Kanye “Something Wrong”, “I’ma feel like an asshole” West’s lyricism is rightfully subject to memes given he seems to believe he’s a genius. However, “this next verse, though” shows that Lift Yourself was made purposefully funny. “Poopity-scoop” could probably work alone in an MF Doom verse, but when followed with “scoop-diddy-whoop” it plays out as a joke. Alone, this joke would be bad; it’s toilet humour. However, the catharsis of hearing it after the two minute build-up left me in tears.
If All of the Lights‘s lo-fi grooves are Kanye’s Frankenstein and Bound 2’s off-kilter sampling is Frankenstein’s wife, then Lift Yourself feels like their son. It’s playful, simplistic, but retains the catchy weirdness of Bound 2’s samples with a pitch-shifted Amnesty’s Liberty chopped throughout, memetic horns as a nod to Death Grips, and a drum beat that uses bass and hi-hat to create a groove.
Another nod to Death Grips is in the distribution, having been released on his website as an interactive text message, similar to Year of the Snitch. Overall, the song is fun, danceable, catchy and funny. It’s definitely worth your time.
[Tess Dawson – @theblutit]
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