Paul McCartney Talks About His Studio Sessions With Kanye West

Paul McCartney Speaks On Working With Kanye West

Sir Paul McCartney recently sat down for an interview about his life and career with BBC Radio 4 as part of their Mastertapes series. Amongst topics like suffering from depression after The Beatles broke up, McCartney opened up about his recent — and to many people, surprising — collaborations with Kanye West.

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“I love Kanye,” he said. “People say he’s eccentric, which you’d have to agree with. But he’s a monster, he’s a crazy guy who comes up with great stuff. He inspires me.” Sir Paul went on to shed light on the creative process behind songs like “FourFiveSeconds” and “All Day,” both of which were spawned from him strumming away on his guitar in the studio — and finding inspiration in a Picasso painting.

As for the backlash to his involvement in “All Day” (mostly from older, conservative listeners), McCartney was quick to defend Kanye and his use of the n-word. “People like Oprah, who are a little conservative about that stuff, she says, ‘You shouldn’t do it, even black people shouldn’t use that word.’ I said, ‘Yeah, but it’s Kanye!’ And he’s talking about an urban generation that uses that word in a completely different way. It’s the context. I was actually pleased with it.”