Pitchfork sat down with some of the contributors to Kanye’s latest album, including Hudson Mohawke, Justin Vernon, Travi$ Scott, Mike Dean and more to speak on the making of the entire album.
Justin Vernon: I assumed that he was gonna do the maximalist thing again with this album, but it’s more like: “Boom! We just made a song, and it bangs, so fuck you.” It’s such an awesome contrast.
Mike Dean: For Twisted Fantasy, I probably spent 180 days in the studio. For this album, I only spent 30 or 40.
Anthony Kilhoffer: It was probably the fastest record we ever made. And instead of doing 30 songs altogether, we only did 20. Still, we would explore all kinds of options: different tempos or drums, whether a song should be synth-based on real-instrument based. A lot of younger producers just get a beat, put a rap on it, and that’s the song. There’s no dissecting, or recreating, or considering the relevance in contemporary music.
