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At around 4 a.m. this morning, Kanye West tweeted out a Soundcloud link to his first full collaboration with Kendrick Lamar:
Though Kanye and K-Dot have worked together before—Lamar has a writing credit on West’s track “All Day,” released last year—“No More Parties In L.A.” is the first time the two artists have been heard rapping rhymes on the same track.
West released the song early Monday as a continuation of West's #EveryFriday series, where the artist releases new music every Friday to build buzz around his upcoming release Swish. West released Real Friends on January 8th, the first of the songs revealed as a part of the Friday series.
Kim Kardashian West tweeted her apologies about the late release on Friday, apparently Mr. West was in Italy:
I soooo didn't mean to lie to you guys about GOOD FRIDAYS coming back. Kanye flew to Italy for a Yezzy Season 3 fitting.
— Kim Kardashian (@KimKardashian) January 17, 2016
The track itself sprawls across six minutes of a subdued yet sprightly beat, alternating between West and Lamar preaching the ills of stardom, among other things. Lamar's 2015 masterpiece album "To Pimp A Butterfly" works through Lamar's own challenges reconciling a past spent growing up in the inner-city, with the sudden wealth and well-being of being an A-list rapper.
In this respect, West’s message doesn’t sound all that different from Lamar’s. While West raps about many things in the track, he consistently returns to images of international fame and the lifestyle associated with that sort of stardom. The track is, in some ways, an attempt by the rapper to make peace between Kanye West the superstar and Kanye West the father. Kanye West the father can't stay out partying until 4 a.m. any longer, because Baby North needs to be fed at 7.
It's punchy track that underscores how despite the wealth and fame idols possess, they're fundamentally just as human as you and I.
West's Swish will be released on February 11th.
