Following on from meeting West when working on rapper T.I.'s second studio album "Trap Muzik" (2003), record producer DJ Toomp went to New York and joined West in the studio for the creation of "Graduation". West showed a high amount of respect for him and was using an Ensoniq ASR-10 keyboard in the studio, which DJ Toomp said "is the same keyboard I've been using since day one." Speaking of the two of them collaborating for the album, he opined that "it definitely felt like a team atmosphere" and also "felt like, 'we.'" DJ Toomp admitted that he "would say that sixty percent of 'Can't Tell Me Nothing' was Ye, and forty me," while he called West "a mastermind." In an interview with Revolt, DJ Toomp explained that his 40 percent of the song's production was the beat and bassline, while the 60 percent contributed by West consisted of the strings and the "oh-oh-ah-oh-ah-oh" backing vocals. He revealed that the song was originally supposed to be a remix of West's Def Jam labelmate Young Jeezy's song "I Got Money", since West loved "the whole cadence of how that beat was flowing" and "wanted the song to be a remix featuring him." However, Young Jeezy ultimately "wasn't really feeling it" according to DJ Toomp, which led to the song being passed on to West.