Legendary producer Anthony Kilhoffer recently spoke with Kids Take Over on Facetime to discuss everything from his record label First Gen to his first meeting with Kanye West.
The producer — who has worked with the likes of Jay-Z, Travis Scott and Kid Cudi as well as West — spoke with the Vancouver-based YouTube channel about his life and times in the music industry. Dropping insights and knowledge to aspiring hip-hop producers, Kilhoffer speaks about his early meetings with Scott saying, "I was trying to get Travis to be more of a beat maker for me, like somebody to collaborate with musically… That was my first intentions."
Kilhoffer goes on to talk on the importance of youth culture and how younger artists find the opportunity to work with their icons, stating, "There’s only so many people in that social circle, right, that they allow in and trust and maybe they aren’t listening to 18-year-old kids from Nebraska that are cooking up just shit that they think is, you know . . . what they’re doing is giving you back what they’re taking in from the Travis album or whatever or the Sheck album… They’re trying to spit it back to you as their interpolation and since they are the ones that are consuming it, that’s how I look at it."
From working on the autotune for 808s and Heartbreak to experimenting with YEEZUS and linking up with Kendrick Lamar for "No More Parties in LA", Kilhoffer adds insight into what it’s really like working and getting to know Kanye West. Discussing his first meeting with ‘Ye, the producer flashes back to the time the rapper said: "I’m gonna be the greatest rapper of all time," and reflects on the stresses of working on The Life of Pablo. You can watch the entire interview above.
In other news, Kid Cudi has been announced as one of the headline acts at HARD Summer 2019– here is the full lineup.