The Kanye
Music Project.

The rules

The constraints I gave myself.

Transposing a whole album down to one acoustic guitar was about juxtaposition, something Kanye and I are both big fans of. The opposite of those big beats made in a studio in Hawaii. Taking what's there and stripping it down to one person. No loop pedals, no effects, just an acoustic guitar, played at sunset inside a Chicago apartment along the El.

• Same key. Every track recreated in the album's original key.
• Same BPM. Each track kept the album's exact tempo, staying true to its pacing.
• Rapped, not sung. The raps had to be rapped, not softened into singing.
• One straight run. No edits, no shortcuts, no redos. All mistakes included. I wanted it to flow and feel authentic, not manufactured.

Recording nerves

The parts that kept me up.

• Remembering every word of “Monster.” The nerves were getting to me in practice and I kept stumbling. I really wanted to nail it.
• Hitting the beat in “So Appalled.” During the chorus there's this little off-beat “duh-duh duh-duh” tucked in a weird spot, with palm mutes and a chord ringing out while I'm rapping. So tricky to work in, but it sounds so cool.
• Flipping the guitar like a piano during “Runaway.” A fun little move to make it look like I'm playing the piano part, but not something I normally do.
• Landing the harmonic on “Runaway.” There's a little 12th-fret harmonic at the end of the piano part that doesn't always ring out quite right.
• The vocals at the very end. A chant-like part right at the finish. I'd practiced it, but performing it is a different thing. Fingers crossed.