"Eazy" is a song by American rappers The Game and

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

. It was released as a single on January 16, 2022. The song was released exclusively on

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two days before. The cover art for the single attracted controversy due to the featuring of Nick Knight's highly graphic 1997 photo of a skinned monkey and the song's

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

attracted controversy because of its depiction of West burying alive comedian Pete Davidson, who was dating his ex-wife Kim Kardashian.

Background and marketing

On January 12, 2022, in an

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video shared by designer Tracey Mills, West was seen talking to DJ Premier on

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with the Game and fellow collaborators Pusha T and Mike Dean in the studio. In the video, West said that he was releasing a song that Friday and was asking DJ Premier if he could do a scratch for the song. On January 15, 2022, the song was released exclusively on

before being added to other streaming platforms a day later.

Cover art

On January 14, 2022, West revealed the cover art for the single on Instagram and captioned the post, "My life was never eazy". The cover depicts a skinned monkey against a blood red background. The picture was originally taken by English photographer and frequent West collaborator Nick Knight in 1997 as part of his research for the ''War'' editorial for ''Big Magazine'', which he described as "a study in physiology, form, philosophy, and death". The picture of the skinned monkey was not published until 2013, when Knight curated a series of research imagery for SHOWstudio. Speaking about the picture, Knight said in 2013: Animal rights organization

PETA Peta or PETA may refer to: Acronym * Pembela Tanah Air, a militia established by the occupying Japanese in Indonesia in 1943 * People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an American animal rights organization * People Eating Tasty Animals, an ...

commented on the cover, saying that it is "reminiscent of monkeys PETA has found" and that "when you remove the fur, you can't miss that there's a person in there, that they are fellow primates, and do not belong to us to abuse for any purpose".

Music videos

A music video of the song premiered via

on March 2, 2022. The video is half claymation and half live-action. The video has been heavily criticized as it depicts West kidnapping, burying alive, and decapitating Pete Davidson, referencing West's divorce with Kim Kardashian. In response to the controversy, West posted on

that "Art is not a proxy for any ill or harm, Any suggestion otherwise about my art is false and mal intended." On March 9, 2022, a second music video with CGI animated visuals was released.

Credits

* Production – Hit-Boy, Mike Dean, Big Duke, Cash Jones * Scratches – DJ Premier * Vocals – The Game,

, Julia Fox (background)

Charts

References

{{Kanye West songs 2022 singles 2022 songs The Game (rapper) songs Kanye West songs Music video controversies Obscenity controversies in music Song recordings produced by Hit-Boy Song recordings produced by DJ Premier Song recordings produced by Mike Dean (record producer)