Peep the excerpt from Andreas Hale's interview with the Pharoah...

"By the time I got the publishing deal and me and Diddy was on the same publishing and the same publisher was like, “He’s looking for writers” and sat down with [Diddy] and played him my shit — “Desire” and “Hold On” and “Body Baby” and he was like, “Yo, this shit is crazy.” I was working on my album while I was writing for his and it got a buzz. I kind of had a bidding war between Sony, [Bad Boy] and SRC. But before I signed, in my heart I was like, “I want to sit down with Jay-Z. He’s starting this new shit at Roc-A-Fella and I want him to hear “When The Gun Draws” and I want him to hear these songs and I want him to tell me, “Yes or No.” So I knew some people that knew him very well and I know he knows me and I’m like, “I don’t care if he signs me or not. I just want to feel his energy about where he’s at with it.” And I played him some shit and he’s like on his cell, whatever, people are coming in and he’s like, “Oh, that jacket is fly but don’t use those colors.” I’m sitting there and shit is playing and “When The Gun Draws” comes on and he’s like, “What the fuck?! What the fuck is that?!” I’m like, “Word? That’s the shit you like?” He’s like, “This shit is crazy, Pharoahe! This shit is crazy, B! You should’ve played this first!” So I’m like, “OK.” So we start talking and he’s like, “So here’s what’s going on, if I was to fuck with you and I’m doing this, I would have to give you the smallest budget ever because this is how the industry is changing right now. If the budget goes over here and you come out, your project is going to be shelved. That’s plain and simple.” Meanwhile I had some deals on the table and I’m like, “OK. Cool. Peace, man. Alright.” [Laughs] But it was changing then. Even my DJ was like, “Are you sure you don’t want to be independent? Why would you do this?” But I was still in that mind frame at the time."

Source: The Well Versed