The collaboration between Kanye West and Sir Paul McCartney is an unlikely one. While one of these artists is a rap legend and fashion designer who often makes headlines for his outspoken views, the other was part of the best-selling music group of all time: The Beatles. Yet the two musicians have come together and created impressive art more than once now, on West’s tracks ‘Only One’ and ‘FourFiveSeconds’ in 2014 and 2015.
McCartney has since opened up about working with Kanye West, who has recently been trolled online for wearing whiteface and officially changing his name to Ye. The Beatles legend spoke about what he and West spoke about during their song-writing sessions, what West was doing while McCartney was playing guitar, and how a famous Beatles song influenced West’s own song-writing for ‘Only One’. Keep reading to find out exactly what Paul McCartney said about working with Kanye West.
Apprehension Before The Session
It’s difficult to imagine Paul McCartney feeling apprehension about meeting anyone. After all, as a former Beatle, this is one of the most legendary musicians in history with a net worth of nearly $1 billion. But if there’s anyone who can make McCartney curious as to what’s going to happen in their session together, it’s Kanye West.
“I had no idea what was going to happen,” McCartney revealed in an interview about his session with West (via Rolling Stone). “I didn’t want it to be at his house or my house, because it could be awkward if one of us wanted to leave.”
Eventually, the two stars decided to meet at the Beverly Hills Hotel, which was neutral ground.
They Connected Through Shared Experiences
At the beginning of their writing session, the two musicians—who come from very different backgrounds and who normally produce very different music—were able to connect after finding some common ground with shared experiences. They had the experience of a relationship ending in common and were able to talk about it.
“I’d just gone through my divorce, and I was kind of a little bit raw from it, and I said something to him about it, and he’d just broken up with someone,” McCartney recalled, before admitting that a new generation of fans actually believed that West discovered him (via Business Insider). “And he just pulled out his phone and played this great little track-I don’t even remember what it’s called, but it’s one of his famous ones. So I sort of liked him, and I liked this tune.”
Working Together
When it came time to actually work, things got off to an interesting start. McCartney admitted that while he was “strumming the guitar”, the way he normally begins the song-writing process, West was “looking at his iPad, basically scrolling through images of Kim [Kardashian].”
Eventually, though, the two musicians started telling stories, which also helped them to connect and get into a song-writing vibe together. “So we were telling stories, and at one point I told him how ‘Let It Be’ came from a dream about my mother, who had died years before, where she said, ‘Don’t worry, just let it be,’” McCartney said (via Rolling Stone). “He said, ‘I’m going to write a song about my mother,’ so I sat down at this little Wurlitzer keyboard and started playing some chords, and he started singing. I thought, ‘Oh, are we going to finish this?’ but that was that. And it became ‘Only One.'”
‘Only One’ was released in 2014.
The Aftermath Of ‘Only One’
After ‘Only One’ was released, fans of both McCartney and West seemed to be impressed. Except some fans of West, who weren’t familiar with the Beatles, believed that McCartney was a new artist brought to the limelight with West’s help.
McCartney laughed about the mix-up: “The great thing is, all sorts of hysterical things come out of it … I mean, there’s a lot of people think Kanye discovered me. And that’s not a joke.”
The two musicians came together again for the production of ‘FourFiveSeconds’, a Kanye West song that featured both McCartney and Rihanna.
Praise For West
After working with West more than once, McCartney has only praise for the rapper. “I love Kanye,” McCartney said when opening up about collaborating with West (via Entertainment Tonight). “People say he’s eccentric, which you’d have to agree with, but he’s a monster, yeah. He’s a crazy guy that comes up with great stuff. He inspires me.”
Reviews From Other Musicians
Paul McCartney hasn’t been the only musician to open up about his positive experience working with Kanye West. Atlanta-born rapper Playboi Carti worked with West on music for his recent studio album, Whole Lotta Red and had nothing but praise for him.
“Kanye is the OG,” Carti revealed, before explaining exactly what it was like to work with West. “Being able to talk to somebody who understands what I'm saying, I got that from his whole camp. I felt that energy from everybody he deals with. I didn't feel like a loner. The world I'm trying to build, he already got it going on.”