Lester Cohen
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The New York Times ran a lengthy profile on Dirty Projectors' Dave Longstreth today, ahead of the release date for a quasi-solo, self-titled new album. As Stereogum points out, the article finds Longstreth sharing some stories from his time recording with Kanye West during some of the sessions leading up to The Life of Pablo.
Longstreth was a writer on Kanye's Paul McCartney and Rihanna collab "FourFiveSeconds," and as the interview reveals, he was also around for sessions—both in L.A. and Mexico—that recruited "motley creative brain trusts" including Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig, French Montana, The Weeknd, Big Sean, Rhymefest and others.
During one of those sessions, Longstreth recalls, Ye shared a tape of he and McCartney improvising on keys and vocals. The recording, which featured some "gibberish" and a line that sounded a little like "Memories can get you in trouble," became a jumping off point for him and Koenig to expand the idea into a song.
Unfortunately, the song was shelved, at least for the time being. “Kanye didn’t wind up using it, but it was good," Longstreth said. "Maybe something will come of it down the line.”
Dirty Projectors' album, which features a very good, Solange-assisted D∆WN collab, "Cool Your Heart," drops February 24.
