"The New Workout Plan" is a song from

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 ...

's debut album, ''

The College Dropout ''The College Dropout'' is the debut studio album by American rapper and producer Kanye West. It was released on February 10, 2004, by Def Jam Recordings and Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Records. In the years leading up to release, West had received pra ...

''. Released in late 2004, the single peaked at #59 on the U.S.

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

chart. The

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 ...

was released in 2004, with cameos from

John Legend John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and record producer. He began his musical career by working behind the scenes, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Ever ...

Miri Ben-Ari Miri Ben-Ari ( he, מירי בן-ארי; born December 4, 1978) is an American–Israeli musician, producer, and humanitarian, known as "the hip-hop violinist". Life and career Ben-Ari was born in Tel Aviv District, Israel. She grew up playing ...

Anna Nicole Smith Anna Nicole Smith (born Vickie Lynn Hogan; November 28, 1967 – February 8, 2007) was an American model, actress, and television personality. Smith started her career as a ''Playboy'' magazine centerfold in May 1992 and won the title of 1993 ...

Fonzworth Bentley Derek Watkins (born February 13, 1974), known professionally as Fonzworth Bentley, is an American rapper, actor, television presenter, and author. He is perhaps best known for being Sean Combs' former personal valet and assistant, as first see ...

Tracee Ellis Ross Tracee Joy Silberstein (born October 29, 1972), known professionally as Tracee Ellis Ross, is an American actress. She is known for her lead roles in the television series ''Girlfriends (2000 TV series), Girlfriends'' (2000–2008) and ''Black- ...

Vida Guerra Vida Guerra (born March 19, 1974) is a Cuban-born American glamour model and actress. Her first notable appearance was in the U.S. edition of ''FHM'' magazine in December 2002; since then, she has modeled for many other men's magazines. Early li ...

and GLC. "

Work Out ''Work Out in the Zone'' (previously known as ''Work Out'') is an American reality television series on Bravo (US TV network), Bravo, which premiered on July 19, 2006. The show is centered on fitness trainers and models located in the many citie ...

" by

J. Cole Jermaine Lamarr Cole (born January 28, 1985) is an American rapper and record producer. Born on a military base in Germany and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Cole initially gained recognition as a rapper following the release of his d ...

samples the song.

Composition

The lyrics of "The New Workout Plan" are voiced from the point of view of different girls reacting to a fake workout video. West explains unusual "testimonials" from women who have successfully undergone the workout plan and have been able to attain a lavish lifestyle thanks to being in shape.

Critical reception

The song was subject to generally favorable reviews from music critics. Derek Xu of ''Medium'' looked at it as being "a satirical anthem, just like "We Don't Care"". Tareck Ghoneim of ''

Contactmusic.com Contactmusic.com is an online magazine of cultural criticism based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, and ...

'' had praise for West's performance: " e showsexcellent wordplay that is original, humorous and the touch of irony makes for very clever use of lyrics". Paul Cantor of ''Billboard'' acknowledged that "Some critics argue that "The New Workout Plan" doesn't fit in with the rest of 'The College Dropout'', but praised it as what "should be commended as much for its conceptual ingenuity as its arrangement".

Music video

The official music video was directed by

Little X Julien Christian Lutz (born October 31, 1975), known professionally as Director X, is a Canadian filmmaker, commercial director, music video director, and television director. Having directed more than 100 music videos, he is widely known as a pr ...

, both short and long versions of the video for the song were officially released in 2004. The video features West in a faux 1980s-era workout video as he instructs women how to transform themselves into housewives. Cameo appearances are included from

and GLC. Anna Nicole Smith's cameo sees her playing the role of Ella-May and having a star like her frequently featured in a video of West's went against the idea of so many at the time that he'd fail as a rapper.

Chart performance

The track peaked at #59 on the U.S. ''Billboard''

chart on November 9, 2004, which was around two months after its release as a single and it spent a total of 21 weeks on the chart.

Legacy

Forrest Wickman of ''Slate'' looked at " Highlights" from West's seventh studio album ''

The Life of Pablo ''The Life of Pablo'' is the seventh studio album by American rapper and producer Kanye West. It was released on February 14, 2016, through GOOD Music and distributed by Def Jam Recordings. Recording sessions took place from 2013 to 2016, in It ...

'' (2016) as ending "with another new workout plan", whilst Austin Isaacsohn of ''Medium'' wrote of the album two years after its release "Kanye has taken a beating over the years, man. Listen to "The New Workout Plan" off ''

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Dropout'', then listen to "

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"." Raleigh-based rapper

sampled "The New Workout Plan" in his 2011 hit single "

", but despite sampling the original, Cole revealed himself to not be a fan of Kanye's songs.

Track listing

CD single #"The New Workout Plan" (Album Version) (Explicit) – 5:22 #"Heavy Hitters" (Dirty) – 3:57 #"Workout Plan" (Video) (Short Version) – 5:12

Personnel

Information taken from ''The College Dropout'' liner notes. *Songwriter:

*Record producer: Kanye West *Recorder: Keith Slattery, Andrew Dawson, Eugene A. Toale *

Mix engineer A mixing engineer (or simply mix engineer) is responsible for combining ("mixing") different sonic elements of an auditory piece into a complete rendition (also known as "final mix" or "mixdown"), whether in music, film, or any other content of a ...

Manny Marroquin Manny Marroquin (born September 21, 1971) is an American mixing engineer.Daley, Dan (May 2005).Manny Marroquin. ''Sound on Sound''. Retrieved February 10, 2007 He has received ten Grammy awards for his professional audio work. Life and career M ...

*Background vocals:

, Sumeke Rainey *Guitar: Eric "E-Bass" Johnson *Piano: Ervin "EP" Pope *Violin:

Charts

Certifications

Release history

Remix

The official remix for the song was produced by

Lil Jon Jonathan H. Smith (born January 17, 1971) better known by his stage name Lil Jon, is an American rapper, producer and former frontman of the rap group Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz. He was instrumental in the emergence of the hip hop subgenre cru ...

and features a new verse by West and guest appearances from

Twista Carl Terrell Mitchell (born November 27, 1973), better known by his stage name Twista (formerly Tung Twista), is an American rapper and record producer. He is best known for his Chopper (rap), chopper style of rapping and for once holding the t ...

Luke People *Luke (given name), a masculine given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Luke (surname) (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Luke the Evangelist, author of the Gospel of Luke. Also known as ...

, and

. The remix was later included on ''

The College Dropout Video Anthology ''The College Dropout Video Anthology'' is a DVD release featuring the music videos to the singles from American rapper Kanye West's debut studio album ''The College Dropout'' (2004), released on March 22, 2005. It featured the videos to the pre ...

''.

References

External links

*
"The New Workout Plan" Lyrics
at

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

(archived from 2007) {{DEFAULTSORT:New Workout Plan 2004 singles 2004 songs Def Jam Recordings singles Kanye West songs Music videos directed by Director X Roc-A-Fella Records singles Song recordings produced by Kanye West Songs written by Kanye West Satirical songs