Vice President of A&R for Def Jam, Lenny Santiago recently sat down with MTV to dish on the recording sessions for "Watch the Throne," in particularly, the studio sessions with Pharrell.
"It was real dope, about that picture and just about that day, period. It felt like old Roc-A-Fella, Baseline days and obviously Jay, Kanye, P came through," he recalled. "At that time, they were in two different spaces, just on some... 'Ye was just a producer at the time, wasn't rapping yet. P on production as well. Now, 'Ye being an artist, I was there, one of the A&Rs for Roc-A-Fella, Hip Hop, was there. [...] That day alone felt real. I remember Jay and 'Ye just making note of that."
Lenny also opened up about Jay-Z's unique ability to construct rhymes in his head while listening to a beat.
"A lot of times, when Jay writes or doesn't write, that's how he writes. With his arms on the board, bobbing his head," he explained. "That's literally Jay's way of writing, which is so ill and dope if you ever have the honor and pleasure of being there. Witness that, and just nodding, grooving to the joint."
Source: hiphopdx.com
