Hudson Mohawke
Producer.
When the beat drops on “Blood On The Leaves”, something happens. It can be quite hard to put into words, but that happens on a lot of TNGHT material, the collective production group that happens when you pair HudMo with his partner, Lunice. Paired with the ironic Nina Simone sample, the “Blood On The Leaves” instrumental is one of the best moments Yeezus has to offer, and one of the people responsible for that provides some insight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0QcxWPB59o
7. “Blood On The Leaves”. Yeezus. prod. Hudson Mohawke, Lunice, Mike Dean, Kanye West, 88-Keys.
[“R U Ready”] was either the first or second TNGHT track me and Lunice ever did together, and that happened to be one of the first things we sent over to [Kanye’s camp]. So about a month after we made it, in the summer of 2011, they first got in touch with me. And while that entire original beat is still there on “Blood on the Leaves”, the finished version– with the Nina Simone part and everything– is completely different. It’s really become a fucking proper song. I think Kanye had wanted to use that “Strange Fruit” sample for a while, but it was like, “How in the hell are you going to get that to fit?” But it miraculously came together. Obviously, “Strange Fruit” carries so much political weight, and “Blood on the Leaves” is more about past relationships, but you can draw some parallels between the two. There’s not an overtly political message in the final lyrics, but in some ways that would’ve been too easy.
