During his interview with Complex Magazine, Sean reveals that the verse was birthed during a freestyle session backstage at the Watch The Throne tour with Kanye. Nice. Check out what he had to say about it, below.

Yeah, I was really freestyling with Kanye backstage at the Watch the Throne tour and he was like, “Man, you got to say this on the record.” I was like, “Man, I ain’t about to say that. I just put out ‘A$$.’ I don’t need to be talking about no ‘ass-quake, ass-tate.’” But I just laid it to see how it sounded and then for a while, there were no other verses on “Mercy.”

 

It was just my verse and we were vibing to it, so it naturally fit on there. I don’t really write any of my raps down. The same, Kanye don’t write any of his raps down. Common. It’s easy that way. For me, personally, I figure I will lose some of the inspiration in the time of me writing it down or I’ll say it a certain way because I wrote it a certain way. When I go in there and do it, it’s easier for me.