While The-Dream is celebrating the success of his collab with Beyoncé on her latest single, “Break My Soul,” the top producer recently revealed the funny story behind another of their songs with Kanye West.
Dream has worked with both artists numerous times, but when the trio was in the studio recording a song from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye fell asleep.
The-Dream Recalls How Kanye West Nodded Off
“’All of The Lights,’ oh man, wow, ‘All of the Lights.’ I was doing 4 in New York for [Beyoncé]. We were working on 4 and Kanye happened to come by the studio,” The-Dream explained during an interview with Nile Rogers for Apple Music. “And Ye didn’t know I was there and he is like, ‘Oh, happy you’re here. I got something I want you to listen to and see if you can put a hook on this thing.’ I’m like, ‘Okay, cool. Let me hear it.’ And this track came on. I was like, ‘Wow, that’s crazy.’ I knew instantly exactly what I wanted to do, instantly.”
However, Kanye West nodded off, while The-Dream and Beyoncé got to work on the song.
“So, we got the booth working, brought the engineer down, recorded. And after the first take, which ended up being the song that you hear now, he said, ‘Nah, nah, nah, nah, try another one,'” Dream recalled. “Like, ‘Okay. All right.’ Got another one. ‘Oh, try another one, Dream.’ It’s like, ‘Okay.’ I got to like number eight of the song I did. I look out, Kanye West is sleep. And I’m like, I’m looking through the glass like, ‘Yo, is he asleep?’ B’s like, ‘Yeah, he’s kind of knocked out.’ I’m like, ‘What?'”
After working on several renditions of the hook, they settled on the first one. ”That ended up being the one that Rihanna sings to this day,” The-Dream added. “But that was so hilarious. I’m on idea number eight. He’s been asleep since idea number three.”
Check out The-Dream’s interview here and listen to Kanye West’s “All Of The Lights” below.