The first record that really brought Kanye West to my attention was Beanie Sigel’s “The Truth” — just an undeniable collection of good old-fashioned ‘hood-street bop mixed with gangsta zoot-suit grace. I had no idea that the producer of the song would grow to be a superstar. Then, Kanye hit me with the whammy on Jay-Z’s Dynasty album: “This Can’t Be Life.” Incredible. My favorite song off the album and one of the best album cuts you’ll ever hear. The soulful loop was drenched with so much pain and hope — it was the perfect musical backdrop for Hov’s, Beanie Sigel’s and Scarface’s tales of weariness. Then I started to research Kanye. “He’s gonna be one of the best producers in the game,” I thought. ‘Ye confirmed my suspicions on Beanie’s “Nothing Like It,” from The Reason album.

Luckily, I was in place to tell the world about the guy whose beats just captivated me. His music sounded like the civil-rights movement mixed with backwoods juke-joints and Sunday-morning church services. (The kind of “sister Johnson just passed out praising the Lord, throw the white blanket over her and let her lie there sweet Jeee-sus” church services — you know, the good ones.) Even back then, Kanye could hit you with so many emotions in his tracks. Once I decided to profile him on MTV News, it didn’t really take me any time to set up the interview — I was in great standing with the Roc-A-Fella family then.

So, during our first interview in 2001 — Kanye’s first-ever interview, I believe — we talked about his producing and, surprisingly, he revealed to me that he would also be rapping. I was unsure until he played me some early recordings of “Jesus Walks” and “Hey Mama.” The guy had so much aggressive passion about his music — and still does, to this day — how could he have not been a winner?

Several months down the line, I get a call from the homie Yasmine that Kanye was in a serious car accident. When I finally got a chance to talk to him, I’ll always remember how calm and matter-of-fact he was — this is a cat who almost lost his life, and he’s telling me about this rap he just wrote called “Through the Wire.” (When Kanye says, “Story on MTV and I ain’t trying to make the band,” he’s talking about what you-know-who wrote.) He also told me about how the police were racially profiling him, what he was wearing and the car he was driving; it was classic Kanye. I did cringe, though, when he said they had to break his jaw again because the medical procedure they originally did on him was faulty. Damn.