I Think I F’d Up: Young Jeezy, Kanye West & The Story Behind ‘Can’t Tell Me Nothing’

We love hearing origin stories behind great music. Atlanta legend Young Jeezy gave us one about one of Kanye West’s biggest hits. Click inside to hear it.

In 2006, Atlanta rapper Young Jeezy released his second studio album The Inspiration. The album includes a song entitled ‘I Get Money’ featuring T.I. While visiting the Drink Champs podcast with N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN, Jeezy shared that there was originally another artist on the track. He recalls sending the song to Kanye West about a week and a half before his album was due. When he got it back, the song was totally different. Jeezy had to break the news to Ye that he couldn’t use his verse due to the lack of continuity it added to the track. Kanye didn’t let that stop him. Jeezy ended up linking Kanye West and the song’s producer DJ Toomp after Kanye inquired about the production of the song.

After the fact, Jeezy states that Kanye called him again. This time he wanted to know if Jeezy would mind if he kept his adlibs. Jeezy claims this is when he knew the 45 year old Chicago native was a genius. The song ‘Can’t Tell Me Nothing’ was released as the lead single on Kanye’s third studio album Graduation in May of 2007 and was a massive hit. Jeezy was taken by surprise, especially when people started to call him and mention hearing his voice on it.

Jeezy fast forwards to a show that he was doing in London, that Kanye was also performing at. In front of 80,000 plus people, the first song that Kanye performs is ‘Can’t Tell Me Nothing.’ Jeezy mentions that Jay-Z and Beyoncé were also both backstage watching the crowd go crazy to the smash. Realizing the impact of the moment, Jeezy says that he tells Hov ‘I think I f-cked up.’ When he tells Jay-Z that he gave Kanye the record, Jay responds by saying ‘Yeah, it’s crazy’ further solidifying that Jeezy might’ve possibly made a mistake by not keeping it.

All in all, you win some and you lose some. Jeezy and Kanye both have won a whole lot when it comes to hit records and albums. Thug Motivation 102: The Inspiration debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, selling 352,000 copies in the first week. It was Jeezy’s first number one album. Graduation also went number one upon it’s debut with a whopping 957,000 copies cold in its first full week. It was Kanye’s second number one album. Shout out to both of these legends!