Here’s a blurb from Kanye who at the time was trying to figure out an alternate title to the track, “Theraflu.” [He later went with So Cold]

Kanye: It is so funny this is such an example of being a perfectionist, right? This song is out and I’m going to change the name, like I want to perfect this moment some more. Well, I think it’s just if you’re a perfectionist, that’s just what you do.  You know, there are slackers, there are people who are satisfied and then there are people who can only be satisfied by delivering everything that they have—with their knowledge, their financial situation, their level of exposure —to deliver the best product possible.

I respect, look up to, and look to Walt Disney and Steve Jobs who dedicated their time, soul and energy to delivering the best product that they knew they could.  There’s a lot of psychology that goes into it.  What can you give to human existence? How can you push the culture forward?  And when you’re a perfectionist, at a certain point you feel a responsibility in what you put out, and what could trickle down from it.  If you put out things that are so over-the-top and magnificent, what trickles down from it could at least be good because there are more followers than leaders.

___________

I’m from Chicago. And that was just one of the best things to prepare me for anything. If you can make it out of Chicago, you can make it anywhere.  That’s what I’m talking about on this new song. That’s what I’m talking about when I’m dealing with any business or creative processes. That’s the stuff I’m talking about when I was dealing with people, from not wanting me to rap, to [not] doing the tour with Jay, and being able to do the light show for it.  It was like sit-ins, when we were going out to Paris.  You know when we were wearing the outfits and people on the blogs were calling us names and all that, right?  But then, once they got that Givenchy cover, and everybody’s wearing Givenchy they’re all like “oh this is cool.”

Pharrell: Right

Kanye: But it wasn’t cool when South Park was using the photo and dissing us and everything. And so many people dress like that now.

Pharrell: [Laughs in agreement] Yeah, that’s what we do.

Kanye: That was before everybody said swag, or when we were out in Japan.  How could you communicate through people? We’re not even understanding the language but we knew the visual language, we knew the spirit, we knew the ideas, we knew the reference points.

Pharrell:  That’s what separates us from a lot of folk, and not because we’re better but because we’ve decided to listen to that inner voice, and a lot of people don’t.  People fail a lot of times doing that. Whereas we just trained ourselves to say “You know what, let me entertain the idea” and exhaust all the possibilities to make sure that it doesn’t make sense because something good may come out of that and for every time that someone has ever told you ‘no’, you’ve always had the willingness to explore it.