PAUL McCartney has worked with a variety of musicians throughout the years, including rapper Kanye West, following his time with the Beatles.
The two artists have collaborated on each other’s musical projects more than once.
Are Kanye and Paul McCartney friends?
The two artists collaborated on FourFiveSeconds, which in addition to Ye and McCartney featured Rihanna, and recorded music together in a bungalow in Los Angeles.
Following the session, McCartney said that he hadn’t heard from West.
“I did leave the session liking him, and thinking he’s a very interesting guy,” McCartney said. “I speak to him occasionally on the phone. And mainly texting.”
The former Beatle spoke about meeting West for the first time in 2008 when West was going through the breakup that inspired his fourth album, 808s & Heartbreak, per Business Insider.
At the same time, McCartney was coming off a divorce from his second wife, Heather Mills.
“I’d just gone through my divorce, and I was kind of a little bit raw from it, and I said something to him about it, and he’d just broken up with someone,” McCartney said.
“And he just pulled out his phone and played this great little track—I don’t even remember what it’s called, but it’s one of his famous ones. So I sort of liked him, and I liked this tune.”
When did Kanye and Paul McCartney collaborate with each other?
McCartney collaborated with the rapper in 2014 on Only One, an effort in which the two of them write material as a tribute to West’s daughter, North.
The track sees West sing from the perspective of his late mother, Donda West.
The former Beatle only provides backing vocals rather than taking up a lead role; however, less than a month after the release of Only One, McCartney teamed up with West once more on FourFiveSeconds.
McCartney told GQ in 2018 that he didn’t realize his contribution to FourFiveSeconds until he contacted West and heard that an acoustic guitar riff he recorded in a studio session had been “sped up and consequently raised in pitch” as the background track.
However, he said that there had been no “abusive collaboration,” and that he enjoyed the experience of working with Rihanna and Ye.
“I played a few little things, and one of them ended up as ‘FourFiveSeconds’ with Rihanna.
“It’s more a question of me feeling lucky that these people are interested [in working with me] and think that I can bring something to it. For me, I feel great. I like diversity,” McCartney told DIY.
