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Kanye West

American rapper, record producer, singer, songwriter, and fashion designer (born 1977)

Ye (born Kanye Omari West; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, fashion designer, and entrepreneur based in Chicago, Illinois. One of the world's best-selling music artists, with over 160 million records sold, West has won 24 Grammy Awards, the joint tenth-most of all time, and the joint-most Grammy awards of any rapper along with Jay-Z. He is frequently lauded as one of hip hop's greatest artists. Six of West's albums were included on Rolling Stone‍'‍s 2020 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list with the same publication naming him one of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time. He holds the joint record (with Bob Dylan) for most albums (4) topping the annual Pazz & Jop critic poll, and has the 5th most appearances on the Billboard Hot 100 (133 entries). Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2005 and 2015. All Lyrics

Kanye West in 2009

Lyrics

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All songs produced by Kanye West, except as noted.

The College Dropout (2004)

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  • Man, I promise, she's so self conscious
    She has no idea what she doin' in college
    That major that she majored in don't make no money
    But she won't drop out, her parents will look at her funny.
    Now, tell me that ain't insecurr,
    The concept of school seemed so securr.
    Sophomore, three yurrs, ain't picked a carurr.
  • It seems, we living the American dream
    But people highest up got the lowest self esteem.
    The prettiest people do the ugliest things
    For the road to riches and diamond rings.
  • We'll buy a lot of clothes, but we don't really need 'em
    Things we buy to cover up what's inside
    'Cause they made us hate ourself and love their wealth.
  • God show me the way, because the Devil's trying to break me down
    The only thing that I pray is that my feet don't fail me now
    And I don't think there's nothing I can do now to right my wrongs
    I wanna talk to God, but I'm afraid 'cause we ain't spoke in so long.
  • To the hustlers, killers, murderers, drug dealers, even the strippers
    (Jesus walks with them)
    To the victims of welfare for we livin' in hell here, hell yeah
    (Jesus walks with them)
    Now, hear ye, hear ye, want to see Thee more clearly
    I know He hear me when my feet get weary
    'Cause we're the almost nearly extinct
    We rappers is role models: we rap, we don't think
    I ain't here to argue about his facial features
    Or here to convert atheists into believers
    I'm just trying to say the way school needs teachers,
    The way Kathie Lee needed Regis, that's the way I need Jesus
    So here go my single, radio needs this
    They say you can rap about anything except for Jesus
    That means guns, sex, lies, videotape
    But if I talk about God, my record won't get played, huh?
  • I get down for my grandfather who took my mama
    Made her sit in that seat where white folks ain't want us to eat
    At the tender age of six, she was arrested for the sit-ins
    And with that in my blood, I was born to be different
    Now niggas can't make it to ballots to choose leadership
    But we can make it to Jacob's or to the dealership
    That's why I hear new music and I just don't be feeling it
    Racism's still alive, they just be concealin' it.
  • My flow is in the pocket like Wallace, I got the bounce like hydraulics,
    I can't call it, I got the swerve like alcoholics.
    My freshman year, I was going through hella problems
    'Til I built up the nerve to drop my ass up out of college.
    • Get Em High
  • Always said if I rapped, I'd say somethin' significant
    But now I'm rapping 'bout money, hoes, and rims again.
    • Breathe In Breathe Out
  • Told 'em I finished school, and I started my own business.
    They say, 'Oh you graduated?' No, I decided I was finished.
    • School Spirit
  • Two words, Chi-town raised me crazy,
    So I live by two words: 'Fuck you, pay me'
    Screaming, 'Jesus, save me'
    You know how the game be, I can't let 'em change me
    'Cause on judgment day, you gon' blame me
    Look, God, it's the same me
    And I basically know now, we get racially profiled
    'Cuffed up and hosed down, pimped up and ho'd down
    Plus, I got a whole city to hold down
    From the bottom, so the top's the only place to go now.
  • How do you console my mom or give her light support
    Tellin' her her son's on life support?
    And just imagine how my girl feel,
    On the plane scared as hell that her guy look like Emmett Till.
  • And I still won't grow up, I'm a grown-ass kid
    Swear I should be locked up for stupid shit that I did
    But I'm a champion, so I turned tragedy to triumph
    Make music that's fire, spit my soul through the wire.
  • Now that you're gone, it hit us
    Super hard on Thankgiving and Christmas, this can't be right.
    Yo, you heard the track I did man, 'This Can't Be Life'.
    Somebody please say grace so I can save face
    And have a reason to cover my face.
    • Family Business
  • I woke up early this morning with a new state of mind,
    A creative way to rhyme without usin' knives and guns.
    Keep your nose out the sky, keep your heart to God,
    And keep your face to the rising sun.

    I feel like one day you'll understand me, dawg
    You can still love your man and be manly, dawg

    • Family Business
  • Now I could let these dream killers kill my self esteem,
    Or use my arrogance as the steam to power my dreams
    I use it as my gas, so they say that I'm gassed
    But without it I'd be last, so I ought to laugh.
    • Last Call
  • Ain't nobody expect Kanye to end up on top
    They expected that College Dropout to drop and then flop.
    • Last Call
  • I'm Kan, the Louis Vouitton don
    Bought my mom purse, now she Louis Vuitton mom
    I didn't play the hand I was dealt I changed my cards
    I prayed to the skies and I changed my stars
    I went to the malls and I balled too hard
    'Oh My God, is that a Black card?'
    I turned around and replied 'Why yes,
    but I prefer the term African American Express.'

    Brains, power, and muscle like Dame, Puffy, and Russell
    Your boy back on his hustle, you know what I've been up to
    Killing y'all niggas on that lyrical shit
    Mayonnaise-colored Benz, I push Miracle Whips.

    • Last Call

Late Registration (2005)

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  • And I heard 'em say
    Nothing's ever promised tomorrow or today
    From the Chi, like Tim, it's a harder way
    So this is in the name of love like Robert say
    Before you ask me to go get a job today,
    Can I at least get a raise on the minimum wage?
  • They say people in your life are seasons
    And anything that happens is for a reason

    The devil is alive, I feel him breathin'
    Claiming money is the key, so keep on dreamin'
    And put them lottery tickets just to tease us

  • Jay's favorite line: 'Dawg, in due time!'
    Now he look at me, like, 'Damn, dawg! You where I am!'
    A hip hop legend
    I think I died in that accident, 'cause this must be heaven.
  • I'm tryin' to right my wrongs
    But it's funny, them same wrongs helped me write this song.
  • How we stop the Black Panthers?
    Ronald Reagan cooked up an answer.

    Who gave Saddam anthrax?
    George Bush got the answers.

    • Crack Music
  • I know it's past visiting hours,
    But can I please give her these flowers?

    You know the best medicine go to people that's paid.
    If Magic Johnson got a cure for AIDS
    And all the broke motherfuckers passed away,
    You telling me if my grandma was in the NBA,
    Right now, she'd be okay?
    But since she was just a secretary
    Working for the church for thirty-five years,
    Things supposed to stop right here?

    • Roses
  • Why everything that's supposed to be bad make me feel so good?
    Everything they told me not to is exactly what I would.
    Man, I tried to stop, man, I tried the best I could, but
    You make me smile.
    • Addiction
  • Little was known of Sierra Leone
    And how it connect to the diamonds we own

    Though it's thousands of miles away
    Sierra Leone connect to what we go through today
    Over here, it's a drug trade, we die from drugs
    Over there, they die from what we buy from drugs.

  • I wanna tell the whole world about a friend of mine
    This little light of mine and I'm finna let it shine
    I'm finna take y'all back to them better times
    I'm finna talk about my mama if y'all don't mind
    I was three years old when you and I moved to the Chi
    Late December, harsh winter gave me a cold
    You fixed me up something that was good for my soul
    Famous homemade chicken soup, can I have another bowl?
    You work late nights just to keep on the lights
    Mommy got me training wheels so I could keep on my bike
    And you would give anything in this world
    Michael Jackson leather and a glove, but didn't give me a curl
    And you never put no man over me
    And I love you for that, mommy, can't you see?
    Seven years old, caught you with tears in your eyes
    'Cause a nigga cheatin', telling you lies, then I started to cry
    As we knelt on the kitchen floor
    I said mommy I'ma love you 'til you don't hurt no more
    And when I'm older, you ain't gotta work no more
    And I'ma get you that mansion that we couldn't afford.
  • Forrest Gump mama said, 'Life is like a box of chocolates'
    My mama told me go to school, get your doctorate
    Somethin to fall back on, you could profit with
    But still supported me when I did the opposite
    Now I feel like there's things I gotta get,
    things I gotta do, just to prove to you
    You was getting through, can the choir, please
    Give me a verse of 'You Are So Beautiful To Me'
    Can't you see, you're like a book of poetry
    Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni, turn one page and there's my mommy.
  • I was sick about awards, couldn't nobody cure me
    Only playa that got robbed but kept all his jewelry
    Alicia Keys tried to talk some sense in him
    Thirty minutes later seein' there's no convincin' him
    What more could you ask for? The international asshole
    Who complain about what he is owed?
    And throw a tantrum like he is three years old
    You gotta love it though: somebody still speaks from his soul
    And wouldn't change by the change or the game or the fame
    When he came in the game, he made his own lane
    Now all I need is y'all to pronounce my name
    It's Kanye, but some of my plaques, they still say 'Kayne'.

Graduation (2007)

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  • Good morning and look at the valedictorian
    Scared of the future while I hop in the DeLorean
    Scared to face the world, complacent career student
    Some people graduate, but be still stupid
  • When it feel like living's harder than dyin'
    For me givin' up's way harder than tryin'
    Lauryn Hill said her heart was in Zion
    I wish her heart still was in rhymin'
    'Cause who the kids gon' listen to, huh?
    I guess me if it isn't you
    Last week I paid a visit to the institute
    They got the dropout keepin' kids in the school.
    • Champion
  • N-Now th-that that don't kill me
    Can only make me stronger
    I need you to hurry up now
    'Cause I can't wait much longer
    I know I got to be right now
    'Cause I can't get much wronger
    Man, I've been waiting all night now
    That's how long I've been on ya
  • And I'm back on my grind
    A psychic read my lifeline, told me in my lifetime
    My name would help light up the Chicago skyline
    And that's why I'm
    Seven o'clock, that's primetime
    Heaven'll watch, God calling from the hotlines
    Why he keep giving me hot lines?
    I'm a star, how could I not shine?
  • I had a dream I could buy my way to heaven
    When I awoke, I spent that on a necklace
    I told God I'd be back in a second
    Man, it's so hard not to act reckless
    To whom much is given, much is tested
    Get arrested, guess until he get the message
    I feel the pressure, under more scrutiny
    And what I do? Act more stupidly
    Bought more jewelry, more Louis V
    My mama couldn't get through to me
    The drama, people suing me
    I'm on TV talking like it's just you and me
    I'm just saying how I feel, man
    I ain't one of the Cosbys, I ain't go to Hillman
    I guess the money should've changed him
    I guess I should've forgot where I came from.
  • She don't believe in shooting stars
    But she believe in shoes and cars

    Order the hors d'oeuvres, views of the water
    Straight from a page of your favorite author
    And the weather's so breezy
    Man, why can't life always be this easy?

  • In my past, you on the other side of the glass
    Of my memory's museum
    I'm just sayin', hey, Mona Lisa
    Come home, you know you can't roam without Caesar.
  • People talking shit, but when the shit hits the fan
    Everything I'm not made me everything I am.
    I know people wouldn't usually rap this
    But I got the facts to back this
    Just last year, Chicago had over six hundred caskets
    Man, killing's some wack shit
    Oh, I forgot, 'cept for when niggas is rappin'
    Do you know what it feel like when people is passin'?
    He got changed over his chains a block off Ashland
    I need to talk to somebody, pastor
    The church want tithe, so I can't afford to pay
    Pink slip on my door, 'cause I can't afford to stay
    My fifteen seconds up, but I got more to say--
    'That's enough Mr. West, please, no more today.'
    • Everything I Am
  • I met this girl when I was three years old
    And what I loved most, she had so much soul
    She said, 'Excuse me, little homie, I know you don't know me
    But my name is Windy and I like to blow trees.'

    I told her in my heart is where she'll always be
    She never messed with entertainers 'cause they always leave
    She said, 'It felt like they walked and drove on me.'
    Knew I was gang affiliated, got on TV and told on me
    I guess that's why last winter she got so cold on me
    She said, 'Ye, keep making that platinum and gold for me!'

  • But if you really cared for her
    Then you wouldn't have never hit the airport to follow your dreams
    Sometimes I still talk to her
    But when I talk to her, it always seems like she talking 'bout me

    Every interview, I'm representin' you, makin' you proud
    Reach for the stars, so if you fall, you land on a cloud
    Jump in the crowd, spark your lighters, wave 'em around
    If you don't know by now, I'm talking 'bout Chi-Town.

  • My big brother was B.I.G.'s brother
    So here's a few words from your kid brother
    If you admire somebody you should go ahead tell 'em
    People never get the flowers while they can still smell 'em.

808s & Heartbreak (2008)

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  • Last night I saw you in my dreams
    Now I can't wait to go to sleep
    And this life is all a dream
    So my real life starts when I go to sleep.
    • "Hey Mama", Live performance at the Grammys, 10 February 2008 [1]
  • Why would she make calls out the blue?
    Now I'm awake, sleepless in you.
  • Chased the good life my whole life long
    Look back on my life, and my life gone
    Where did I go wrong?

    And my head keeps spinning
    Can't stop having these visions
    I gotta get with it.

  • How could you be so Dr. Evil?
    You're bringin' out a side of me that I don't know
    I decided we wasn't gon' speak so
    Why we up 3 AM on the phone?
    Why do she be so mad at me for?
    Homie, I don't know, she's hot and cold
    I won't stop, won't mess my groove up
    'Cause I already know how this thing go
    You run and tell your friends that you're leaving me
    They say that they don't see what you see in me
    You wait a couple of months, then you gon' see
    You'll never find nobody better than me.
  • I'm a problem that'll never ever be solved

    I'm a monster, I'm a maven
    I know this world is changing
    Never gave in, never gave up
    I'm the only thing I'm afraid of
    No matter what, you'll never take that from me
    My reign is as far as your eyes can see, it's amazing.

  • I'm not loving you, way I wanted to
    I can't keep my cool, so I keep it true
    I got something to lose, so I gotta move
    I can't keep myself and still keep you too

    No more wasting time, you can't wait for life
    We're just racing time, where's the finish line?

  • 'Bout the baddest girl I ever seen
    Straight up out a movie scene
    Who knew she was a drama queen
    That'd turn my life to Stephen King's?

    Just looking at your history
    You're like the girl from Misery
    She said she ain't take it to this degree
    Well, let's agree to disagree

    You spoiled little LA girl
    You're just an LA girl, you need to stop it now.

  • Let me know
    Do I still got time to grow?
    Things ain't always set in stone
    That be known, let me know
    Seems like street lights, glowing, happen to be
    Just like moments, passing, in front of me
    So I hopped in the cab and I paid my fare
    See, I know my destination, but I'm just not there
    In the streets
    I'm just not there
    Life's just not fair.
  • On lonely nights, I start to fade
    Her love's a thousand miles away

    It's 4 AM and I can't sleep
    Her love is all that I can see

    Memories made in the coldest winter
    Goodbye, my friend, will I ever love again?

    If spring can take the snow away
    Can it melt away all our mistakes?

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010)

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  • I fantasized 'bout this back in Chicago
    Mercy, mercy me, that Murciélago

    Beyond the truest
    Hey, teacher, teacher, tell me how do you respond to students?
    And refresh the page and restart the memory?
    Re-spark the soul and rebuild the energy?
    We stopped the ignorance, we killed the enemy
    Sorry for the night demons that still visit me
    The plan was to drink until the pain over
    But what's worse, the pain or the hangover?

  • Penitentiary chances, the devil dances
    And eventually answers to the call of autumn
    All them fallin' for the love of ballin'
    Got caught with thirty rocks, the cop look like Alec Baldwin
    Inter-century anthems based off inner-city tantrums
    Based off the way we was branded
    Face it, Jerome get more time than Brandon
    And at the airport, they check all through my bag
    And tell me that it's random

    Is hip-hop just a euphemism for a new religion?
    The soul music of the slaves that the youth is missing
    But this is more than just my road to redemption
    Malcolm West had the whole nation standing at attention.

    I was looking at my resume, feeling real fresh today
    They rewrite history, I don't believe in yesterday
    And what's a Black Beatle anyway, a fuckin' roach?
    I guess that's why they got me sitting in fuckin' coach.

  • Screams from the haters, got a nice ring to it,
    I guess every superhero need his theme music.
    ** Power

    No one man should have all that power
    The clock’s ticking, I just count the hours

    I embody every characteristic of the egotistic
    He knows he's so fucking gifted
    I just needed time alone with my own thoughts
    Got treasures in my mind, but couldn't open up my own vault
    My childlike creativity, purity, and honesty
    Is honestly being crowded by these grown thoughts
    Reality is catching up with me
    Taking my inner child, I'm fighting for custody.

    Lost in translation with a whole fuckin' nation
    They say I was the abomination of Obama's nation
    Well, that's a pretty bad way to start the conversation

    Now this'll be a beautiful death
    I'm jumping out the window, letting everything go.

  • Restraining order, can't see my daughter
    Her mother, brother, grandmother hate me in that order
    Public visitation, we met at Borders
    Told her she take me back, I'll be more supportive
    I made mistakes, I bumped my head
    Them courts sucked me dry, I spent that bread
    She need her daddy, baby, please
    Can't let her grow up in that ghetto university.
  • I'm living in the future so the present is my past.
    My presence is a present, kiss my ass.
  • I'm so appalled, Spalding, ball
    Balding Donald Trump taking dollars from y'all.
  • Put your hands to the constellations
    The way you look should be a sin, you're my sensation.
  • May the Lord forgive us, may the gods be with us
    In that magic hour, I seen good Christians
    Make brash decisions, oh, she do it
    What happened to religion? Oh, she lose it
    She putting on her makeup, she casually allure
    Text message break-ups, the casualty of tour
    How she gon' wake up and not love me no more?

    I hit the Jamaican spot, at the bar, take a seat
    I ordered the jerk, she said you are what you eat
    You see, I always loved that sense of humor
    But tonight, you should have seen how quiet the room was.

  • And I always find, yeah, I always find something wrong
    You been puttin' up with my shit just way too long
    I'm so gifted at finding what I don't like the most
    So I think it's time for us to have a toast

    Let's have a toast for the douchebags
    Let's have a toast for the assholes
    Let's have a toast for the scumbags
    Every one of them that I know
    Let's have a toast for the jerk-offs
    That'll never take work off
    Baby, I got a plan,
    Run away fast as you can.

  • Never was much of a romantic
    I could never take the intimacy
    And I know I did damage
    'Cause the look in your eyes is killing me
    I guess you knew of that advantage
    'Cause you could blame me for everything
    And I don't know how I'ma manage
    If one day, you just up and leave.
  • Have you lost your mind?
    Tell me when you think we crossed the line
    No more drugs for me, pussy and religion is all I need
    Grab my hand and baby, we'll live a hell of a lie

    I think I fell in love with a pornstar
    And got married in the bathroom
    Honeymoon on the dance floor
    And got divorced by the end of the night
    That's one hell of a life.

  • On the bathroom wall I wrote
    "I'd rather argue with you than to be with someone else"
    I took a piss and dismiss it like "fuck it"
    And I went and found somebody else
    Fuck arguing and harvesting the feelings
    Yo, I'd rather be by my fuckin' self
    'Til about 2 a.m. and I call back
    And I hang up and I start to blame myself
    Somebody help

    You weren't perfect, but you made life worth it
    Stick around, some real feelings might surface.

  • You're my devil, you're my angel
    You're my heaven, you're my hell
    You're my now, you're my forever
    You're my freedom, you're my jail
    You're my lies, you're my truth
    You're my war, you're my truce
    You're my questions, you're my proof
    You're my stress and you're my masseuse

    Run from the lights, run from the night, run for your life.

Yeezus (2013)

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  • Pardon, I'm getting my scream on
    Enter the kingdom
    But watch who you bring home
    They see a black man with a white woman
    At the top floor they gon' come to kill King Kong
    Middle America packed in
    Came to see me in my black skin
    Number one question they're asking
    Fuck every question you asking
    If I don't get ran out by Catholics
    Here come some conservative Baptists
    Claiming I'm overreacting.
  • Soon as they like you make 'em unlike you
    Cause kissing people's ass is so unlike you.
  • My mama was raised in the era when
    Clean water was only served to the fairer skin
    Doing clothes, you would've thought I had help
    But they wasn't satisfied unless I picked the cotton myself.

    So go and grab the reporters
    So I can smash their recorders
    See, they'll confuse us with some bullshit
    Like the New World Order
    Meanwhile the DEA
    Teamed up with the CCA
    They tryna lock niggas up
    They tryna make new slaves
    See, that's that privately owned prison
    Get your peace today
    They prolly all in the Hamptons
    Bragging 'bout what they made.

  • "Baby girl, he's a loner, baby girl, he's a loner"
    Late-night organ donor, after that, he'll disown ya
    After that he's just hopeless, soul mates become soulless
    "When it's over it's over," and bitch, I'm back out my coma
  • Time to take it too far now
    Michael Douglas out the car now.
    Got the kids-and-the-wife life
    But can't wake up from the nightlife
    I'm so scared of my demons
    I go to sleep with a nightlight
    My mind move like a Tron bike
    Pop a wheelie on the Zeitgeist.
  • Before the limelight stole ya
    Remember we were so young
    When I would hold you
    Before the blood on the leaves
    I know there ain't nothin' wrong with me
    Something strange is happening
    We could've been somebody

    Before they call lawyers
    Before you tried to destroy us
    How you gon' lie to the lawyer?
    It's like I don't even know ya
    I gotta bring it back to the 'nolia

    All in on that alimony, uh
    Yeah, yeah, she got you, homie, yeah
    'Til death, but do your part
    Unholy matrimony.

  • I know I got a bad reputation
    'Walk around, always mad' reputation
    'Leave a pretty girl sad' reputation
    Start a Fight Club, Brad reputation

    Close your eyes and let the word paint a thousand pictures
    One good girl is worth a thousand bitches
    Bound.

The Life of Pablo (2016)

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  • We on an ultralight beam
    This is a God dream
    This is everything

    Deliver us serenity
    Deliver us peace
    Deliver us loving
    We know we need it
    That's why we need You now
    Pray for Paris,
    Pray for the parents.

  • Up in the morning, miss you bad
    Sorry I ain't call you back, same problem my father had
    All this time, all he had
    And what he dreamed, all his cash
    Market crashed, hurt him bad
    People get divorced for that
    Dropped some stacks, pops is good
    Mama passed in Hollywood
    If you ask, lost my soul
    Drivin' fast, lost control
    Off the road, jaw was broke
    'Member we all was broke?
  • Seem like the more fame, I only got wilder
    Hands up, we just doing what the cops taught us
    I've been outta my mind a long time
    I've been outta my mind a long time
    I be saying how I feel at the wrong time
    Might not come when you want but I'm on time.

    Name one genius that ain't crazy.

  • See, before I let you go
    One last thing I need to let you know
    You ain't never seen nothing crazier than
    This nigga when he off his Lexapro
    Remember that last time in Mexico?
    Remember that last time, the episode?
  • Who your real friends? We all came from the bottom
    I'm always blaming you, but what's sad, you not the problem

    Real friends
    I guess I get what I deserve, don't I?
    Word on the streets is they ain't heard from him
    I guess I get what I deserve, don't I?
    Talked down on my name, throwed dirt on him.

  • You tried to play nice, everybody just took advantage
    You left your fridge open, somebody just took a sandwich.
  • Any rumor you ever heard about me was true and legendary
    I done got Lewinskys and paid secretaries
    For all my niggas with babies by bitches
    That use they kids as meal tickets
    Not knowin' the disconnect from the father
    The next generation will be the real victims

    Had my life threatened by best friends with selfish intents
    What I'm supposed to do?
    Ride around with a bulletproof car and some tints?

  • My wife said, I can't say no to nobody
    And at this rate, we gon' both die broke
    Got friends that ask me for money knowing I'm in debt
    And like my wife said, I still didn't say no
    People trying to say I'm going crazy on Twitter
    My friends' best advice was to stay low
    I guess it's hard to decipher all of the bills
    Especially when you got family members on payroll
    The media said it was outlandish spending
    The media said he's way out of control

    I can see a thousand years from now in real life
    Skate on the paradigm and shift it when I feel like
    Troll conventional thought, don't need to question
    I know it's antiquated so sometimes I get aggressive
    Thank God for Jay Electra, he down with the mission
    Did it with no permission, on our own conditions
    Most blacks with money have been beaten to submission
    Yeezy with the big house, did it way different
    Never listen to Hollywood producers
    Don't stare at money too long, it's Medusa
    The ultimate Gemini has survived
    I wasn't supposed to make it past 25.

  • Most black men couldn't balance a checkbook
    But buy a new car, talking 'bout, 'How my neck look?'
    Well, it all looks great
    Four hundred years later, we buyin' our own chains
    The light is before us brothers, so the devil workin' hard
    Real family stick together and see through the mirage
    The smokescreens, perceptions of false reality

    I've been woken from enlightened man's dream
    Checkin' Instagram comments to crowdsource my self-esteem
    Let me not say too much or do too much
    'Cause if I'm up way too much, I'm out of touch
    I'm prayin' a out-of-body experience will happen
    So the people can see my light, now it's not just rappin'
    God, I have humbled myself before the court
    Drop my ego when confidence was my last resort.

Ye (2018)

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  • My wife calling, screaming, say we 'bout to lose it all
    Had to calm her down 'cause she couldn't breathe
    Told her she could leave me now, but she wouldn't leave

    Oh, don't bring that up, that's gon' get me sentimental
    You know I'm sensitive, I got a gentle mental
    Every time somethin' happen they want me sent to mental
    We had an incident, but I cover incidentals
    You want me workin' on my messagin'
    When I'm thinkin' like George Jetson
    But soundin' like George Jefferson
    Then they questionin' my methods then

    Plus, what was meant to be was meant to be
    Even if, publicly, I lack the empathy
    I ain't finna talk about it 'nother four centuries.

  • Sometimes I take all the shine
    Talk like I drank all the wine
    Years ahead but way behind
    I'm on one, two, three, four, five
    No half-truths, just naked minds
    Caught between space and time
    This not what they had in mind
    But maybe someday...
  • Niggas is savage, niggas is monsters
    Niggas is pimps, niggas is players
    'Til niggas have daughters, now they precautious
    Father, forgive me, I'm scared of the karma
    'Cause now I see women as somethin' to nurture
    Not somethin' to conquer

    Now she cuttin' class and hangin' with friends
    You break a glass and say it again
    She can't comprehend the danger she in
    If you whoop her ass, she move in with him
    Then he whoop her ass, you go through it again
    But how you the devil rebukin' the sin?

Jesus Is King (2019)

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  • If you woke, then wake up
    With Judas, kiss and make up
    Even with the bitter cup
    Forgave my brothers and drank up

    Everything old shall now become new
    The leaves’ll be green, bearing the fruit
    Love God and our neighbor, as written in Luke
    The army of God, and we are the truth.

  • Lifelike, this is what your life like, try to live your life right
    People really know you, push your buttons like typewrite
    This is like a movie, but it's really very lifelike
    Every single night, right, every single fight, right?
    I was looking at the 'Gram and I don't even like likes
    I was screaming at my dad, he told me, 'It ain't Christ-like'

    But nobody never tell you when you're being like Christ.

  • Nothing worse than a hypocrite
    Change, he ain't really different
    He ain't even try to get permission
    Ask for advice and they dissed him
    Said I'm finna do a gospel album
    What have you been hearing from the Christians?
    They'll be the first one to judge me
    Make it feel like nobody love me.

Donda (2021)

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  • First, it go viral, then they get digital
    Then they get critical, no, I'm not doin' no interview
    Mask on my face, you can't see what I'm finna do
    Had to move away from people that's miserable

    And this money could never neglect me
    I pray that my family, they never resent me
    And she fell in love with me soon as she met me.

  • Genius gone clueless, it's a whole lot to risk
    Alcohol anonymous, who's the busiest loser?
    Heated by the rumors, read into it too much
    Fiendin' for some true love, asked Kim, 'What do you love?'
    Hard to find what the truth is, but the truth was that the truth suck
    Always seem to do stuff, but this time it was too much.
  • I don't want my mind alerting
    People sayin' tweeting gonna make you die early
    How 'bout have my heart hurting?
    Hold it all inside, that could make you die early

    I be going through things I had to wrote
    Celebrity drama that only Brad'll know
    Too many family secrets, somebody passing notes
    Things I cried about, I find laughable.

  • Sittin' by myself, I'm just thinking
    About all I've been through, I wish I was dreaming
    Man, it's hard to be an angel when you surrounded by demons
    I watched so many people leave
    I see 'em change by the season, that's mama's sеasoning
    God got you, the devil's watching, he just peeking in
    I know I madе a promise that I'd never let the reaper in
    But lately, I've been losin' all my deepest friends
    And lately, I've been swimmin' on the deepest end
    It's just drugs, it ain't no hugs, it ain't no love there
    You been down so much you don't even know what's upstairs
    Suicidal thoughts got you wonderin' what's up there

    And if I talk to Christ, can I bring my mother back to life?
    And if I die tonight, will I see her in the afterlife?
    But back to reality, where everything's a tragedy.

    • Jesus Lord
  • Startin' to feel like you ain't been happy for me lately, darling
    Remember when you used to come around and serenade me
    But I guess it's gone different, in a different direction, lately
    Trying to do the right thing with the freedom that you gave me

    Wrap your arms around with your mercy
    I give up on doing things my way.

    • Lord I Need You
  • Here go all your problems again
    Three, two, one, you're pinned

    Don't you wish the night would go numb?
    I've been feelin' low for so long
    I ain't had a high in so long
    I been in the dark for so long
    Night is always darkest 'fore the dawn
    Gotta make my mark 'fore I'm gone
    I don't wanna die alone

    Sadness settin' in again
    Three, two, one, you're pinned
    Took your thoughts and penciled 'em in
    Should've wrote 'em down in pen
    And maybe they'd come to life.

  • Mama, your son in the red hat
    Had suffered set-backs, had 'shouldn't-have-said-thats'
    Had made everyone mad

    Give 'em enough of they own rope to hang 'em with
    The paparazzi never really got what my angle is
    They treat my married life like some type of entanglement.

  • You know why my spirit's callin'
    Darkness can't take light from me
    Haven't you gone far enough?
    Sacrificed the ones you love
    Gave up on your sanity
    Like some twisted fantasy
    What would I say to everything?
    Your actions cost everything.
    • Never Abandon Your Family

Quotes

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2000s

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  • When I had my accident, I found out at that moment nothing in life is promised except death.
  • If you have the opportunity to play this game called life, you need to appreciate every moment. A lot of people don't appreciate their moment until it's passed.
    I know everybody asked me the question, they wanted to know, 'What, Kan, I know he's gonna wild out, I know he's gonna do something crazy.' Everybody wanted to know what I would do, if I didn't win... I guess we'll never know!
    • 2005 Grammy acceptance speech [2] (February 13, 2005)
  • I hate the way they portray us in the media. You see a black family, it says, 'They're looting.' You see a white family, it says, 'They're looking for food.'

    George Bush doesn't care about black people.

    • Live on NBC’s A Concert for Hurricane Relief (September 2, 2005)
  • Yo, Taylor, I'm really happy for you, I'ma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time!
    • 2009 MTV Video Music Awards (September 13, 2009) [3]

Thank You and You're Welcome (2009)

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  • Know your worth! People always act like they're doing more for you than you're doing for them. Ask yourself this question, "Why would they do that?" Obviously, you bring something to the table for them to even do business with you.
    • p.3-4
  • Life is 5% what happens and 95% how you react!
    • p.13-14
  • Would you believe in what you believe in if you were the only one who believed it?
    • p.19
  • I refuse to accept other people's ideas of happiness for me. As if there's a "one size fits all" standard for happiness
    • p.22

2010s

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  • I hate when I'm on a flight and I wake up with a water bottle next to me like oh great now I gotta be responsible for this water bottle
  • I am Warhol. I am the number 1 most impactful artist of our generation. I am Shakespeare in the flesh. Walt Disney. Nike. Google. [4]

    The music and the clothing are just as important. That's what makes you hip hop. You show people that you're hip hop by what you wear. [5]

    You ain't got the answers Sway! [6] [In response to Calloway suggesting he start a clothing company on his own]

    • Radio interview with Sway Calloway on Sway in the Morning (November 26, 2013)
  • Man, let me tell you something about George Bush and oil money and Obama and no money.
    People want to say Obama can't make these moves or he's not executing.
    That's because he ain't got those connections.
    Black people don't have the same level of connections as Jewish people.
    Black people don't have the same connections as oil people.

2020s

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  • You know, he made these peace treaties,[...] I just think it was to make money.
    I just think that that’s what they’re about is making money.
    I don’t think that they have the ability to make anything on their own.
    I think they’re born into money, and it makes me feel like they weren’t serving my boy Trump the way they could’ve.
  • I'm a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I'm going death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE
    The funny thing is I actually can't be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew
    also You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda
    • Tweet of October 9, 2022 soon deleted by Twitter, quoted here

InfoWars interview with Alex Jones (December 1, 2022)

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  • I see good things about Hitler also. I love everyone. Jewish people are not going to tell me you can love us, and you can love what we’re doing to you with the contracts, and you can love what we’re pushing with the pornography. But this guy that invented highways, invented the very microphone that I use as a musician, you can’t say out loud that this person ever did anything good, and I’m done with that.
  • I like Hitler.
    • 1 December 2022 during same interview (clip from VanLathan linked by Rolling Stone) in response to Alex Jones saying "(He) said he loved Hitler, they gave him an award. I'm just saying I don't like nazis and I don't like what some of the mafias are doing either."
  • They did good things too, we’ve got to stop dissing the Nazis all the time.
    • Comments, cited by The Independent (London, December 1, 2022), same interview
  • I don't like the word evil next to Nazis. I love Jewish people, but I also love Nazis.
    • same interview, clip from RightWingWatch linked by RollingStone, in response to Alex Jones saying "CNN says white people are evil nazis, so I mean, I just heard those statements but..." Jones replied "Oh man, well I have to disagree with that"
  • He didn’t kill six million Jews. That’s just factually incorrect. The Holocaust is not what happened. Let’s look at the facts of that. Hitler has a lot of redeeming qualities.
  • I'm done with the classifications. Every human being has something of value that they brought to the table. Especially Hitler.

Quotes about West

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  • He is opening Donda Academy, a vocational school in Chatsworth, Los Angeles, and plans to build a series of shelters — which he calls “Dondasteries” — to provide safe spaces for those in need.
  • With Kanye, the arrogant thing always comes up, but think about what that does for your ability to make art. He doesn't even question himself as to whether he can do it or not. He does it fast and good, and he doesn't stop on the side of the road to wonder if he can do it.
  • The one thing I fear for [West] the most is if you keep talking about being the greatest, people eventually are going to want to watch you fail. Those who crash and burn are far more interesting to watch than those who actually succeed.
    • John Mayer, MTV (April 28, 2005)
  • I've met with Kanye [...] The thing about hip-hop today is it's smart, it's insightful, and the way that [West] can communicate a complex message in a very short space is remarkable.
  • He's a jackass.
    • Barack Obama, 15 September 2009 [commenting privately on West after West's interruption of Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards]
  • I like Kanye, He's a Chicago guy. Smart. He's very talented. He is a jackass, but he's talented.
  • @KanyeWest asked permission to sample a section of a 1983 live performance of “Iron Man” from the US Festival without vocals and was refused permission because he is an antisemite and has caused untold heartache to many. He went ahead and used the sample anyway at his album listening party last night. I want no association with this man!
  • Kanye threatened the Jews yesterday on twitter and it’s not even trending. Why do mostly only Jews speak up against Jewish hate? The silence is so loud

Organizations

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  • This is classic anti-Semitism.
    There it goes again, the age-old canard that Jews are all-powerful and control the levers of power in government.
    As a celebrity with a wide following, Kanye West should know better.
    We hope that he will take responsibility for his words, understand why they are so offensive, and apologize to those he has offended.
  • [H]urtful, offensive and wrong. They perpetuate stereotypes that have been the basis for discrimination and violence against Jews for thousands of years. Words like this tear at the fabric of the Black-Jewish relationship. The Black and Jewish communities must stand together through incidents like this to make clear that trafficking in hateful stereotypes is unacceptable — and that the words of one entertainer do not reflect the views of an entire community.
    • Black-Jewish Entertainment Alliance (October 9, 2022) quoted here
  • In the past week, Ye has spread some of the most vile and age-old stereotypes about Jews to his hundreds of millions of followers.
    There should be no place for this kind of hate in our public discourse.
    We support every entertainer’s right to free speech, but no one has a free pass to target and demonize a minority group with such malice.
    We are gravely concerned about the impact of Ye’s statements — and how they will affect his fans, particularly young people.
    At the same time, we hope this can be a moment that ultimately creates better awareness about the dangers of antisemitism for Ye, his fans, and other entertainers.
    We remain open to dialogue with him about how harmful and fallacious his comments are.
    • Creative Community for Peace (October 2022)
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