Over the past year, Chicago, Illinois rapper Kanye West has compared himself to the likes of Steve Jobs and Walt Disney, and according to producer No I.D., Kanye compared himself to music icons like Michael Jackson and Jermaine Dupri very early on in his career.
While appearing on the Juan Epstein podcast this week, No I.D. recalled attending a meeting with Kanye about a possible record deal and says the rapper began to “act crazy.” He says ‘Ye declared himself “the next Michael Jackson” and stated that he was “better than Jermaine Dupri.”
“I know his potential, but I’m still looking at what’s going on,” No I.D. said while speaking on Kanye’s early years. “I’m not thinking about [if] he has the personality and ability to change what’s going on. I’m looking at what he’s wearing, how he acts, how he talks. And I’m like ‘I don’t know that nobody will accept what you’re doing’…We’re taking some record deal meetings and he goes in there and acts crazy. That was the first time I seen him act crazy…He does some crazy stuff. Like ‘I’m the next Michael Jackson. I’m better than Jermaine Dupri’…So, I’m like ‘I’m not gonna manage you. I’m not gonna manage you, I’m gonna help you. I can’t.”
The Windy City beatsmith later credited Kanye for helping him make the transition from underground producer to a musician well-known in the mainstream.
“I definitely noticed it, but it was a lot of conscious effort that went into deciding not to be an underground guy,” he said. “And to be honest I’d give a lot of credit to Kanye and me watching. Some of the tools I helped give him and then take to the mainstream and keep it pure, it kind of motivated me to even go in other directions. Just try and take what I do to a bigger place, but still keep it in the pocket like I do. It goes in a cycle. We help each other.”
Lastly, No I.D. detailed the moment Kanye was inspired to create his 808s & Heartbreak album. He says the idea to create the album arose while the two were working on Jay Z’s The Blueprint 3 album.
“The 808 records came out of doing The Blueprint 3 records,” No I.D. said, according to XXLMag.com. “Like a matter of fact, when we did ‘Heartless,’ he just stopped and said, ‘No.’ I was like, ‘No what?’ He was like, ‘No way! This is my record!’ I was like, ‘Come on man. Can we just finish the guy’s album man?’ He was like, ‘Nope. I’m doing an album.’”
Musical genius, musical pioneer, musical GOD
i know you aint talking about ye
Of course he aint talkin bout Ye, that lame nigga aint none of them things
Could be Stevie, could be Marvin, hard to say, could be James Brown, could be Miles, but definitely not that dumb fag nigga Ye
please..dilla was better than kanye..why compare anyone to michael jackson..
Nope Nujabes was better then Dilla and also Dilla loved Kanye so stop it.
Nujabes sucks, he is asian
Yo homie you finna get murked?? Open your wide ass ugly eyes and see what time it is bitch. AZNs all over your monkey ass.
1st he claims he’s bigger than Jim Morrison on Shade 45 and now hes bigger than MIchael Jackson.
kanye west one day is going to fall bc he’s becoming super wack. Last CD I bought from him was Late Registraton.
When he falls, he’s going to fall super hard, he might actually kill himself when he realizes he’s not such a big superstar after all
Sad but true, he’s got such an ego he may commit suicide if he falls back lol
God I hope so. I would love to see Kanye wrap those monkey lips around a big ass gun, pull the trigger and spray the walls with his alleged brains.
Its not a Kilt… Its a Skirt yall
He already is.
Megalomania
Kanye – white, gay and dead at 50? Sounds about right.
ppl who are ahead of their time, they don’t fall off…they just fall back. He will always be remembered by his core fans & remembered for being different (808 Heartbreaks, etc.)
You can’t make late registration forever, so you have to keep it forward event when others say go back.
Ahead of his time? Nigga please. Anyone who makes the slightest effort to check out new music outside of wack mainstream shit or the recommendations on whatever streaming service they use knows Ye doesn’t do a damn innovative thing and never has.