Paul McCartney discusses work with Kanye West and hip-hop in RollingStone

Mac Casper

Mac Casper

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In "All Day," one of the tracks you did with Kanye West, there is a part that you originally wrote on guitar in 1969 but didn't use at the time. What is the story behind that lick?
Linda and I were having our first baby together, Mary. She was recuperating – I'm sitting around eating chips with my guitar in the clinic, goofing around with it. And there was a picture on the wall that I'd been looking at for days – Picasso, "The Old Guitarist." The guy held the guitar like this [strikes the pose from the painting], and a lightbulb went off in my head: "What chord is that?" It looked like it was two strings. "You know what would be cool? To write a song with only two fingers." So I wrote this thing [plays the melody].

I was telling Kanye this story. I whistled it for him. His engineer was recording it, and it went into the pool of ingredients. Kanye was just collecting things. We weren't going to sit down and write a song so much as talk and spark ideas off each other. It was only when I got this song, the Rihanna record ["FourFiveSeconds"] and "Only One," the three tracks we did, that I went, "I get it. He's taken my little whistle-y thing." It returned to me as an urban hip-hop riff. I love that record.

Did you feel like a true collaborator or a sideman? You're used to running a session, seeing a song all the way through.
We had a few afternoons at the Beverly Hills Hotel. The only deal I made with Kanye was that if it doesn't work, we won't tell anyone. I didn't know his system. I'd heard things like, "He's got a room full of guys working on riffs, and he walks around going, 'I like that one.' " It reminded me of Andy Warhol, these artists who use students to paint their backgrounds and things. It's a well-used technique. I thought, "I don't know how I'm going to fit into that, but let's see. Here goes nothing."

Do you think Kanye is a genius?
I don't throw that word around [laughs]. I think he's a great artist. Take My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. I played it when I was cooking, and it was like, "This is good. There's some really innovative stuff." When the word came from his people, through my people [laughs], I thought, "Let's give it a go."

Do you listen to much hip-hop for pleasure? Or to keep up?
I listen to it for, you could call it, education. I hear a lot of it and go to concerts occasionally. I went to see Jay Z and Kanye when they toured. I've seen Drake live. It's the music of now.

Does it feel as important to you in this era as the music you made in 1966 and '67? People often say rock is dead, that it's had its moment as a historical force.
Time will tell if it's as good. That's not for me to say. But I think it's exciting. You go to a club and hear a great hip-hop record – it definitely does the business. I wouldn't want to critique it versus "A Day in the Life." For me, it's like reggae in that I wouldn't particularly feel I could do it. I would leave that to Bob Marley, to the people that are it. It's the same with hip-hop. It was exciting to work with Kanye, to have a contribution to "All Day." [Smiles] It's the best riff on the record.

In your work with younger artists like Kanye or Dave Grohl, do you feel the challenge that you had within the Beatles, especially from John? Has that ever been replaced in any way?
No. I don't think it could be. At some point, you have to realize, some things just can't be. John and me, we were kids growing up together, in the same environment with the same influences: He knows the records I know, I know the records he knows. You're writing your first little innocent songs together. Then you're writing something that gets recorded. Each year goes by, and you get the cooler clothes. Then you write the cooler song to go with the cooler clothes. We were on the same escalator – on the same step of the escalator, all the way. It's irreplaceable – that time, friendship and bonding.
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Paul McCartney Looks Back: The Rolling Stone Interview

He just signed again with Capitol Records by the way
 
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Travellin' Man

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him and ye's collaboration was drippin' with wack juice :scusthov:
(i know ye's heart was in the right place but this song was a mess)



and this just had "the gap" advertisement written all over it; cheesy mall and background commercial at the core :scust:
they was tryin' hard as hell to make this shyt look like a great song in this video too :smh:
 
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TheRtist

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stomachlines said:
him and ye's collaboration was drippin' with wack juice :scusthov:
(i know ye's heart was in the right place but this song was a mess)



and this just had "the gap" advertisement written all over it; cheesy mall and background commercial at the core :scust:
they was tryin' hard as hell to make this shyt look like a great song in this video too :smh:
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that shows you.

Paul McCartney basically has back to back to failed collabs in hip-hop and gets a Rolling Stone article that 'furthers' his genius. :francis:

even tho Kanye was the one making the calls trying to break down the boundaries.
 
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TheRtist said:
that shows you.

Paul McCartney basically has back to back to failed collabs in hip-hop and gets a Rolling Stone article that 'furthers' his genius. :francis:

even tho Kanye was the one making the calls trying to break down the boundaries.
Click to expand...

that's 1 way of lookin' at it as far as kanye tryin' to break down boundaries but it would've helped if the music would've somethin' worth to give a damn about
the music they made together was a mess
 
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TheRtist

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stomachlines said:
true and it just so happened both their swing on the 2 songs they worked on wasn't either
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the whole collab of all three songs count as 1 swing.

Maybe it wasnt meant for Kanye/Paul..perhaps Kanye/Elton officially or Paul/Young Thug...etc.
 
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Liked 4,5 seconds. The others not so much.
 
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