For the inaugural lecture at Red Bull Academy Paris, Egotrip's Chairman Mao sat down with G.O.O.D Music President Che Pope to discuss his meteoric rise in the record business. Since emerging as a songwriter in 1994, Pope has produced some of the biggest names in hip-hop, including: Dr. Dre, Eminem, Pusha T, and A$AP Rocky, Lauryn Hill, and Kanye West, who approached him about helping the artist run the G.O.O.D. label.Over the hour-and-a-half discussion, Pope divulges what it was like working with West on Yeezus: "We'd walk around without security at night, checking out the architecture…We went to the Louvre every weekend. We traveled around on the subway. All just to get inspired by Paris. It would've been a lot different if it hadn't been made here."Pope goes on to discuss his and fellow producer James Poyser's lawsuit against Lauryn Hill after the two discovered that they and many others had been miscredited and miscompensated for their work on The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. "She just checked out," he says, "and there was no more access to her." On this, he offers his own advice: "learn everything there is to learn about the music business. No one can take advantage of you if you're educated."
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