It goes without saying that Common has managed to find plenty of success over the years, but that doesn't mean he never finds himself having some regrets. During an appearance on the 7PM in Brooklyn podcast, for example, the artist looked back on some of the Kanye West beats he decided to pass on.
“I got more memories of joints I passed on, beats that he made for me,” he began, as captured by XXL. “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,'” he continued.
Kanye West & Common
Common went on to reveal that Ye ended up writing "Heard ‘Em Say" is just a few minutes. “I promise you, he wrote that song in 10 minutes,” he said. “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.”
“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,'” he concluded.
Common and Kanye West may not be as close as they once were, but Common has publicly referred to Ye as his "brother" despite the many controversies he's been a part of in recent years.
