Kanye Covers Complex (Dec/Jan ’11)

Kanye West takes the cover the December/January 2011 issue of Complex magazine. The publication also spoke with the contributors for Yeezy’s album focusing on their roles in their Project: Runaway feature. Below is an excerpt from Pete Rock:

“I know one of Kanye’s bodyguards, and he told me that Kanye was looking for me. I just grabbed this bag of discs—these discs hold at least 50 beats apiece—and went to Hawaii. [Laughs.] That was my first time ever going to Hawaii, so I was blown back by the weather and the beach. It’s a beautiful environment to make music in. I immediately said to myself, ‘This is why he’s here!’ No one bothers you and you’re free as a bird; an important part of being creative is being able to be free in a good environment where you can make music and there’s no interruptions or disturbance or anything. When I got there, Kanye was in the chair in the studio getting his hair cut. He played the ‘Power’ song from before he even put the lyrics on it and he was spittin’ the lyrics to me. I’m real critical of emcees, but when I hear Kanye spit, it opens me up like a flower, man. I used to hear him spit my name in his own records before he even got with me, and I used to say to myself, ‘Damn, he says my name in more than two or three records! Maybe he’s trying to let me know he wants to work with me.’ The studio kind of reminded me of back in the days when I used to work on three or four projects at once, doing it all in the studio. That’s what he was doing—running back and forth from room to room to room to room. He had Kid Cudi upstairs, he was working on his album downstairs, then doing a mix on another record, and it straight reminded me of what I used to do back in the ’90s. He played ‘Runaway’—and as soon as I heard the drums come in, I just started laughing. He used my drums from Mecca and the Soul Brother! I used these drums in an interlude before this record called ‘The Basement,’ and those drums come on before the song. I never heard anybody make a song the way he made it out of those drums. I thought that was genius.”

After the jump are a few pictures by Nabil Elderkin that were captured in Hawaii, while the LP was in its formulative stage. Full gallery here.

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  1. esdee says:

    great story hope he gets what he wants from this album. cause hip hop did

  2. who says:

    so i havent read the article but lets talk kanye. i got the cd today. the mastered sounds so rediculously dope. but i got the deluxe from target. i have one question: what are the official bonus tracks. i was mammas boyfriend im guessing mia isnt on chain heavy just talib and cons. what else? oh yea and im glad i got the physical copy cause having the cd is dope

  3. M. Hannah says:

    Man, Yeezy does not play when it comes to his art. I like seeing the chart and organization of it all. That means you really put time, thought and energy into your music. I’m pretty sure a lot of other rappers and even producers don’t go to this extent, and that’s why it means so much less…

    *waits for someone to say Pete Rock was dickriding just because he was being honest about the excitement he felt about working with a legend in hip-hop and music of today, while being an original legend of the craft…

  4. dashing says:

    Good to hear respect from Pete Rock. I think now that the album is officially out and people are going to hear it the conversation that places Ye among the best in the game will have to happen. I think Kanye slid into that spot next to Eminem and Jay of one of the greatest to ever do it..

  5. dashing says:

    Producer-wise, Ye might now be #2 of all time behind only Dre. Timbaland and Premo are probably a close 3rd and 4th but Timbo basically gave up on hip hop instead of trying to innovate it while Kanye made this album. And much respect to Premo, one of the originators, but he hasn’t made any recent classics.. Hard to deny Ye’s contributions to these classics.

    Common – Be
    Scarface – The Fix
    Jay-Z – The Blueprint
    John Legend – Get Lifted

    Not to mention his OWN albums. And with the ability to delve into shit like Kid Cudi’s Man on the Moon and 808s and Heartbreak, it’s clear that Ye’s not done innovating.

  6. Nkozi says:

    @dashing Agreed. Dude is killing the game right now and is bigger than just hip hop.

  7. Kanye fan says:

    Kanye is better than Dre #fact.

  8. Theloneus says:

    Rap would be boring as a mu’fucka without Kanye. Yeah I said it.

    Fuck Theloneus.

  9. BLooD oF a sLavE hEArT oF a King says:

    I think he’ll sell 500k at most on th FW.

  10. Belize says:

    That’s an interesting cover. Looks dope tho.

  11. CapricornReligion says:

    Alright… What do ya’ll think about the Album?… Some say the Best of The year, others say its in the Top 5 of Albums this year… Me.. I like it. Its a very good album… Its Number 3 in My Kanye West Catlog… Maybe it might be higher as the years go on.. But yeah I like it.. What do Ya’ll think?……. And oh Lol, i heared “Pink Friday” is getting Mixed Reviews. Anybody Hear that too?

  12. wow says:

    incredible article

  13. Kidd R@pp says:

    @CapricornReligion

    This is his 2nd best album to date imo, and what makes its so much more crack is how innovative it is. The sounds he uses are typical hip hop productions, and he is still getting acclaim in the hip hop category. That says alot… College Dropout>MBDTF>Late Registration…etc

  14. Ben says:

    Fantasy is not his best album, agreed? Its very good, just way diffrent from what I expected. Not to mention all the good friday shit on there. (why not put “the joy?”) I like it, but it is mad overrated, point blank period. I was one of the people claiming this was going to be his masterpiece on some Dewey Cox shit, I was wrong.

  15. Kidd R@pp says:

    are not* typical hip hop productions

  16. Donn says:

    Album of the year, Kanye and Janelle Monae. Been listening to the album all day. Amazing and the packaging is sick. 10/10 Kanye!!!! Be sure to pick up that Pink Friday too, its ill as well. Great day for hiphop

  17. Kidd R@pp says:

    @Donn

    Right? The packaging alone is worth the 15 bones

  18. CapricornReligion says:

    Cool… I didnt know what I was Expecting to be honest. all I knew was “Kanye is releaseing a album later this year? cool Cant wait to hear it”.. But when I heard “Power”.. I was like… “WHOA” Lol Im not going to lie, I had my “Recovery” album on Mute for a Minute, I kept repeating “Power”.. But yeah I like the feel of the album… It is the best of the Year to Me.. Number 2 is Em, then next is Rick Ross…

  19. CapricornReligion says:

    @ Kidd R@pp ^^^

  20. Nathaniel says:

    i haven’t been listening long enough to decide where it fits for me in his catalog, but i will say this:

    lyrically, it’s his best, easily.

    overall, it’s gonna take some TIME with this album to really understand what the fuck is all going on. shit is fuckin ridiculous (pun intended).

    @dashing

    what about The RZA, my nigga! he’s definitely in my top 3, and my personal favorite, i think.

  21. kresh says:

    @Donn: So you have the deluxe edition, yeah?

  22. Nathaniel says:

    oh, and i agree with whomever said

    May Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

    &

    The ArchAndroid

    are the two albums of the year. the grammys will be interesting. if ye doesn’t win, he’ll throw a fit. lol the nigga probably can’t be beat off sheer pandemonium caused, alone. pop culture and hip hop culture has been slowly shifting to this man’s will since he came back from hiatus. i think we can all agree, it’s Ye Day.

  23. Bloopers says:

    Pitchfork gave the album a perfect 10
    I heard it earlier and it’s def incredible
    His best since LR

  24. tpm2810 says:

    the album is gr8!

    Kanye is def the best artist to have emerged in the last decade by a long shot and will remain relevant forever 4 making timeless music!

    2000 – 2010

    1. kanye
    2. ludacris
    3. t.i.
    4. drake
    5. 50 (altho he’s ball now…)

  25. who says:

    why dont he stand up straight?

  26. manuvsteel says:

    Respect to pete rock but that open me like a flower shit was gay.

  27. dashing says:

    @ Nathaniel, word. Rza’s definitely in the conversation too. He’s got classics under his belt and obviously the joint he did with Kanye was fire.

  28. Post no billz says:

    Gonna go cop kanye and currensy,im jus waitin for my homie to get his dough,hes gonna get the banks..

  29. Briana says:

    @blood of a slave heart 500K FW? Umm actually so far he’s already sold about 400K of amazon/itunes downloads today alone. Don’t ever underestimate Kanye. 🙂

  30. Nathaniel says:

    @manuvsteel

    “Respect to pete rock but that open me like a flower shit was gay.”

    ^LMAO. nigga i was thinking the same thing. he gets a NES pause (complete with the lil chime) for that one.

    “open’s me up” and “flower” is akin to pussy. it’s just a fucked up reference, lmao. i didn’t wanna divert the discussion so i didn’t say nothing. but damn that shit was VERY gay.

    respect to pete rock, though, lol.

  31. Fuck Ya Life says:

    @Donn and Kidd R@pp

    Co-sign on the packaging being dope as shit.

  32. Donn says:

    YEA i got the deluxe edition, mannn this album is so amazing, like i heard all the tracks but to pop the cd in in it’s physical form is amazing

  33. Frontrunner says:

    Fall Rankings
    1.Ye
    2. Ross
    3. S.
    4. Tune-chi (no new material)
    5. Banks

  34. BLooD oF a sLavE hEArT oF a King says:

    @Briana.Whoa!didnt know.i’m buying my hard copy tomorrow.

  35. CTE says:

    Yeah i am now listening to it. heard the edited verison but the explicted verison made it even better.

  36. NotoriousRambo. says:

    **PEEPS NICKIS PANTIES LAST PIC** 🙂

  37. b-bo-mo-bee says:

    @dashing not to mention his numerous tracks he produced for Jay-z like D.O.A , Jockin Jay-z, drake show me a good time, find your love….

  38. KnawledgeBorn says:

    I REMEMBER WHEN PETE USED TO HATE KANYE AND ACCUSE HIM OF BITING? SMH

  39. […] Below is an excerpt from Pete Rock: “I know one of Kanye’s bodyguards, and he told me that Kanye was looking for me. I just grabbed this bag of discs—these discs hold at least 50 beats apiece—and went to Hawaii. [Laughs.] That was my first time ever going to Hawaii, so I was blown back by the weather and the beach. It’s a beautiful environment to make music in. I immediately said to myself, ‘This is why he’s here!’ No one bothers you and you’re free as a bird; an important part of being creative is being able to be free in a good environment where you can make music and there’s no interruptions or disturbance or anything. When I got there, Kanye was in the chair in the studio getting his hair cut. He played the ‘Power’ song from before he even put the lyrics on it and he was spittin’ the lyrics to me. I’m real critical of emcees, but when I hear Kanye spit, it opens me up like a flower, man. I used to hear him spit my name in his own records before he even got with me, and I used to say to myself, ‘Damn, he says my name in more than two or three records! Maybe he’s trying to let me know he wants to work with me.’ The studio kind of reminded me of back in the days when I used to work on three or four projects at once, doing it all in the studio. That’s what he was doing—running back and forth from room to room to room to room. He had Kid Cudi upstairs, he was working on his album downstairs, then doing a mix on another record, and it straight reminded me of what I used to do back in the ’90s. He played ‘Runaway’—and as soon as I heard the drums come in, I just started laughing. He used my drums from Mecca and the Soul Brother! I used these drums in an interlude before this record called ‘The Basement,’ and those drums come on before the song. I never heard anybody make a song the way he made it out of those drums. I thought that was genius.” (source) […]

  40. […] Source:RapRadar, Thisis50, Kanye AKPC_IDS += "9805,";Popularity: unranked […]

  41. […] Below is an excerpt from Pete Rock: “I know one of Kanye’s bodyguards, and he told me that Kanye was looking for me. I just grabbed this bag of discs—these discs hold at least 50 beats apiece—and went to Hawaii. [Laughs.] That was my first time ever going to Hawaii, so I was blown back by the weather and the beach. It’s a beautiful environment to make music in. I immediately said to myself, ‘This is why he’s here!’ No one bothers you and you’re free as a bird; an important part of being creative is being able to be free in a good environment where you can make music and there’s no interruptions or disturbance or anything. When I got there, Kanye was in the chair in the studio getting his hair cut. He played the ‘Power’ song from before he even put the lyrics on it and he was spittin’ the lyrics to me. I’m real critical of emcees, but when I hear Kanye spit, it opens me up like a flower, man. I used to hear him spit my name in his own records before he even got with me, and I used to say to myself, ‘Damn, he says my name in more than two or three records! Maybe he’s trying to let me know he wants to work with me.’ The studio kind of reminded me of back in the days when I used to work on three or four projects at once, doing it all in the studio. That’s what he was doing—running back and forth from room to room to room to room. He had Kid Cudi upstairs, he was working on his album downstairs, then doing a mix on another record, and it straight reminded me of what I used to do back in the ’90s. He played ‘Runaway’—and as soon as I heard the drums come in, I just started laughing. He used my drums from Mecca and the Soul Brother! I used these drums in an interlude before this record called ‘The Basement,’ and those drums come on before the song. I never heard anybody make a song the way he made it out of those drums. I thought that was genius.” (source) […]

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