John Legend Says Kanye West’s Success Prepared Him For Fame

Kanye West and John Legend became everyone’s favorite duo at one point in time. John and Kanye may not be best buddies anymore, but that didn’t stop the singer from giving the rapper his flowers. John Legend revealed how Kanye’s shot to fame inspired his own career growth.

As he saw his good buddy Kanye West soar to popularity in the early 2000s, John Legend felt prepared for success. In order to seek a record deal, the “All of Me” singer relocated to New York in 2000, and his roommate introduced him to Ye the following year.

John Legend stood by while Kanye West found critical and financial success with The College Dropout in early 2004. They worked together on each other’s demos for their debut albums. In an interview with The Guardian, John Legend reflected on their early connection, saying that watching West’s ascension helped him prepare for his own.

Me and Kanye were working on each other’s demos – mine, which would become Get Lifted, and his, which would be The College Dropout. Being with Kanye and witnessing him blow up in the early days helped prepare me for what would happen. When success finally happened for me, I felt like I was able to not be overwhelmed by it. I would get told ‘no’ by a lot of people in the industry. I’d get really lowball offers for record deals or people would tell me to work more on my demo. Finally, The College Dropout came out in 2004 and it just took off. That’s when the music from “Get Lifted* started to sound a lot better to all the record execs.

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John Legend recounted how having writing credits on The College Dropout made him more appealing to record labels who had previously passed him up. Later that year, Legend signed with West’s G.O.O.D. Music label and released Get Lifted. Following a feud over political differences several years ago, he declined to comment on the rapper’s present state of friendship. Check out the video below.

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