In 2021, it’s nearly impossible to come by a person who hasn’t at least heard the name Kanye West, but in the early 2000s, that wasn’t the case. While chopping it up on New Rory and Mal, producer The Alchemist recalled his first time meeting the DONDA hitmaker.
“Remember one time I came to see you to play beats,” the This Thing Of Ours producer said to Kyambo “Hip Hop” Joshua. “There was somebody on the couch with a jean suit — like a jean jacket and jean pants. I thought it was one of your R&B artists; you had Christión at the time. I didn’t know who it was!”
As it turns out, the guy in the “jean suit” was none other than Ye.
“[Hip Hop] told me early on, we got this kid. I thought his name was Cognac,” The Alchemist revealed. “He was like, ‘Cognac West.’ I’m like, ‘Who? What?’”
While hanging out in the studio, West reportedly started commenting on the beats Al was playing, but since the producer didn’t recognize West at the time, he was left confused by the “Good Life” rapper’s feedback.
“I go to leave and bro follows me out the room and shit … and he goes, ‘Yo, how you get your drums like that?’ I’m like, ‘Drums?!’ He goes, ‘Yo, I’m Kanye West, man.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, you straight!’ ‘Cause he already had a couple joints out and [Hip Hop] had already told me about him. I didn’t know it was him.”
Once Ye had introduced himself, The Alchemist was quick to dap him up and compliment his “fire” music, and the rest is history.
In other news, the producer just dropped the follow-up to his April EP, titled This Thing Of Ours 2, including features from Vince Staples, MAVI, and more.
Check out The Alchemist on New Rory and Mal below.
[Via]