[Intro: Jay-Z (Kanye)]



                      [laughing]



                      Yo fuck you, Kanye, first and foremost



                      For making me do this shit. Muh'fucker



                      Had to throw everybody out the motherfucking room



                      'Cause they don't fucking..

                    (I'd like to propose a toast)



                      (I said toast motherfucker)

                    [Chorus: Kanye]



                      And I am



                      And they ask me, they ask me, they ask me, I tell them



                      Raise your glasses, your glasses, your glasses to the sky



                      This is the last call for alcohol, for the..



                      So get your ass up off the wall

                    [Verse 1]



                      The all around the world Digital Underground, Pac



                      The Rudloph the red nosed reindeer of the Roc



                      I take my chain, my 15 seconds of fame



                      And come back next year with the whole fucking game



                      Ain't nobody expect Kanye to end up on top



                      They expected that College Dropout to drop and then flop



                      Then maybe he stop savin' all the good beats for himself



                      Rocafella's only niggaz that help



                      My money was thinner than Sean Paul's goatee hair



                      Now Jean Paul Gaultier cologne fill the air, here



                      They say he bourgie, he big-headed



                      Won't you please stop talking about how my dick head is



                      Flow infectious, give me 10 seconds



                      I'll have a buzz bigger than insects in Texas



                      It's funny how wasn't nobody interested



                      'Til the night I almost killed myself in Lexus

                    [Chorus]

                    [Verse 2]



                      Now was Kanye the most overlooked? Yes sir



                      Now is Kanye the most overbooked? Tes sir



                      Though the fans want the feeling of A Tribe Called Quest



                      But all they got left is this guy called West



                      Better take Freeway, throw him on tracks with Mos Def



                      Call him Kwa-lI or Kwe-li, I put him on songs with Jay-Z



                      I'm the Gap like Banana Republic and Old Navy, and oooh



                      It come out sweeter than old Sadie



                      Nice as Bun-B when I met him at the Source awards



                      Girl he had with him - ass coulda won the horse awards



                      And I was almost famous, now everybody love Kanye



                      I'm almost reignin'



                      Some say he arrogant. Can y'all blame him?



                      It was straight embarrassing how y'all played him



                      Last year shoppin my demo, I was tryin' to shine



                      Every motherfucker told me that I couldn't rhyme



                      Now I could let these dream killers kill my self-esteem



                      Or use my arrogance as the steam to power my dreams



                      I use it as my gas, so they say that I'm gassed



                      But without it I'd be last, so I ought to laugh



                      So I don't listen to the suits behind the desk no more



                      You niggaz wear suits 'cause you can't dress no more



                      You can't say shit to Kanye West no more



                      I rocked 20,000 people, I was just on tour, nigga



                      I'm Kan, the Louis Vuitton Don



                      Bought my mom a purse, now she Louis Vuitton Mom



                      I ain't play the hand I was dealt, I changed my cards



                      I prayed to the skies and I changed my stars



                      I went to the malls and I balled too hard



                      'Oh my god, is that a black card?'



                      I turned around and replied, why yes but I prefer the term



                      African American Express



                      Brains, power, and muscle, like Dame, Puffy, and Russell



                      Your boy back on his hustle, you know what I've been up to



                      Killin y'all niggaz on that lyrical shit



                      Mayonnaise colored Benz, I push Miracle Whips

                    [Chorus]



                    "... last call for alcohol, for my niggaz"

                    [Outro]



                      So this A&R over at Rocafella, named Hiphop



                      picked the Truth beat for Beanie. And I was in the session with him



                      I had my demo with me. You know, like I always do



                      I play the songs, he's like "Who that spittin?"



                      I'm like "It's me." He's like "Oh, well okay."



                      Uhh, he started talkin to me on the phone



                      going back and forth, just askin me to send him beats



                      And I'm thinking he's trying to get into managing producers



                      cause he had this other kid named Just Blaze he was messin with



                      And um, he was friends with my mentor, No ID



                      And No ID told him, "look man, you wanna mess with Kanye



                      you need to tell him that you like the way he rap"



                      [No ID:] "Yo, you wanna sign him, tell him you like how he rap"



                      I was all, I dunno if he was gassin' me or not



                      but he's like he wanna manage me as a rapper AND a producer



                      [Hiphop:] "I'll sign you as a producer and a rapper",



                      I'm like oh shit



                      I was messin with, uh, D-Dot also



                      People were like this, started talking about the Ghost production



                      But that's how I got in the game. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't be here



                      So you know. After they picked that Truth beat



                      I was figuring I was gonna do some more work



                      But shit just went poppin off like that. I was stayin in Chicago



                      I had my own apartment. I be doin' like, just beats for local acts



                      just to try to keep the lights on, and then to go out and buy



                      get a Pelle Pelle off lay-away, get some Jordans or something



                      or get a TechnoMarine, that's what we wore back then



                      I made this one beat where I sped up this Hal Melville sample



                      I played it for Hip over the phone, he's like "oh, yo that shit is crazy



                      Jay might want it for this compilation album he doin, called The Dynasty."



                      And at that time, like the drums really weren't soundin' right to me



                      so I went and um, I was listening to Dre Chronic 2001 at that time



                      and really I just, like picked the drums off Xxplosive and put it like



                      with it sped up, sampled, and now it's kind of like my whole style



                      when it started, when he rapped on 'This Can't be Life.'



                      And that was like, really the first beat of that kind that was on the Dynasty album



                      I could say that was the, the resurgence of this whole sound



                      You know, I got to come in and track the beat, and at the time



                      I was still with my other management. I really wanted to roll with



                      Hiphop. 'Cause I, I just needed some fresh air, you know what I'm



                      sayin, 'cause I been there for a while, I appreciated what they did



                      for me, but, you know there's a time in every man's life where he



                      gotta make a change, try to move up to the next level. And that day I



                      came and I tracked the beat and I got to meet Jay-Z and he said, "oh



                      you a real soulful dude" [Jay-Z: "you a real soulful dude"]. And he



                      uh, played the song 'cause he already spit his verse by the time I got



                      to the studio, you know how he do it, one take. And he said



                      [Jay-Z:] "check this out, tell me what you think of this, right here"



                    "tell me what you think of this." And I heard it, and I was thinking



                      like, man, I really wanted more like of the simple type Jay-Z, I ain't



                      want like the, the more introspective, complicated rhy- or the, in my



                      personal opinion. So he asked me, "what you think of it?"



                      [Jay-Z:] "so what you thinkin?"



                      And I was like, "man that shit tite,"



                      you know what I'm sayin', man what I'ma tell him? I was on the train



                      man, you know. So after that I went back home. And man I'm, I'm just



                      in Chicago, I'm trying to do my thing. You know, I got groups. I got



                      acts I'm trying to get on, and like there wasn't nothin really like



                      poppin' off the way it should have been. One of my homeys that was one



                      of my artists, he got signed. But it was supposed to really go through



                      my production company, but he ended up going straight with the



                      company. So, like I'm just straight holdin' the phone, gettin' the bad



                      news that dude was tryin' to leave my company. And I got evicted at



                      the same time. So I went down and tracked the beats from him, I took



                      that money, came back, packed all my shit up in a U-Haul, maybe about



                      ten days before I had to actually get out. So I ain't have to deal



                      with the landlord 'cause he's a jerk. Me and my mother drove to



                      [Mother:] "Come on, let's just go"



                      Newark, New Jersey. I hadn't even seen my apartment.



                      I remember I pulled up



                      [Mother:] "Kanye, baby, we're here",



                      I unpacked all my shit. You know, we went to Ikea, I bought a



                      bed, I put the bed together myself. I loaded up all my equipment, and



                      the first beat I made was, uh, 'Heart of the City.'



                      And Beans was still working on his album at that time, so I came up



                      there to Baseline, it was Beans' birthday, matter of fact, and I



                      played like seven beats. And, you know I could see he's in the zone



                      he already had the beats that he wanted, I did nothing like already at



                      that time. But then Jay walked in. I remember he had a GuccI bucket



                      hat on. I remember it like, like it was yesterday. And Hiphop said



                    "yo play that one beat for him." And I played 'Heart of the City.' And



                      really I made 'Heart of the City,' I really wanted to give that beat to DMX.



                      [Hiphop:] "No I think Jay gon' like this one right here".



                      And I played another beat, and I played another beat. And I remember that



                      GuccI bucket, he took it and like put it over his face and made one of



                      them faces like 'OOOOOOOOOOH.' Two days later I'm in Baseline and I seen



                      Dame. Dame didn't know who I was and I was like "yo what's up I'm Kanye."



                      [Dame:] "Yo, you that kid, Kanye?"



                    "You that kid that gave all them beats to Jay?



                      Yo, this nigga got classics"



                      [Dame:] "Jay got classics, G."



                      You know I ain't talkin shit.



                      I'm like "oh shit." And all this time I'm starstruck, man. I'm



                      still thinking 'bout, you know I'm picturing these niggaz on the show



                      The Streets is Watching, I'm lookin, these were superstars in my



                      eyes. And they still are, you know. So, Jay came in and he spit all



                      these songs like in one day, and in two days... I gotta bring up one



                      thing, you know, come back to the story, the day I did the 'Can't be



                      Life' beat on track, I remember Lenny S, he had some Louis Vuitton



                      sneakers on, he think he fly. And Hiphop was there, I think Tata, John



                      Minnelli, a bunch of people. I didn't know all these people at the



                      time they was in the room, and I said, "yo Jay I could rap." And I



                      spit this rap that said, uh "I'm killin y'all niggaz on that lyrical



                      shit. Mayonnaise colored Benz, I push miracle whips." And I saw his



                      eyes light up when I said that line. But you know the West, the rap



                      was like real wack and shit, so that's all the response.



                      He said "man that was tite."



                      [Jay-Z:] "That, that was cool. That was hot."



                      That was it. You know, I ain't get no deal then, hehe.



                      Okay, fast forward.



                      So, Blueprint, H to the Izzo, my first hit single. And I just



                      took that proudly, built relationships with people. My relationship



                      with KwelI I think was one of the best ones to ever happen to my



                      career as a rapper. Because, you know, of course later he allowed me



                      to go on tour with him. Man, I appre-- I love him for that. And at



                      this time, you know I didn't have a deal, I had songs, and I had



                      relationships with all these A&R's, and they wanted beats from me, so



                      they'd call me up, I'd play them some beats. "Gimme a beat that sound



                      like Jay-Z." You know, they dick riders. Whatever. So I'll play them



                      these post-Blueprint beats or whatever and then I'll play my shit. I'll



                      be like, "yo but I rap too." Hey, I guess they was lookin' at me crazy



                      'cause you know, 'cause I ain't have a jersey on or whatever



                      Everybody out there listen here. I played them 'Jesus Walks' and they



                      didn't sign me. You know what happened, it was some A&R's that fucked



                      with me though, but then like the heads, it'd be somebody at the



                      company that'll say "naw." Like, Dave LottI fucked with me, my



                      nigga Mel brought me to a bunch of labels. Jessica Rivera, man



                      [Jessica:] "Man, you niggaz is stupid if y'all don't sign Kanye, for real."



                      I'm not gonna say nothin to mess my promotion up



                    "Y'all niggaz is stupid". Let's just say I didn't get my deal.



                      The nigga that was behind me, I mean,



                      he wasn't even a nigga, you know?



                      The person who actually kicked everything off was Joe 3H from Capitol



                      Records. He wanted to sign me really bad.



                      [Joe:] "We gonna change the game, buddy."



                      Dame was like, "yo you got a deal with Capitol,



                      okay man, just make sure it's not wack."



                      [Dame:] "you gotta make sure it's not wack."



                      Then one day I just went ahead and played it, I wanted to



                      play some songs, 'cause you know Cam was in the room, Young Guru, and



                      Dame was in the room. So I played... actually it's a song that you'll



                      never hear, but maybe I might use it. So, it's called 'Wow.'



                    "I go to Jacob with 25 thou, you go with 25 hundred, wow



                      I got eleven plaques on my walls right now



                      You got your first gold single, damn, nigga, wow."



                      Like the chorus went. Don't bite that chorus, I might still use it. So



                      I play that song for him, and he's like "oh shit"



                      [Dame:] "Oh shit it's not even wack."



                    "I ain't gonna front, it's kinda hot."



                      [Dame:] "it's actually kinda hot."



                      Like they still weren't looking at me



                      like a rapper. And I'm sure Dame figured, 'like man. If he do a whole



                      album, if his raps is wack at least we can throw Cam on every song and



                      save the album, you know. So uh Dame took me into the office, and he's



                      like "yo man, we, we on a brick, we on a brick"



                      [Dame:] "you don't wanna catch a brick"



                      You gotta be under an umbrella, you'll get rained on.



                      I told Hiphop and Hiphop was all, "oh, word?" Actually, even with



                      that I was still about to take the deal with Capitol 'cause it was



                      already on the table and 'cause of my relationship with 3H. That, you



                      know, 'cause I told him I was gonna do it, and I'm a man of my word, I



                      was gonna roll with what I said I was gonna do. Then, you know, I'm



                      not gonna name no names, but people told me, "oh he's just a producer



                      rapper" and told 3H that told the heads of the Capitol, and right--



                      the day I'm talking about, I planned out everything I was gonna do



                      man, I had picked out clothes, I already started booking studio



                      sessions, I started arranging my album, thinking of marketing schemes



                      man I was ready to go. And they had Mel call me, they said



                    "yo... Capitol pulled on the deal"



                      [Mel:] "Yo, Capitol pulled out on the deal."



                      And, you know I told them that Rocafella was interested



                      and I don't know if they thought that was just something I was saying



                      to gas them up to try to push the price up or whatever. I went up... I



                      called G, I said, "man, you think we could still get that deal with Rocafella?"