• John Legend has been friends with rapper Kanye West for years.
  • Legend revealed how he met West during a conversation with Sara Bareilles at the Tribeca Film Festival that INSIDER attended.
  • The singer's old roommate happened to be West's cousin. He introduced the two back when the rapper was producing beats.
  • The two hit it off and started collaborating with each other.
  • When West later got a record deal of his own, he didn't forget his friend.
  • Legend said West helped him get a record deal with Columbia Records and release his debut album.
  • "Dare I say, luck is when opportunity meets preparation or preparation meets opportunity," Legend concluded of their chance meeting.

The next time a friend wants you to meet their cousin, don't think twice about it. You could end up meeting the next Kanye West.

That's what happened to singer John Legend.

"I went to school with this guy Devon Harris and he was a roommate of mine in college and we also were roommates in New York together," said Legend at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York Thursday. "He had this cousin that moved to New York from Chicago. He wasn't famous. He was just some cousin that made beats as far as I knew. But he was Kanye West, before everybody knew who Kanye West was."

At the time, Legend was building his network of people in the music industry. When he wasn't writing music, he was playing gigs and inviting everyone he knew to watch him. Meeting West sounded like a no-brainer.

"My roommate was like, 'You gotta meet my cousin, Kanye. He's working on Jay-Z's album," Legend recalled. "He's working with all these guys from Roc-A-Fella [records]."

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Kanye West and John Legend back in 2005 at the Kanye West/John Legend GOOD Music launch party.
Frank Micelotta/Getty Images

"You're so lucky because any time someone tells me, 'You gotta meet my cousin,'..." moderator and singer Sara Bareilles chimed in to a room full of laughter. 

"This was a good cousin to me," said Legend. "I've met some other cousins, too."

Legend's meeting with his future friend West was serendipitous. The singer said it's those random chance meetings in life you need to be ready for because they can happen at any time.

"Dare I say, luck is when opportunity meets preparation or preparation meets opportunity," said Legend. "Part of it is just being prepared and working on your craft, and then, when opportunity comes along, you're able to seize that."

And seize it, he did. Legend recalled how the two started collaborating back in the day as he was living in New York City and West was producing in New Jersey.

"We were up-and-coming artists. People didn't even know he [Kanye] could rap really yet. He had to convince people he could rap," explained Legend. "[Kanye] was working on his demo. He was living in an apartment in Newark. I would go to his place and we would work on songs. He would give me beats for my demo and I would write to them, and then I would sing hooks on his."

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John Legend and Kanye West performing together for an American Express card members concert in 2006 at the Nokia Theatre in New York City.
Scott Gries/Getty Images For American Express

Ultimately, his friendship with West led to Legend's first major record deal.

"[Kanye] got a deal as a rapper with Roc-A-Fella as well. He still had to convince people that he could rap," said Legend of how hard hard West had to work to prove his talent to the industry. "I think they gave him the deal moreso so he could just make beats for them and they just wanted to keep him in house. But, eventually, he convinced everybody, 'I'm an artist. I'm not just a producer. I'm an artist. Oh, and, by the way, I signed this really cool kid, John Legend from Ohio, and you should sign him, too.'"

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John Legend and Kanye West perform at the same NYC concert in 2006.
Scott Gries/Getty Images For American Express

"And, so, eventually, he helped me  get signed to Columbia [Records]," Legend added. 

Legend said he was signed in May 2004 and put out his debut album, "Get Lifted," by the year's end. Before meeting and working with West, the singer said he was working on getting a record deal since 1998.

The two are still good friends to this day. West didn't forget the friend he made early on who helped him on his journey. 

Even better? Their wives, Chrissy Teigen and Kim Kardashian, may be even closer.

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John Legend and Chrissy Teigen with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

West announced Thursday he's releasing new music in June. Here's to hoping for a collaboration with his old friend, Legend, right in time for the birth of his second child.
