Common Claims Kanye West Wrote "Heard 'Em Say" In Just 10 Minutes

BYCole Blake2.1K Views
Link Copied to Clipboard!
12th Annual Music Midtown Festival - Day 2
Common and Kanye West during 12th Annual Music Midtown Festival - Day 2 at Midtown and Downtown Atlanta in Atlanta, GA, United States. (Photo by R. Diamond/WireImage)
Common says he was there when Kanye West made the "Late Registration" hit.

Common says Kanye West wrote his iconic Late Registration hit, "Heard 'Em Say," in under just 10 minutes. He recalled watching the legendary rapper put the song together during a recent interview with Carmelo Anthony and The Kid Mero on their 7PM in Brooklyn podcast. The topic of the song arose while discussing some of the beats Common has passed on over the years.

“I got more memories of joints I passed on, beats that he made for me,” he said. “Like, that song ‘Wouldn’t Get Far’ [by The Game]. And then ‘Dreams’ [also by The Game]. And even some of Kanye’s, like a lot of his Late Registration album. ‘I Wonder’ or even the song ‘Heard ‘Em Say’ — he made that beat for me. He made that beat and I was like, ‘This beat dope.’ He said, ‘Man, you want it?’ It didn’t feel like it was fitting my album. So I was like, ‘Nah, you good.’ He said, ‘Are you sure?’ I was like, ‘Nah, I’m good.'”

Kanye West & Common Perform In Chicago

CHICAGO, IL - SEPTEMBER 21: Kanye West and Common perform on stage for AAHH!! Fest 2014 at Union Park on September 21, 2014, in Chicago, United States. (Photo by Daniel Boczarski/Redferns via Getty Images)

From there, he mentioned how Ye came up with "Heard 'Em Say" in only 10 minutes. “I promise you, he wrote that song in 10 minutes. I sat there and watched this man write the song," he claimed. "He had just made the beat and he wrote the song. The whole song. I said, ‘Yo, this was meant for you.’ I can’t front, I wasn’t gonna do what he did to that beat. Sometimes you gotta know that. But as I look back, that beat was cold. ‘I Wonder’ was dope. There’s at least 10 Ye beats out there that I passed on. Even on one [Graduation], he said, ‘Common passed on this beat, I made it to a jam/ Everything I’m not made me everything I am.'” Check out the full clip below.

Common Discusses Kanye West

Elsewhere during Common's appearance on 7PM in Brooklyn, he discussed Drake and Kendrick Lamar's feud, hip-hop in the '90s, and much more. Be on the lookout for further updates on Common and Kanye West on HotNewHipHop.

[Via]

About The Author
Cole Blake is a current staff writer at HotNewHipHop based out of New York City. He began writing for the site as an intern back in 2018 while finishing his B.A. in Journalism at St. John’s University. In the time since, he’s covered a number of breaking stories for HNHH. These include the ongoing YSL RICO trial, the allegations surrounding Diddy, and much more. His work also extends outside of hip-hop, having written extensively about a myriad of topics including politics, sports, and pop culture. He’s attended several music festivals to provide coverage for the site as well, such as Rolling Loud and Governors Ball.
...