No I.D. Talks About How Quincy Jones Inspired His Work on JAY-Z's '4:44'

Before yesterday, JAY-Z had never released an album that featured only one producer.

READ: Young Guru Says That JAY-Z's "Adnis" Will Be on Physical Copies of '4:44'

That changed at midnight, when 4:44, JAY-Z's 13th album, was officially released. The album was produced entirely by No I.D. And there is consensus: the veteran producer bodied every single track.

No I.D. is someone that lets his actions do the talking; he doesn't do many interviews. However, he had plenty of time for Rolling Stone. He broke his silence in a new interview published by Rolling Stone last night.

READ: Heres Our First-Take Listen Jay-Zs Lemonade Response Album, 4:44

In the interview, No I.D. talked about the whole 4:44 process, which started about a year ago when the two bumped into each other in a restaurant and JAY-Z asked: "You got any music for me?"

At the time, No I.D. didn't. However, he got inspired by alegendary musicianwho has been known to produce whole albums for pop superstars: Quincy Jones.

"The thing that made me want to get better was I heard a quote by Quincy Jones where they asked him, 'What do you think about music nowadays?' He said, 'four-bar loops.' It really affected me. I said, 'Wait a minute, that's not what I want to be a part of.' So I went and did some studying with the intention of growing."

After doing some studying, No I.D. emailed JAY and said he had music that was "Blueprint-level." The producer would go on to say:

"The thing that was holding me was reading a lot of Quincy Jones' story and his words. He was an incredible producer and musician for so many years but people didn't really give him full credit because he was in jazz. I understand that feeling. At a certain point, I remember reading that he took some years in his forties to go out and get better. That resonated at this point in my career."

No I.D. sai that his relationship with Hov evolved naturally. There was no talk of him doing the whole album. It just happened. Their relationship got so close, No I.D. started pushing JAY to make more personal music:

"I knew he wanted to [say those things]. I don't want to take credit for what he wanted to do in the first place. I helped push him by saying, 'Hey, this is what you said, this is what we know. And I don't think people need to hear it. I think people need to hear what they don't know.' Meaning: You wanted a Picasso, but why? You're with Beyonc, but what is that really like? What's the pressure? What's the responsibility? What's the ups and downs? I wanted him to not be over people's heads...I knew as a human being we all have these things and we never really want to tell the truth because we're supermen in our own eyes to the people we want to love us. It was just a nudge. 'Hey man, I'm going to push you to say it.'"

Also, he confirmed what Young Guru hinted at earlier in the evening. There's more new music on the way. And it's coming soon:

Yes. There's three more songs that are coming out as bonuses. James Blake came in and joined into the process. There's more coming shortly that's equally as revealing.

Head to Rolling Stone to read the whole interview. It's ahighly insightful read.

SOURCE: Rolling Stone