Kanye West’s Yeezus didn’t include all the songs originally planned. There is now talks of a Yeezus 2.
Rolling Stone reports Rick Ruben thought finishing Yeezus would be impossible to begin with.
“To me is seemed impossible what he was asking. I remember I wasn’t feeling that well that day, and I was thinking, ‘Is the music making me sick? I don’t feel good about this,’” Rubin told The Daily Beast regarding when West asked him to help get the album ready for release.
Rubin and West spent two panicked weeks shaping the album in order to meet the deadline merely five weeks away. Rubin said they worked about 16 days, long 15-hour days with no days off.
West originally wanted the album to have 16 songs but Rubin suggested otherwise. “But the first day, before he even asked me to work on it, I said, ‘Maybe you should make it more concise. Maybe this is two albums. Maybe this is just the first half,’” he said.
Rubin cut the number of songs and deconstructed the tracks to the “edgy and minimal and hard” sound West wanted. However, the number of songs was the least of Rubin’s work. West’s busy schedule, which included Kim Kardashian’s baby shower and a trip to Milan made Rubin’s job more difficult.
At one point during the process five songs needed vocals and two still needed lyrics. Rubin said, “So he [West] says, ‘I have to go to this baby shower before I go to Milan. I’ll be back at 4 p.m., and from 4 to 6 I’ll do the vocals. Then I have to go.’ I say ‘OK’ thinking it’s not OK, and he says, ‘Don’t worry. I’ll score 40 points for you in the fourth quarter.’”
Image: Wikimedia Commons
