The rapper John Mayer called “the greatest summoner of creative energy”
John Mayer’s soulful style has always made him a great candidate for hip-hop collaborations. But of all of his creative counterparts, across any genre, he cites Kanye West as the one who stands apart from the rest. And that, as many of us know, comes with its blessings and curses.
In recent years, Kanye West has been synonymous with controversy. There are almost too many controversies to hyperlink in one article. But the Chicago rapper was once hip-hop’s biggest star, and considered a creative genius by many who have worked with him.
In an interview with Zane Lowe, John Mayer echoed those sentiments. “The veil that hangs between what you know and what you don’t in terms of creating, for him, is so freaking thin that I understand his excitement artistically. He can pull anything into existence that he wants. He is maybe the greatest summoner of creative energy. I’ve seen him do it; it’s a magic trick.”
As an example of that “magic trick”, Mayer recalled encountering Kanye early in his career. Ye was holding a laptop with a demo beat queued up. He showed Mayer the track, and flawlessly rapped what is now one of the most iconic songs of the early 2000’s. The track was “Gold Digger”.
A few years later, Mayer would have the chance to work with Kanye West on Common’s 2005 album, Be. In particular, Mayer provided the chorus vocals on “Go!”, and even contributed the hook: “On the count of three, everybody run back to your fantasy.”
In that session, Mayer described Kanye’s creative energy as “fearless”. He seemed to have an unmatched ability to pull fully formed ideas out of thin air. But Mayer went on to say that energy could be both “intoxicating and sometimes toxic”. In other words, by seeing how Kanye worked, Mayer gained a small window into the dark side of Kanye’s psyche.
“When you’re that powerful at building the road as you go, it’s gotta be very hard to be able to trust what’s a real road block and what’s an imaginary road block. Because your whole life … as an artist … is breaking through imaginary road blocks.”
That is to say that Kanye had made a habit of defying creative norms. But the shadow side of that habit is seeing all opposition as a threat. Being unable to be told “no”. To illustrate, Mayer even cited the example of Kanye’s non-musical business ventures: “The world says, ‘We don’t think you can make shoes.’ You’re wrong, I just did. And they’re the greatest thing in your life. It’s gotta be difficult when you’re at that level to be told, ‘Well, not that.’”
For an innovative artist like Kanye, proving the naysayers wrong was exactly what made him successful. But it also left him unable to determine which naysayers might be legitimate. As Mayer continues: “How can you be sure what is someone’s true assessment of a boundary line and what is just another imaginary imposed boundary line? You’re just not sure where the walls are.”
While Mayer didn’t claim to know Kanye well, his brief stints working with him left him with the impression that he was one of those creatives who’s just built differently. For better or worse.