The bitter story behind Slum Village and Kanye West’s ‘Selfish’
Kanye West was making waves long before he had access to social media and sports brands deals.
In 2004, the artist, now known only as ‘Ye’, charged Slum Village $90,000 for his contribution to the single ‘Selfish’. The news came during an interview back in 2024, when Slum Village members, Young RJ and T3, spoke about making the track with Ye.
“We walk in the studio, [Ye’s] sitting there […] he had a burgundy Polo sweater. Cashmere”, Young RJ recalled about his first impression of Ye. At the time, Ye was a rising producer, he didn’t have the same fame (nor infamy) that he has today. But he did have the same assertiveness.
“So we walk in there, [Ye’s] like, ‘This the joint. Ain’t no options […] ‘This the beat. This it for y’all”, Young RJ said. It was the only beat Ye played for Slum Village – there were no alternatives and seemingly not much room to turn it down.
The $90,000 fee that Ye demanded for the work covered both the beat production and Ye’s vocals on the song. Yet Young RJ said in the interview that the number wasn’t plucked out of thin air – it was because of “a certain A&R that turned down [Ye] down when he was looking for a record deal”.
“He was getting payback”, Young RJ explained.
In the landscape of the music industry in the 2000s, major labels had substantially bigger album budgets than they do now. Slum Village was signed to Capital Records while making ‘Selfish’, and the album it’s featured on – Detroit Deli – allegedly had a $1million budget. With that in mind, Ye’s $90,000 fee wasn’t so outrageous.
What was unconventional, though, was how the recording session unfolded with Ye. Young RJ and T3 said that Ye mixed the track remotely by phone because he was busy “shooting a Pepsi commercial or some shit”. Despite the hands-off approach, Ye contributed to one of hip hop’s most loved tracks, praised for its soulful rhythm, smooth vocals, and sexy but gritty charm that era of hip hop did so well.
The iconic nature of ‘Selfish’ even extended to the video shoot. Directed by Chris Robinson, there are rumours that J Dilla’s acclaimed 2006 Donuts album was inspired by something that happened on set involving Dilla being supposedly “taunted” by Ye producing for Slum Village. J Dilla was part of Slum Village’s original lineup, made up of T3 and the late Baatin.
There’s no doubt that ‘Selfish’ helped Ye achieve a career as a sought-after producer. And the detail that he charged an exorbitant amount for his work feels like a foreshadowing of the many outspoken moments that would later come from Ye. Just as rejection and ambition fuelled his career back then, they still do today.
Still, more than 20 years after ‘Selfish’ was released, it remains a widely respected track, and a reminder of Ye’s rapid rise to stardom.