FUSE TV - G.O.O.D. Music's Pusha T and Common on Kanye West’s Perfectionism

The G.O.O.D.  Music family recently sat down with Fuse’s Esteban Serrano to discuss their eagerly anticipated new album, Cruel Summer. Pusha T, Common, Cyhi the Prynce, Teyana Taylor and Big Sean opened up about working together, recording sessions in Hawaii and Kanye’s perfectionism. Here are some highlights:

On how it all started: 

Pusha T: "It started with the whole G.O.O.D. Friday thing during My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. We started putting out verses and whatever fits the track is what makes it."

Teyana Taylor: "I got to watch them record 'Mercy' and I was like '(mimes excited dance.)' It was good to see it happen. It was a good time, fun. There was a lot of humor." 

Common: "It was a good environment for creativity. It was good to just be around it. I was just observing sometimes because it gets me juiced up to be around artists that are so excited."

On the competitive spirit of the recording sessions:

Common: "I think it’s always competitive, even if it is family. On a track you always want to be the freshest."

Big Sean: "We push ourselves to the limit. You have to make it better than the last time. You have to set it one notch above. Kanye has nitpicked so many of our verses, my goal was to write a verse that he wasn’t going to say nothing about."

On Kanye's perfectionism:

Common: "Kanye was the first producer I worked with that would be like, 'No, change that verse,' or, 'Leave that verse the way it was.' I got my ego out of the way, and I was learning from it. It makes everything better."

Big Sean: "It made me rewrite a lot of my verses on my own."

On working in Hawaii: 

Pusha T: "It’s intimidating. When you get there all you see is signs, 'No Instagramming, no tweeting' we can’t talk about anything but the songs at hand. And then you see signs on the wall like, 'What would Mobb Deep do?' The bar is set…without anyone saying a word, that’s what you see." 

For more, watch the full video. And be sure to check out our excellent G.O.O.D Music photo gallery.