Kanye West’s politically-charged single, “New Slaves,” was the perfect sendoff for his most recent LP, Yeezus, but it wasn’t until recently that fans got the 411 on how the track came together.
Benjamin Bronfman of the production collective Teachers revealed to Rolling Stone that it was his demo that was used as the skeleton for the computer blipped soundscape on the song.
“He called me, like, ‘Yo, what do you got?’” Bronfman said.
The producer, who previously supplied the voice for ‘Ye’s “Monster” from the critically-acclaimed My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, quickly got to work at Manhattan’s SMT Studios and sent the Chicago native seven or eight beats from the sessions, including “Cruel Cold Winter,” which was eventually used for the track.
“He kept saying, ‘Just make it hot, make it really dope,’” he said. “He didn’t really get into specifics, which is funny — he’s the type of person who will get really specific in person, but not on the phone. I heard that they were working on a follow-up to Cruel Summer, so I was just kind of riffing.”
The A.P.C. designer loved the beat, but didn’t tell Bronfman until a secret listening session for the album in Roseland.
“I got word, like, ‘One of your tracks made it. It’s ill. Come to the show, we’ll talk about it there,’” he said. “He almost accentuated the track more. The only part he took was the beginning part — he made it even more minimalistic.”
Bronfman saw Kanye a few nights afterwards at a wrap party for his performance on “Saturday Night Live,” where he was given quite the compliment.
“He was like, ‘You know, you really brought it with all those tracks. Everything you sent was totally next level’,” said Bronfman, who is working on new tracks in hopes that Kanye uses them for his next project. “It was amazing to hear that from him ’cause he really is the best.”
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