The artist formerly known as Kanye West charged $90,000 for his contributions to Slum Village’s 2004 single “Selfish,” so says founding member T3.
This aspect of the Detroit Deli track's conception was revealed in a recent interview with Shirley Ju for Shirley's Temple and The Source. Asked about the sessions behind the Ye-produced song, Young RJ gave fans a detailed breakdown of the moment he and the group first heard the beat.
"The real story? Because you got the PC version of the story," RJ said. "We walk in the studio. [Ye's] sitting there. John Legend's sitting there. Matter of fact, [Ye] had a burgundy Polo sweater. Cashmere. Kanye made the beat for 'Selfish.' So we walk in there, he's like, 'This the joint.' Ain’t no options. This the only beat he played. 'This the beat. This it for y’all.' We like, 'Okay.' Everybody looking around like, 'Okay, yeah. We can work with this.'"
T3 then chimed in with the reveal of the $90,000 charge, which included Ye’s beat and his feature on the track.
“The only reason he charged that was because of a certain A&R that turned him down when he was looking for a record deal,” RJ added. “He was getting payback.”
While the figure is indeed a large one, T3 was quick to note the omnipresence of large album budgets for major labels during the 2000s. Slum Village, for example, was with Capitol at the time and allegedly had a $1 million budget for Detroit Deli.
From there, RJ and T3 looked back on the mixing of the track, which Ye participated in by phone due to being busy “shooting a Pepsi commercial or some shit.” The two also spoke about the shoot for the video, directed by Chris Robinson. Per RJ, and as swiftly highlighted by Andrew Barber (Fake Shore Drive), J Dilla's 2006 classic Donuts was at least partially inspired by a moment that occurred on the set.
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The interview was conducted amid this year's Dilla Day LA proceedings. The annual event stands as a celebration of the late J Dilla, who, alongside T3 and the late Baatin, was part of the group's original lineup. Slum Village is presently a duo comprised of T3 and Young RJ.
Two decades removed from the release of Slum Village's "Selfish," Ye's most recent album, the Ty Dolla Sign joint release Vultures 1, is currently the No. 1 album in the country.
