Originally we were going to record the choir in Texas, but Ye said, “Let's just get them out [to L.A.].” He flew Kirk out. Kirk had to speak on a Sunday, so I had him fly in on a Friday to just vibe, Saturday to record the choir, and then come back on Monday in case there was something that we weren't hearing, so we'd have a day to work on what we had done. Friday was the day the image came out from the studio. Kirk Franklin was a top trending topic globally for 10 hours after that.

Kirk Franklin is a staple and a juggernaut of the gospel community. We got a studio for him on Saturday for the choir. How many people in the choir? We'll keep that private, we'll call that secret sauce. So we begin to have a conversation in the studio. Kirk’s in there with headphones and he said, “What are you hearing?” I told him that we wanted to amplify what was already there. He began to teach the choir the parts and he taught it in seven minutes, bro. And I'm talking one-one-thousand, two-one-thousand, he taught all the parts to every choir singer in seven minutes. It was like watching a master at work. It was phenomenal. He taught all of the parts and just went into it. I brought my bishop in—the same bishop that prophesied with Kelly—for him to be there in case he was hearing something else that needed to be said. We produced the choir as Ye was shooting the Rolling Stone cover with Tyler. I said, “Let me go over and grab Kanye.” I wanted him to hear what we had. Kirk said, “Hold on, let me put the prayer on there.”

So we came back on Monday. That's when Kirk told me about this fire and brimstone stuff he's been getting from the gospel community. It's very indicative of what was happening in the Old Testament with the Pharisees and Sadducees and this religious hierarchy, which was very critical of this new idea of grace that was coming through. Kirk looked at me and said, “I'm getting beat up.” I said, “Jesus, when he presented himself in heaven, he had scars.” I give a lot of credit to Kirk Franklin. His first album came out in 1993 and he has been doing it at a high level since then. To have the courage to say now—“You know what? I'm going to take a couple whips from this community because once they see the idea they will understand.” Obviously after SNL happened, a lot of that stuff shushed. There's always going to be people who don't get it. That's always going to exist but I think where the arc is now is very different from where it was.

When Kelly put her stuff down, that's when Chance was like, “I know what to write to this.” He put on headphones, he locked in, and penned it out. That's when I knew that this was not going to be a G.O.O.D. Friday record. This was going to be something for the album. This was a pinnacle record that really helped shift the project to the kind of project that it is. By the time we did SNL, I don't think the record was 10 days old yet.

A Kanye album is like a working document. You don't hear the final version of it until it is available for purchase. That's just the way it works. Every producer knows that, every friend knows that. That's just the way it is. I really admire that about him: his ability to strip down a genius idea and chase another genius idea that's come to light. That's one of the biggest things I admire about his creativity. When I meet any artist in any genre, what I like to talk to them about is their editing process. People don't really see editing as an art.

We have the Academy Awards coming up—I'm going left here, just bear with me. We understand sound design, we understand the significance of the picture, but people don't give enough credence to the editor, who is such an amazing artist. That is one of Kanye's greatest gifts: his ability to hear and see and to execute editing. He’s never married to anything. The best idea wins. You've got to understand, everybody wasn't completely on board with the choir and all this stuff. Some people thought it might be too literal, but again, like I said, the best idea wins. Kanye allowed me to see the fullness of that vision out. So now we can see the gumbo. Then we can decide like, “OK, we don't need okra in there, maybe we should have used Italian sausage.”