Oct. 29--A teenage Kanye West wore MC Hammer pants and carried a laptop with his song "Green Eggs and Ham" when he met his eventual mentor Dion "No I.D." Wilson in his Chicago basement studio more than two decades ago.
"The music wasn't good and he was only 14 or 15," Wilson told Billboard in a story posted online Thursday. "But (West) took the advice I gave him and it multiplied with a new perspective. That's why I'm betting on the new generation -- I can teach them everything I know and they can expand on it."
Wilson, a South Side native who has produced Chicago rapper-turned-actor Common's albums, gave Billboard a look at a typical day in his job as executive vice president for Def Jam Recordings for the magazine's Nov. 7 issue.
In one meeting, he expressed approval of Chicago R singer Jeremih's long-delayed album, which is a collaboration with Migos, Future and Big Sean.
Wilson keeps track of the Def Jam artists and their potential sales figures on a chalkboard in his office in the Los Angeles area, according to Billboard.
"A lot of my favorite artists didn't sell much out the gate. I didn't with Common at first. Neither did first albums from Outkast, Nas or Jay Z," Wilson said. "It doesn't scare me. Either you go out and release free albums to hide the numbers because you're afraid -- or you go in the system and build from there."
