Lenny Santiago Speaks On “Watch The Throne” Sessions, Jay-Z’s Writing Process

    Lenny Santiago, Vice President of A&R for Def Jam, had the privilege of witnessing Jay-Z and Kanye West record their new album Watch the Throne. Speaking with MTV News, Lenny S. explained that he specifically enjoyed watching the duo work with Pharrell Williams in the studio to lay down some music.

    “It was real dope, about that picture and just about that day, period. It felt like old Roc-A-Fella, Baseline days and obviously Jay, Kanye, P came through,” he recalled. “At that time, they were in two different spaces, just on some… ‘Ye was just a producer at the time, wasn’t rapping yet. P on production as well. Now, ‘Ye being an artist, I was there, one of the A&Rs for Roc-A-Fella, Hip Hop, was there. […] That day alone felt real. I remember Jay and ‘Ye just making note of that.”

    He also noted Hov’s unique writing method of constructing rhymes in his head while listening to a beat.

    “A lot of times, when Jay writes or doesn’t write, that’s how he writes. With his arms on the board, bobbing his head,” he explained. “That’s literally Jay’s way of writing, which is so ill and dope if you ever have the honor and pleasure of being there. Witness that, and just nodding, grooving to the joint.”

    RELATED: Def Jam’s Lenny Santiago Reveals How He Got His First Roc-A-Fella Gig

    16 thoughts on “Lenny Santiago Speaks On “Watch The Throne” Sessions, Jay-Z’s Writing Process

      1. Maybe if you thought a little harder about your choices, you could actually be a critic instead of blasting celebs on a website.

      2. Kanye has better lyrics? LMAO! Listen to the album….Kanye is a good artist and I like most of his music but Jay raps circles around him on Watch the Throne. Yeezy is dope but Jay is another league…

    1. It actually sickening how people atlk about Jay-Z what more can this man talk about. He talks about his life. this album is gonna be remembered as a classic

    2. This album is already shaping up to be one of my all-time favorites. I don’t think there is one bad song on the album and “Why I Love You” is INCREDIBLE

    3. the only weak song on that album IMO is “Lift Off” Everything else had a place there and I throughly enjoyed it. The only downside besides Lift Off would have to be the 3 min silence at the begining of “Illest Muthafucka ALive” takes away from the flow of the album

      1. Yeah i didnt like that silence either. dont know why they chose to do that, but that song is still crazy

    4. ANYTHING you write down on paper…Comes from the MIND first.. Jay-z just has the raw ability to arrange it and memorize it all in his head…..

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