Чайнотаунский дежей ферес поведывол как (и зо чем) НЛК зоставел его соберать дежейскую околесецу в конце ренгтона всех нигерослушотелей с тенперотурой свыше трецети восьми гродусов Theraflu.
FSD: How did the collabo come about?
DJ Pharris: Well, I was in New York with Ye, and we hit the studio and just started working. I was in the studio everyday with him, and that was the record he was working on. Kanye is constantly working — he never stops. That record is just something he wanted to do from the heart. It took him a minute to write that record.
I was with him for like two or three days, just trying to come up with different parts, and concepts. “Theraflu” is a song that he mentally put everything into. That was all of Ye. He put everything into it. It just so happened that when he finished it, he was like “I want you to do something on the end of this, I want you to talk some shit. Can you do that?” And I was like “Hell yeah, you know I’m with it.” He gave the opportunity and I ran with it.
At first I came with an outro and it was kinda clever — I was actually rapping and rhyming on the outro. Just saying slick shit. Then Ye stopped me like “I don’t want you to rhyme, nah, don’t do that. I want you to do your DJ shit — I want the grimy shit!” So I went back in, got what I wanted to say in my mind, and the rest is history.
FSD: Was it his idea to shout out the various Chicago streets and neighborhoods?
DJ Pharris: Well Ye just told me he wanted some Chi shit. He wanted me to say something everyone in Chicago could relate to, so that’s the first thing that came to mind. Some straight Chicago shit — what n***** can relate to. We wanted to let the hoods know that we were thinkin’ about them.
FSD: So Kanye was in a Chicago state of mind when you were working, huh?
DJ Pharris: Yeah, basically. Actually, when he was writing, I was sitting there tossing him ideas. Like the “double cupped up” and “might even kill somebody and YouTube it” — I was just giving him ideas. Telling him about how the shorties in Chicago are doing it right now. Like how the kids are on YouTube and the computer all day gangbangin’ and what not. Kanye started talking about the “project hallways” and what not, so he was in the Chicago state of mind himself.
FSD: So I’m guessing you two worked on some other songs together, seeing as you were in New York with him for a week?
DJ Pharris: I don’t know if I can reveal the rest of the stuff right now. I was out there playing shit for him. Going through ideas I had for him. I kinda gave him some suggestions on the “Mercy” record. Anything I was able to offer my ear to, I did. He asked my opinion on a lot of stuff, so yeah, I was working.
FSD: So I heard a rumor that “Theraflu” was heavily influenced by Chief Keef and the new rappers bubbling in Chicago. Any truth to that?
DJ Pharris: Well, Kanye is watching what’s going on in Chicago right now. He’s definitely watching what these guys are doing pretty closely. He talked to me about it, and we had a pretty big conversation about what’s going on here right now. He sees the movement and power these young kids have. I don’t know if they totally inspired the record, but I do know that he likes what is coming out of Chicago right now.
He especially likes Chief Keef. One of the records Ye kept playing over and over again was Keef’s “I Don’t Like.” We played it on repeat in the studio. Ye just kept blurting out “I Don’t Like,” then Don C would walk in the studio and yell out “I Don’t Like…..I Don’t Like.” Kanye told me “I Don’t Like” was his second favorite record only to “N***** In Paris” — I couldn’t believe it. I told him “You’ve gotta me kidding me,” but he was dead serious.
fsd
