Interview with Fat Joe from ozonemag on Vimeo.
