Posted by Future scored his first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 as a lead artist last month thanks to his “WAIT FOR U” single, which boasts appearances from Drake and Nigerian singer Tems. But it turns out the track almost fell into another rapper’s hands.
During a recent interview with B High Atl, “WAIT FOR U” co-producer ATL Jacob revealed Kanye West also took a liking to the beat and recorded to it, but ultimately failed to turn it into a finished song.
“What’s crazy is before ‘WAIT FOR U’ came out, that was one of [Kanye’s] favorite songs,” Jacob said. “He was like, ‘Man, this record crazy!’ So we was trying some stuff on it but you know, we just ain’t get to the point where we actually finished ‘WAIT FOR U.’”
Shedding more light on the song in an interview with Complex last month, ATL Jacob revealed Future initially skipped on the beat (or so he thought), until the Freebandz boss demanded it for himself months later.
“I made it about a year ago … and I knew I was going to give it to Future. Then he skipped it,” he said. “But we were talking the other day when we were at Drake’s house, and he said he skipped it because he knew it was one of his favorites. He said he listened to that beat every day for a month straight … and he knew what he was going to do to it.
“A long time went by like, six or seven months. So I was like, let me try the beat with another artist, since he ain’t like it. Then he called me and said, ‘Hey, don’t ever get this beat out to nobody else. I got a crazy song on it.’”
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Although “WAIT FOR U” wound up as a platinum hit for Future, Drake and Tems, ATL Jacob’s studio time with Kanye West didn’t amount to nothing. The 23-year-old producer picked up multiple credits on DONDA 2 (which dropped exclusively on Ye’s $200 stem player in February), co-producing “Pablo” and “Keep It Burnin,” the latter of which also appeared on Future’s I NEVER LIKED YOU.
“It was actually very motivational, just the process and experience because he works so differently than everybody else that you’ll work with,” Jacob told XXL while reflecting on working with Ye. “You’re just learning new things. It be kinda funny, though. He’ll be like, ‘These drums are crazy! Now let’s take them all out.’ And it be like, ‘I thought you liked the drums!’ So it’s just an experience.”
Revisit “WAIT FOR U” below.