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"Lift Yourself" is a song by American rapper
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 ...
. West wrote the song alongside James Massie and Ben Winters, and produced it with additional production from Mike Dean. The song was debuted on April 27, 2018, through West's website and was released by
GOOD Music GOOD Music (also known simply as GOOD, stylized as G.O.O.D. Music; a backronym for Getting Out Our Dreams) is an American record label founded by rapper Kanye West in 2004. The label signed an exclusive long-term worldwide label agreement with t ...
and Def Jam three days later for digital download and streaming as a standalone
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. As the first release of new music from West since his 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 I ...
'' (2016), it was perceived by numerous fans and publications to be him
trolling In slang, a troll is a person who posts or makes inflammatory, insincere, digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages online (such as in social media, a newsgroup, a forum, a chat room, a online video game), or in real life, with the i ...
them. The song samples Amnesty's "Liberty" and Dancer's "Boom Boom". Following a long build-up, West
scats The Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System, abbreviated SCATS, is an intelligent transportation system that manages the dynamic (on-line, real-time) timing of signal phases at traffic signals, meaning that it tries to find the best phasing (i ...
towards the end of the song, rapping nonsensical words. "Lift Yourself" received mixed to negative reviews from
music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...
, many of whom panned the lyrics and dismissed the song for lacking seriousness. Some praised the production, while a few critics expressed more positive feelings towards West's troll performance. The song peaked at number two on the US '' Billboard''
Bubbling Under Hot 100 Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...
chart, while also appearing on charts in Ireland, New Zealand, and Sweden. West and the Sunday Service Choir performed it live on multiple occasions in 2019, including a performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Smokepurpp released his remix of the song in April 2018, which West approved of. The following month,
Pusha T Terrence LeVarr Thornton (born May 13, 1977), better known by his stage name Pusha T, is an American rapper, songwriter and record executive. He rose to prominence as one-half of the hip hop duo Clipse, which was mainly active from 1994 to 201 ...
confirmed the existence of a version of the song that has proper lyrics but has not yet been released.


Background and development

"Lift Yourself" samples the guitar and vocal demo recording "Liberty" by American funk group Amnesty, who had re-issued a number of their recordings through
Now-Again Records Now-Again Records is a Los Angeles–based music imprint that specializes in reissues and compilations of funk, soul, and psychedelic rock from the 1960s to the 1980s. Founded in 2002 by Eothen "Egon" Alapatt as a subsidiary of Stones Throw Reco ...
by 2018, including the compilation album ''Free Your Mind: The 700 West Sessions'' (2007). The record label has an affiliation with Stones Throw Records, which American musician
Madlib Otis Jackson Jr. (born October 24, 1973), known professionally as Madlib, is an American DJ, music producer, multi-instrumentalist, and rapper. He is widely known for his collaborations with MF DOOM (as Madvillain), J Dilla (as Jaylib), ...
is signed to; he worked with West on the latter'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 I ...
'' (2016). Now-Again founder Eothen "Egon" Alapatt licensed the usage of "Liberty" for West, following on from him having previously cleared a sample of Amnesty's work for frequent West collaborator Jay-Z's song "F.U.T.W." in 2013. Alapatt admitted that he found out about the track "five hours before it went live" and recalled having to "pre-clear a song I didn't hear, and expect to work out the details later in a way that was equitable to everybody." He continued, remembering "listening to Lift Yourself'that evening" and being like, "You've got to be kidding me." Alapatt stated he thought to himself that he "just said yes to an internet troll, and no one's gonna get paid, and it's gonna be a complete nightmare," but believed things turned out to be "cool" in the end. Although he found "Liberty" on a demo tape in 2001 and later released it on ''Free Your Mind: The 700 West Sessions'', Alapatt did not recognize how great the recording was until West sampled it. Shortly before the release of "Lift Yourself", West announced the track via
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
. As part of the announcement, he used fire emojis to represent the track's "bars", promising to put out a song with a verse that will bring
Hot 97 WQHT (97.1 FM, ''Hot 97'') is a commercial radio station, licensed to New York, New York, which broadcasts an urban contemporary music format. The station is owned by Mediaco Holding and operated by Emmis Communications under a shared ser ...
radio disc jockey
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"the closure he's been seeking;" this promise was made after Darden had recently criticized West for his right-wing political views. Due to marking the first song dropped by West for a while, the April 2018 release of the track ignited excitement. However, after listening, the track sparked fans and multiple publications, including ''
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'',
Uproxx ''Uproxx'' (stylized in all caps) is an entertainment and popular culture news website. It was founded in 2008 by Jarret Myer and Brian Brater, and acquired by Woven Digital (later renamed Uproxx Media Group) in 2014. The site's target audience ...
, '' Good Morning America'', and '' XXL'', to believe that West was trolling them. In response to the track, Darden tweeted: "We already knew you was #TrollYeWest." The track was produced by West, with additional production from Mike Dean. West co-wrote it with James Massie and Ben Winters.
GOOD Music GOOD Music (also known simply as GOOD, stylized as G.O.O.D. Music; a backronym for Getting Out Our Dreams) is an American record label founded by rapper Kanye West in 2004. The label signed an exclusive long-term worldwide label agreement with t ...
president
Pusha T Terrence LeVarr Thornton (born May 13, 1977), better known by his stage name Pusha T, is an American rapper, songwriter and record executive. He rose to prominence as one-half of the hip hop duo Clipse, which was mainly active from 1994 to 201 ...
revealed on May 25, 2018 that a version of "Lift Yourself" with "real other lyrics" exists and may be released on West's then-upcoming album. Pusha T continued, voicing the belief the track's beat being "so fire" demonstrates West's "level of confidence and arrogance," and recalled that during the creation of the released version, West was like, "You know what? I'mma throw this out and show them what I think of all that. It's nothing." In September 2018, West admitted Canadian rapper
Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...
had some ill feelings towards him because he used the beat for "Lift Yourself" that Drake originally wanted. West stated that he should have given Drake an opportunity before releasing the final version and also apologized to him over their falling out, which was led to by West's usage of the beat and his role in Pusha T's feud with Drake.


Composition and lyrics

Musically, "Lift Yourself" is an
avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
track, which features
scatting In vocal jazz, scat singing is vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. In scat singing, the singer improvises melodies and rhythms using the voice as an instrument rather than a speaking medium. ...
from West. For the first two minutes of the song, a chopped up sample of "Liberty" by Amnesty is used to construct its lyrics and melody. The sample speeds Amnesty's vocals up, being reminiscent of West's early production work with the speed alteration technique. "Lift Yourself" also includes a sample of "Boom-Boom" (1987) by Dancer. The song features
drum programming Programming is a form of music production and performance using electronic devices and computer software, such as sequencers and workstations or hardware synthesizers, sampler and sequencers, to generate sounds of musical instruments. These ...
, which was contributed by
Benji B Benjamin Benstead, known professionally as Benji B, is a British DJ, radio presenter, and record producer. A longtime BBC Radio producer and presenter, he has presented a weekly show on BBC Radio 1 since 2010 that highlights an eclectic mix of h ...
. After "Liberty" is sampled for roughly two minutes, "Lift Yourself" transitions into West's performance during the remainder, with him delivering it in around 30 seconds close to the end of the song. Before West's verse starts, he assures listeners that it is going to be great, warning them to "watch this shit go." In West's verse, he utters nonsensical phrases based around the words poop, scoop, and whoop. West's verse includes him saying, "Whoopdedy-scoop, whoopdedy-whoop-scoop-poop, poop, poop," and the song abruptly ends after the verse. The editors' notes on iTunes questioned whether the song is meant as inspiration or an inside joke by West.


Release and reception

West tweeted out a link to his website on April 27, 2018. Once the website loaded, it played the track's
MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...
file. "Lift Yourself" marked West's first piece of new music since ''The Life of Pablo'' in 2016. It was released for digital download and streaming as a
single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...
on April 30, 2018. The track was met with mixed to negative reviews from
music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...
, who often criticized its lack of seriousness. Alex Young was highly negative in ''
Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. In addition, the website also features the Festival Outlook ...
'', saying the track is "not really a song so much as a musical poop joke," panning West's performance. ''
Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...
''s Frank Guan slammed the song as "terrible" and commented that West "inhabits a theatre of the absurd where scatological squibs count as songs and ignoring your critics constitutes a constructive dialogue with them," citing his position as being obviously stupid. The staff of ''
Dazed ''Dazed'' (''Dazed & Confused'' until February 2014) is a bi-monthly British style magazine founded in 1991. It covers music, fashion, film, art, and literature. Dazed is published by Dazed Media, an independent media group known for producing ...
'' analyzed that "Lift Yourself" is "not really a song" and is instead "what appears to be more ephemeral pranking," specifically writing off West's lyrical performance. ''Pitchfork'' writers Amanda Wicks and Braudie Blais-Billie noted "Lift Yourself" for being a "strange, gibberish track." Tom Breihan of '' Stereogum'' pointed out that the song is "clearly a goof" but "sort of catchy," though praised the sped-up sample for showing West has been "digging back through his old bag of tricks" and also complimented the "echoing, cavernous, almost dancehall-esque drums." Breihan confessed that the song, along with "Ye vs. the People" and West's political nature being expressed in 2018, demonstrated West had not thought things through. Corbin Reiff from Uproxx called the song an "unapologetic" and "flatulent troll job," but highlighted the "fire" beat and concluded by pointing to "Lift Yourself" as a "massive upgrade" over "Ye vs. the People". In a positive review for ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'', Christopher R. Weingarten opined that dismissing the track "as the musical version of trollface.jpg is shortsighted and ahistorical." He elaborated by expressing certainty the lyrics "are complete and total jabberwocky" while writing that "immediately washing your hands of them ignores a long, proud, defiantly pop tradition of gibberish in popular music" and questioning, "Where would music be without nonsense?" Weingarten acknowledged the track "may be the first rap song from a major celebrity to truly embrace the aesthetics of SoundCloud rap" and viewed it as "uplifting instead of moody," as well as noting the "classic Eighties sample-chop techniques." ''XXL'' author Peter A. Berry lauded the track for West's execution of "one of the best trolls of 2018 thus far," which Berry attributed to the lyrical content. "Lift Yourself" debuted at number five on the US '' Billboard''
Bubbling Under Hot 100 Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...
chart for the issue dated May 12, 2018, selling 4,000 copies and receiving 7.2 million streams in its first week. The song was outperformed by the debut of West's "Ye vs. the People" that week, which entered at number 85 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The following week, "Lift Yourself" rose three places on the US Bubbling Under Hot 100, peaking at number two. The song lasted for two weeks on the chart. In Sweden, "Lift Yourself" peaked at number 91 on the Sverigetopplistan chart. The song entered at number 94 on the Irish Singles Chart. It further reached number six on the New Zealand Heatseekers chart.


Live performances and other usage

West and his
gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...
group the Sunday Service Choir performed a rendition of "Lift Yourself" at the group's first concert on January 7, 2019, with the performance beginning at the concert's 4:11 mark. Later that month, the Sunday Service Choir delivered a rendition of the song at their second concert. For a Sunday Service concert on March 17, 2019, West and the group performed a gospel version of the song. During the performance, Kanye's daughter North West started to dance as he leant down while performing. Kanye and the Sunday Service Choir headlined the 2019
Coachella Festival The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (commonly called the Coachella Festival or simply Coachella) is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colorado Desert ...
on April 21, coinciding with
Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...
that year, and performed the song as part of their set. At one point of the performance, Kanye allowed North to deliver certain lyrics from the song, who requested her cousin Penelope Disick to join in while performing. On April 28, 2018, rapper Smokepurpp shared his remix of "Lift Yourself" via Twitter, later releasing it on
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and his website. Similarly to Kanye West's performance on the original, Smokepurpp trolls on the remix, which includes him delivering random sounds and ad-libs. He does not make a complete bar or rhyme scheme on it, though mentions fellow rapper J. Cole. West posted the remix to Twitter on the same day as its release, explaining he did not do this "as a diss to J Cole," saying he loves him and "also love where Purp took his flow." West re-used the nonsense "whoop" and "scoop" words from the song on Pusha T's track " What Would Meek Do?", which was released in May 2018 on his third studio album ''
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''. The following month, West rapped "scoop" on "
Freeee (Ghost Town, Pt. 2) "Freeee (Ghost Town, Pt. 2)" is a song by American hip hop duo Kids See Ghosts, composed of the rappers Kanye West and Kid Cudi, from their eponymous debut album (2018). The song features a guest appearance from American musician Ty Dolla Sig ...
" by
Kids See Ghosts Kids See Ghosts (stylized in all-caps) was an American hip hop duo composed of musicians Kanye West and Kid Cudi. Formed in 2018 during West’s Wyoming sessions, the duo released their eponymous debut album in June of that year, through ...
, a hip hop duo consisting of him and Kid Cudi, from the duo's eponymous debut studio album. West released " XTCY" as a single in August 2018, which features him alluding to "Lift Yourself" by performing "whoopity-scoop" ad-libs.


Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from
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. *
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 ...
production, songwriter * James Massie songwriter * Sidney Winters songwriter * Mike Dean additional production, mastering engineer * Andrés Osorio assistant recording engineer * Sean Solymar assistant recording engineer * Noah Goldstein mixer, programmer, recording engineer *
Benji B Benjamin Benstead, known professionally as Benji B, is a British DJ, radio presenter, and record producer. A longtime BBC Radio producer and presenter, he has presented a weekly show on BBC Radio 1 since 2010 that highlights an eclectic mix of h ...
programmer


Charts


Notes


References


External links

Official audio
at
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{{authority control 2018 singles 2018 songs Avant-garde music Def Jam Recordings singles GOOD Music singles Kanye West songs Song recordings produced by Kanye West Song recordings produced by Mike Dean (record producer) Songs written by Kanye West