Kanye West‘s new album, Yeezus, is out in a little over week, but the producer has come down to the wire with its completion. Sources say Yeezy brought in Rick Rubin at the last minute to lay down tracks, which has made Def Jam’s sample clearance department scramble.
The New York Post reports:
Sources exclusively tell us that last week — just two weeks before the album drops — West brought in legendary producer Rick Rubin to help lay down additional tracks for the record, and Def Jam execs spent the week haggling over rights for a vocal he used on his song “Onsite.”
“Even by Kanye West standards, this is pushing it,” said a music industry source.
Although unconfirmed, it is thought West’s last minute tinkering was because of mixed reviews to songs like “New Slaves” and “Black Skinhead”
We hear that Rubin, the co-founder of Def Jam Records, was brought in to help West finish the album. Rubin will be listed as executive producer, sources said.
Def Jam executives haggled over rights to West’s racy song “Onsite,” where the rapper samples an old vocal track from kids in a Chicago church choir. We hear lawyers last week had to track down the choir director and members of the Holy Name of Mary Church choir on the South Side of Chicago to get clearance for the vocals.
Def Jam label chiefs were so worried about whether they would get rights to the track, producers re-recorded the vocals with a different choir to be used in case they couldn’t nail down an agreement with the Holy Name crew in time.
Yesterday, West performed at Randall’s Island for the Governors Ball music festival. On Saturday (June 10), he celebrated his 36th birthday at a private party at Miss Tilly’s in NYC that included Jay-Z, Beyoncé and Nas.
Yeezus is in stores June 18.
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Photo: Saturday Night Live
