Marc Piasecki/GC ImagesKanye West remains defiant following the recent tweetstorm in which he praised Donald Trump as his “brother,” said he “loved” him, and posted a photo of himself wearing a “MAGA” hat. He’s now dropped not one but two new songs, one of which appears to be an exercise in trolling, while the other is a debate with T.I. in which he attempts to defend his viewpoints.
On Friday, Kanye teased that he was going to release a song called “Lift Yourself,” and he bragged that the bars would be “fire.” When “Lift Yourself” emerged, it consisted of a soulful build-up, featuring a female chorus singing, “Lift yourself upon your feet, let’s get it on/Hard to see/The hang ups we have today/Said we need to strive for more liberty.” But the rest of the song was Kanye literally repeating nonsense syllables like “Poopy-di scoop/Scoop-diddy-whoop.”
As for the second new song, it’s based around a sample of the Four Tops song “7 Rooms of Gloom,” and it’s called “‘Ye vs. The People.” The track is structured like a debate, where Kanye gives his side of the story, while T.I. attempts to call him out for making poor decisions. Here are some of the exchanges:
Kanye: “Bruh, I never ever stopped fightin’ for the people/Actually, wearin’ the hat’ll show people that we equal”
T.I. “You gotta see the vantage point of the people/What makes you feel equal makes them feel evil”
Kanye: “See that’s the problem with this damn nation/All Blacks gotta be Democrats, man, we ain’t made it off the plantation”
T.I.:” F**k who you choose as your political party/You representin’ dudes who just seem crude and cold-hearted/With blatant disregard for the people who put you in position/Don’t you feel an obligation to them?”
Kanye: “I feel a obligation to show people new ideas/And if you wanna hear ’em, there go two right here/Make America Great Again had a negative reception/I took it, wore it, rocked it, gave it a new direction/Added empathy, care and love and affection/And y’all simply questionin’ my methods”
T.I. “What you willin’ to lose for the point to be proved?/This s**t is stubborn, selfish, bullheaded, even for you.”
And then there’s this exchange:
Kanye: “You think I ain’t concerned about how I affect the past?/I mean, that hat stayed in my closet like ’bout a year and a half/Then one day I was like, “F**k it, I’ma do me”/I was in the sunken place and then I found the new me/Not worried about some image that I gotta keep up/Lot of people agree with me, but they’re too scared to speak up”
T.I.: “The greater good of the people is first/Have you considered all the damage and the people you hurt?/You had a bad idea, and you’re makin’ it worse.”
Finally, T.I., exasperated, says,”You’ll deal with God for the lack of respect/Startin’ to make it seem like Donnie cut you a check…Okay I gotta say it, Ye, you sound high as a b**ch/Yeah, genocide and slavery, we should just try and forget/And all that free thought s**t, find a better defense/But if Ye just stuck in his way, he can leave it at that/F**k it.”
And Kanye closes with, “Alright, Tip/we could be rappin’ about this all day, man/why don’t we just cut the beat off and let the people talk?”
You can hear both songs over at KanyeWest.com.
Copyright © 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
