John Legend got with Kanye West‘s G.O.O.D. Music early on in his career, and put out multiple platinum-selling albums and chart-topping collabs during his time with the label – but it almost never happened.
The R&B superstar dropped by The Breakfast Club for a new interview published on Thursday (March 16). When Ye’s imprint came up – of which Legend is no longer a part of – he explained his team’s hesitation before signing with G.O.O.D. way back in the early 2000s.
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“All of these decisions, though, there were people in my camp that didn’t want me to sign with Kanye when I signed with him,” John Legend said. “‘Cause I signed with G.O.O.D. Music, and I signed through G.O.O.D. Music to Columbia Records. So, all of my first few albums were through G.O.O.D. Music to Columbia Records.”
He continued: “And you give up certain things when you sign to an artist’s production company. But, I felt like it was the right move for me because creatively, we were in a great place together and his star was ascending as a producer and as an artist. I felt like being a part of that team was gonna propel my career to a place that it needed to be. And it did!
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“And it was really important for me to be with G.O.O.D. Music for my first few albums. My career wouldn’t be where it is without that. And then, when it’s time to move on, it’s time to move on. But we had a really successful run together.”
Check out Legend’s appearance on The Breakfast Club below:
As mentioned, he’s no longer signed to the label as he and Ye aren’t exactly on G.O.O.D. terms. Last fall, the “Green Light” singer shed light on the reason he and Kanye West are no longer friends – they butted heads over their differing political views and suffered a fallout as Ye was running for president in 2020.
“Yeah, what it got described as was, we stopped being friends because he supported Trump, which was a mischaracterization of what I said,” Legend said in an interview with The New Yorker. “That was kind of the Rupert Murdoch version of the story — it was all over the New York Post and Fox News.”
Legend explained West was particularly bothered by his support of current President of the United States Joe Biden instead of him.
“What I was saying was that he was very upset with me that I didn’t support him running for President, and that was the real impetus for us having a strain in our friendship,” he continued. “I don’t know what will happen in the future, but he was very upset with me that I didn’t support him and I supported Joe Biden. It’s up to him whether he can get past that.”
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West’s failed bid for presidency also appeared to strain his relationship with his ex-wife Kim Kardashian. She filed for divorce in February 2021, just months after his rant at a political rally in South Carolina and accused her of cheating with Meek Mill. Their divorce was finalized last March.
