(AllHipHop News) Paul McCartney admits he was initially “nervous” about working with Kanye West and wasn’t even sure their song would be released.
The former Beatles musician teamed up with the “Gold Digger” rapper and singer Rihanna on track “FourFiveSeconds” in 2015 and it made the top 10 in singles charts around the globe.
But McCartney couldn’t anticipate its success as he wasn’t even sure what to expect when it came to recording with West.
Recalling how his manager phoned him to share West’s desire to collaborate during a Facebook Live chat with Australian performer Tim Minchin, McCartney explained, “I was a little bit nervous at first, because I thought it could go horribly wrong. But I was intrigued to see what he was up to and how he did it. And it was a very intriguing process.
“You basically don’t write songs. You basically just talk and noodle a bit and you record it all on your phone. And then he goes away. And that’s basically his record,” added the 75-year-old.
However, three months after they’d finished working on the song McCartney still hadn’t received an update on what was happening next.
He felt so out of the loop he questioned whether West was even going to unveil it at all.
“I’m thinking, should I say, ‘Did we write a song? Will a record come out of this?’” the music icon said. “Anyway, this arrives and it’s a Rihanna song… I said, ‘This is great! I have to ring up and say, ‘Am I on this?’ And he goes, ‘Oh, yeah. You’re the guitar player.’ I go, ‘I don’t remember.’ And he said, ‘We sped it up.’”
McCartney didn’t mind that his efforts had been altered though, noting that his band’s famous album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2017 – was all about “manipulating” sounds.