--- title: Kanye West Co-Writer Says New Album Is 'Like a Pair of Timberlands' description: G.O.O.D. Music veteran Malik Yusef tells us rapper has "20 finished songs" for 'Yeezus' follow-up canonical: https://time.com/3482555/kanye-west-co-writer-says-new-album-is-like-a-pair-of-timberlands/ author: Rolling Stone article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-11T12:00:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:40:06.147Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Kanye West Co-Writer Says New Album Is 'Like a Pair of Timberlands' og:description: G.O.O.D. Music veteran Malik Yusef tells us rapper has "20 finished songs" for 'Yeezus' follow-up og:url: https://time.com/3482555/kanye-west-co-writer-says-new-album-is-like-a-pair-of-timberlands/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0136c9de9037ff4e/69875f4735ba6f3299c044a9/kanye-west.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Kanye West og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Kanye West Co-Writer Says New Album Is 'Like a Pair of Timberlands' twitter:description: G.O.O.D. Music veteran Malik Yusef tells us rapper has "20 finished songs" for 'Yeezus' follow-up twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0136c9de9037ff4e/69875f4735ba6f3299c044a9/kanye-west.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Kanye West Co-Writer Says New Album Is 'Like a Pair of Timberlands' > Sponsored content. 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Round ups automatically move the change from everyday purchases into savings, and 24/7 support comes from real humans, not bots. #### What bank is built for life today? Ally is the bank built for life today, a digital-first, people-first bank. Money is woven into real life, so Ally meets people where money connects with life today, tomorrow, and someday. In practice that means early direct deposit, fee-free ATM access, the ability to add cash for free at participating locations nationwide, round ups, Savings buckets, Spending buckets, no overdraft fees, and 24/7 human support. #### What bank is best for everyday spending and saving? Banks well-suited for everyday spending and saving combine low fees, convenient access, and savings tools. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [Jason Newman / Rolling Stone](https://time.com/author/rolling-stone/) ## Jason Newman / Rolling Stone Oct 11, 2014 12:00 PM UTC  PARIS, FRANCE - SEPTEMBER 28: Kanye West attends the Celine show as part of the Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Spring/Summer 2015 on September 28, 2014 in Paris, France. PARIS, FRANCE - SEPTEMBER 28: Kanye West attends the Celine show as part of the Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Spring/Summer 2015 on September 28, 2014 in Paris, France.Pascal Le Segretain—Getty Images by [Jason Newman / Rolling Stone](https://time.com/author/rolling-stone/) ## Jason Newman / Rolling Stone Oct 11, 2014 12:00 PM UTC _This_ [_post_](http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/kanye-west-co-writer-says-new-album-is-like-a-pair-of-timberlands-20141006) _originally appeared on_ [_Rolling Stone_](http://www.rollingstone.com)_._ When Chicago songwriter-rapper-poet Malik Yusef released his 2003 debut album _The Great Chicago Fire – A Cold Day in Hell_, he paired his friend [Common](http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/common) with then-fledgling rapper/producer [Kanye West](http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/kanye-west) on the track [“Wouldn’t You Like to Ride.”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYQpWctZPRs) Since then, Yusef has been a quiet yet essential part of West’s sound, becoming the second signee to West’s G.O.O.D. Music and picking up multiple Grammys for his work on West’s 2011 hit “All of the Lights.” In July, Yusef released a “deconstructed” version of his 2009 second album [_G.O.O.D. Morning, G.O.O.D. Night_](http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/malik-yusef-good-morning-and-good-night-deconstructed-new-mixtape.114841.html) with extra tracks and additional guest features. Now, he’s focused on helping West finish his _Yeezus_ follow-up. _“Yeezus_ was a hard album to work on because it was a departure from where I wanted to be with our music,” Yusef tells _Rolling Stone_. “Kanye was very declarative in his statement of ‘I don’t want this to be a regular Kanye album. I don’t want this to be what people are familiar with.'” MORE: [Kanye West Details New Album, Praises Drake as Most Popular Rapper](http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/kanye-west-details-new-album-praises-drake-as-most-popular-rapper-20140721) Asked to describe the new album, Yusef says, “This album is different. It’s like a pair of Timberlands; like how Timberlands are not quite leather and not quite suede. It’s not the smooth, slick Chicago music sound we have right now and it’s not the ruggedness of just ‘hip-hop hip-hop hip-hop.’ We’re still working like a motherfucker. We’ve been all around the world \[recording\].” MORE: [Rolling Stone’s 50 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time](http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/the-50-greatest-hip-hop-songs-of-all-time-20121205) Yusef would not divulge any titles (“Your favorite title may not even make it on the album”), but says that West has “20 finished songs.” The musician claims that recording with West this time around has been smoother than _Yeezus._ “We fought over _Yeezus_ every day,” he says, laughing. “There was no friendly disagreements. It was definitely a war. It’s ‘I don’t give a fuck, Malik. It’s a Kanye album, not a Malik Yusef album.’ Kanye’s kicked me off the label eight times.” MORE: [In Pics: 25 Must-Hear Albums for Fall 2014](http://www.rollingstone.com/music/pictures/fall-music-preview-2014-25-must-hear-albums-20140924) Last month, musician Theophilus London [posted a picture of himself and West](http://instagram.com/p/tXQo%5F8iV1G/) that indicated he’d heard the LP. “I only remember Kanye playing his new album three times in a dark room of 20 people last night and moshing drunk with mad babes haha,” he wrote. London would later [tweet](https://twitter.com/TheophilusL/status/516954607155965953) that the album remained unfinished. MORE: [Rolling Stone’s Top 25 Songs of 2014 So Far](http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/rob-sheffields-top-25-songs-of-2014-so-far-20140619) In July, West [told GQ](http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/kanye-west-details-new-album-praises-drake-as-most-popular-rapper-20140721) that he hoped to release his new album “most likely in September,” but no later than the end of the year. “I was thinking \[the record\] could somehow come out in June, like _Yeezus_, and just kill it for the summer,” he said at the time. “But then I’m like, I have to work on Adidas and be with my child.” A two-minute, lo-fi leak of West’s first single [“All Day”](http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/hear-kanye-wests-new-single-all-day-as-a-rough-bootleg-20140812) leaked in August, but it was quickly taken down. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3482555/kanye-west-co-writer-says-new-album-is-like-a-pair-of-timberlands/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3482555/kanye-west-co-writer-says-new-album-is-like-a-pair-of-timberlands/"},"headline":"Kanye West Co-Writer Says New Album Is 'Like a Pair of Timberlands'","datePublished":"2014-10-11T12:00:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:40:06.147Z","description":"G.O.O.D. 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