Just over a year ago, Kanye West shouted out King Louie (who now goes by King L) on his version of Chief Keef’s “I Don’t Like,” giving his stamp of approval to one of Chicago’s most exciting young talents. Louie’s kept busy in the year since, tapping Pusha T and Juicy J for last Fall’s “My Hoes They Do Drugs,” and December’s Drilluminati mixtape. It wasn’t long after wrapping up his March Madness series—in which he released a new song every day for a month—that Louie got the call from his manager (and former Kanye West manager) John Monopoly that he’d be flown out to Paris to work with Kanye on his sixth solo album, Yeezus. XXL caught up with Louie, who was back home in Chicago, to get the backstory behind “Send It Up” and his experience in Paris. Here’s his Yeezus Experience.

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"I had never met Kanye ever, so after the whole shout out thing, people would ask in interviews, “Have you ever met Kanye or spoke to Kanye?” or whatever, and I was like “Nah.” But I always appreciated what he did and so I always spoke highly of him when I was asked about him. I believe two or three months ago [John Monopoly] broke the news to me that I was going to be working with 'Ye on the album and going to Paris and everything. I was like, 'Get the fuck out of here.' Before I knew it though I was going to get my passport, and then I was boarding the flight, and then seven hours later I was in Paris. This was my first time being out the country, so it was, like, an accomplishment for me that way as well. My family, my friends, none of my guys ever been to Paris, so shit, it felt good. I was a nigga in Paris." [Laughs]

“I’m In It”
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"My timing was off cause there was a big ass time difference, so I went to sleep as soon as I got there. Then me and Monops linked up and went to the studio. I thought we was just gonna go there and they were gonna give me a reference to some songs or whatever. In the midst of being there and meeting everybody Kanye came in. And I just knew it was time to work.

"From seeing him on TV and shit, they’ll make you think he’s just a monster, arrogant motherfucker. But when I met him, he makes you feel like you guys are cool. He from Chicago so that bond, and knowing how people from Chicago is...I don’t know, we was cool. I wasn’t really, like, nervous or anything. And then the songs that he heard that I did, he was feeling the shit. Ma$e was there, I was out there writing with him. Future was there. All of these people who I’ve seen on TV, and now I’m in the studio working with these people. It gives you a whole new look on life."

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"I was in the studio the whole time. I didn’t go to sight see and shit. I was sight seeing when I was in the studio and I saw Kanye. That was sight seeing for me. Fuck all the other shit. That was enough for me. 'Ye took us to get these good ass burgers we had. I don’t know what the restaurant was, but we all had dinner one night and the burgers was decent as hell. The streets in Paris though...They reminded me...I felt like I was still in Chicago 'cause they got bricks or whatever. L.A. tweaks me out when I get there 'cause everything’s made out of clay. When you in Paris, it’s just like bricks and shit, like it is in the city."

Yeezus
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"I didn’t know 'Send It Up' would make the album, but that’s the one he was like, super rocking with. It was crazy to me. The energy on that one was just raw, I was just talking the shit. And that was the one that got him. When I came back to Paris—I went there three times—something that was in my verse became the hook. 'We can send this bitch up, it can’t go down'—that was part of my verse and then it became the hook."

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"I finally knew in New York that it would be on the album. When they did "Saturday Night Live," they flew me out to New York and let me hear the final product with 'Ye’s verse on it. I had never heard 'Ye on it. It was always just my verse. 'Ye went crazy. He went stupid on that shit. Working on this, it was good for my craft and for me. It made me work harder and believe in myself. Now I believe in myself way more. I just went there to work, and what was chosen out of my work is what you hear on the album. All the other stuff, it’s just something to think about. Think about all the great shit I said that you’ll never know. [Laughs] That’s the greatness of it. You’ll never hear the greatness that wasn’t chosen."

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