Paul McCartney Defends Kanye West’s Use Of ‘The N-Word’ On Beatles Cover

Paul McCartney has praised Kanye West for transforming his melody All Day – saying he doesn’t mind it’s use of “the N-word” as it makes the track sound “urban”.

The 73-year-old former Beatle worked with the rapper last year on the track and thinks he breathed new life into the unused Beatles tune.

He said: ”I get this track back, a thing called All Day. He’s taken my melody and he’s made it seriously urban, which is funny because the lyrics use the N-word – a lot! ‘How long have you been at the mall? All day, N-word!’”

Macca, pictured above with Kanye, added on BBC Radio Four’s Mastertapes: “It’s a great record, sonically it’s brilliant, but quite a few people said, ‘You can’t be connected with this, there’s, like, 40 N-words’.

“People who are a little conservative about that stuff, said, ‘You shouldn’t do it, even black people shouldn’t use that word’.

“I said, ‘Yeah, but it’s Kanye!’ And he’s talking about an urban generation that uses that word in a completely different way. It’s the context. So I was actually pleased with it.”

Macca also described Kanye as a “monster” he has a lot of respect for in the studio because he “inspires” him.

He added: “I love Kanye, and he loves me. He’s a monster, he’s a crazy guy who comes up with great stuff so he inspires me.”

All Day was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rap Song and Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance at the awards in February.

However, McCartney, above performing with Kanye and Rihanna at last year’s Grammy awards, previously admitted he had reservations about working with the Gold Digger rapper.

He said: “I worked with Kanye and for a second I thought, ‘Is this something I want to do, ought to do?’ So I thought about it and then it’s like, ‘Why not?’

“If nothing, he’s an interesting character… this is the great thing about all this, it just keeps you fresh.”

Pictures Getty Images