Common Recalls Watching Kanye West Make 'Late Registration' Hit In '10 Minutes'

Common has revealed that Kanye West made one of his biggest songs from Late Registration in just 10 minutes.

During an appearance on Carmelo Anthony and The Kid Mero’s 7PM in Brooklyn podcast, the Chicago rapper opened up about passing on “Heard ‘Em Say” after Ye offered the beat to him.

“I got more memories of joints I passed on, beats that he made for me,” he said. “Like, that song ‘Wouldn’t Get Far’ [by The Game]. And then ‘Dreams’ [also by The Game]. And even some of Kanye’s, like a lot of his Late Registration album.

“‘I Wonder’ or even the song ‘Heard ‘Em Say’ — he made that beat for me. He made that beat and I was like, ‘This beat dope.’ He said, ‘Man, you want it?’ It didn’t feel like it was fitting my album. So I was like, ‘Nah, you good.’ He said, ‘Are you sure?’ I was like, ‘Nah, I’m good.'”

Common went on to describe the making of “Heard ‘Em Say,” recalling how Kanye wrote it effortlessly on the spot.

“I promise you, he wrote that song in 10 minutes,” he continued. “I sat there and watched this man write the song. He had just made the beat and he wrote the song. The whole song. I said, ‘Yo, this was meant for you.’ I can’t front, I wasn’t gonna do what he did to that beat. Sometimes you gotta know that.”

He added: “But as I look back, that beat was cold. ‘I Wonder’ was dope. There’s at least 10 Ye beats out there that I passed on. Even on one [Graduation], he said, ‘Common passed on this beat, I made it to a jam/ Everything I’m not made me everything I am.'”

The Chi-Town natives have had their fair share of collaborations over the years, with Common appearing on Kanye’s The College Dropout and Late Registration.

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Common was signed to Ye’s G.O.O.D. Music between 2004 and 2010, releasing his albums Be, Finding Forever and Universal Mind Control on the label.

West served as an executive producer for each album, while producing the entirety of Be and most of Finding Forever.

He also featured on the songs “They Say,” “Start the Show,” “Southside” and “Punch Drunk Love.”