Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder Kareem “Biggs” Burke says he knew early into Ye’s trajectory that he would have a unique impact, and not just within the realm of music.
In a new Netflix chat with Speedy Morman—host of Complex’s 360 With Speedy Morman—that arrives on the release day of the third and final act of Coodie & Chike’s jeen-yuhs documentary, Biggs was asked to look back on his first time meeting the artist formerly known as Kanye West.
“Hungry, talented, comedic. … His thirst to get on was, like, unmatched, even for the people that we had down with us,” Biggs recalled of his early interactions with Ye. “You know, we had a lot of talent with us but not the hunger that he had. Put it this way, he would play a beat for Jay[-Z], and then start rapping his own verses. He was like, ‘Look, you’re gonna take this beat with me, without me, whatever it is.’ And nobody else would do anything like that or even have the balls to do something like that.”
Later, around two minutes into the video above, Biggs spoke on how Roc-A-Fella viewed Ye early into his career, with Speedy noting that Coodie mentions this in the narration for one of the three-part doc’s most inspiring sequences.
I did,” Biggs said when asked about people not taking him seriously as an artist at the time. “Hell yeah. The talent was something. And the sound, sonically, he had brought something that we hadn’t heard, even to the point that Dame didn’t believe in it. So Dame was like, ‘Look, let’s make this first project a mixtape and then put everybody on it.’ And I was like, this project is too special, the talent is too special. I fought for that, you know, so he could have that solo album [and] so it could be a full Kanye project.
Source: People
In other news – Unathi Nkayi opens up about her new Journey
Local media personality Unathi Nkayi is back on the airwaves! The broadcaster on March 1, hosted her first show on radio station Star 91.9FM.
The seasoned broadcaster hosts the ‘All Star Drive’ from 3pm to 6pm alongside Justin Toerien on the radio station. For her first official show, Star 91.9FM held a live broadcast of the show at Jozi Gin Bar in Cedar Square. Learn more
