"XTCY" is a song by

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 originally released by

DJ Clark Kent Rodolfo Franklin Sr. (born September 28, 1967), known professionally as Clark Kent or DJ Clark Kent, is an American hip hop record producer, DJ and music executive of Panamanian descent. His crew of DJs is called "The Supermen", and his DJ moni ...

on August 11, 2018 for free download before released as a single on August 30. The song heavily samples "My Bleeding Wound" by The New Year.

Background

On May 15, 2018, West posted an image of an unfinished track listing for his then-upcoming album '' Ye''. The second song was slated to be "Extacy" and the third track was "

Wouldn't Leave "Wouldn't Leave" is a song by American rapper Kanye West from his eighth studio album, '' Ye'' (2018). The song includes vocals from PartyNextDoor, Ty Dolla Sign and Jeremih. It was produced by West and co-produced by Ty Dolla Sign, while additio ...

". Prior, "Extacy" featured vocals from singer

Ty Dolla Sign Tyrone William Griffin Jr. (born April 13, 1982), known professionally as Ty Dolla Sign (stylized as Ty Dolla $ign or Ty$), is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He first gained major recognition in 2010 for his feature on Ameri ...

. After ''Ye'' was released without "Extacy", West posted a new track list on June 1, 2018, of his collaborative project with Kid Cudi titled ''

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 ...

''. "Extacy" was placed as the last, unnumbered track on the list. ''Kids See Ghosts'' was also released without the track.

Composition

"XTCY" is a hip hop song built around vocals sampled from the 1974 electronic-soul song "My Bleeding Wound" by The New Year. The lyrics, which are as erotic as they are explicit, that West shows in the track have also been shown by him in the songs " I'm In It" and " I Love It". West reuses his "poop, scoop, whoop" ad-libs from "

Lift Yourself "Lift Yourself" is a song by American rapper Kanye West. 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 ...

Promotion

On August 11, 2018,

tweeted 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 ...

a link to download the song from the file sharing website,

WeTransfer WeTransfer is an internet-based computer file transfer service company that was founded in 2009, based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. History WeTransfer was founded in 2009 by Rinke Visser, Bas Beerens and Ronald Hans (Nalden) in Amsterdam, Nether ...

. West later retweeted Kent's tweet.

Critical reception

Matt Miller of '' Esquire'' viewed the track as unpleasant and described the conclusion as being West explaining "that all this nasty shit he's describing are thoughts he's had while on Ecstasy."

Artwork

The original artwork for "XTCY" is a photo from Kylie Jenner's 21st

birthday party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature f ...

, taken at Craig's Restaurant in

West Hollywood, California West Hollywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. It is considered one of the most prominent gay villages ...

. The artwork features Kanye's wife,

Kim Kardashian Kimberly Noel Kardashian (formerly West; born October 21, 1980) is an American socialite, media personality, and businesswoman. She first gained media attention as a friend and stylist of Paris Hilton, but received wider notice after the s ...

, and sisters-in-law

Khloé Kardashian Khloé Alexandra Kardashian (; born June 27, 1984) is an American media personality and socialite. Since 2007, she has starred with her family in the reality television series ''Keeping Up with the Kardashians''. Its success has led to the cre ...

, Kylie Jenner, Kendall Jenner and

Kourtney Kardashian Kourtney Mary Kardashian (born April 18, 1979) is an American media personality and socialite. In 2007, she and her family began starring in the reality television series ''Keeping Up with the Kardashians''. Its success led to the creation of ...

. The artwork is in reference to the lyrics: "You got sick thoughts? I got more of 'em / You got a sister-in-law you'd smash? I got four of 'em". Upset reactions were shown from fans of The Kardashians via Twitter to these lyrics. The official cover art for the song's release as a single, revealed on August 30, 2018, is a painting of the same photo by London-based artist Shadi Al-Atallah, who would also produce the cover art for Kanye's proceeding single " I Love It".

Commercial performance

Following on from its release as a single, "XTCY" managed to reach number 32 on the New Zealand Hot Singles chart.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from

Tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

. * Kanye West – performance, production * Andrew Dawson – co-production, engineering * Mike Dean – engineering, mixing * Mike Malchicoff – engineering * Zack Djurich – engineering * Sean Solymar – assistant recording engineering * Jess Jackson – mixing

Charts

Release history

Notes

References

{{Kanye West songs 2018 songs 2018 singles Dirty rap songs Kanye West songs Song recordings produced by Kanye West Songs written by Kanye West