''Yes!'' is the fourth album of

alternative hip hop Alternative hip-hop (also known as alternative rap and experimental hip-hop) is a subgenre of hip-hop music that encompasses a wide range of styles that are not typically identified as mainstream. AllMusic defines it as comprising "hip-hop group ...

artist k-os, released in Canada on April 14, 2009 in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

by Universal Music Canada. The first single, " 4 3 2 1", was released to radio in December 2008 and peaked at #98 on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. It was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007 as the standard record chart in Canada; a new chart ...

, also the video premiered on February 17, 2009. "Burning Bridges" and "I Wish I Knew

Natalie Portman Natalie Hershlag{{efn, Some Hebrew sources claim that her birth name was "Neta-Lee Hershleg" ({{langx, he, נטע-לי הרשלג) and later, her first name was Americanized to "Natalie". {{Cite news , last=Shamir , first=Oron , date=August ...

" are the second and third singles respectively. The album also debuted at #9 on the

Canadian Albums Chart The ''Billboard'' Canadian Albums is the official record chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music according to certain criteria during a given ...

. On November 17, ''Yes!'' was released on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

in the United States, with a physical release in the US on February 23, 2010, and in the UK on May 3. The video for "I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman" was released on November 23 as promo for the US physical release in February 2010. The video for "Zambony" was released on July 14, 2010, as promo for the US and UK physical releases as well.

Background

''Yes!'' was recorded at a number of studios, including

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

's The Warehouse Studio, Mushroom Studios, and k-os' home studio. A working title for the album was called ''Souls on Ice'', after a line from "Zambony". Before recording ''Yes!'', k-os relocated from his hometown of Toronto to Vancouver and changed record labels from EMI to

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

Nettwerk Nettwerk Music Group is an independent record label founded in 1984. The Vancouver-based company was created by principals Terry McBride and Mark Jowett as a record label to distribute recordings by the band Moev, but the label expanded in Ca ...

. k-os has said of the album, "this album to me is taking those passionate feelings I have and transmuting them into something that's fun -- because I'm having so much fun right now." On the album cover, k-os is shown painting a wall red with a

paint roller A paint roller is a paint Paint is a material or mixture that, when applied to a solid material and allowed to dry, adds a film-like layer. As art, this is used to create an image or images known as a painting. Paint can be made in many color ...

, while holding an

Ensoniq Ensoniq Corp. was an American electronics manufacturer, best known throughout the mid-1980s and 1990s for its musical instruments, principally Sampler (musical instrument), samplers and synthesizers. History In spring 1983, former MOS Technol ...

ASR-X Pro sampler in the other hand. Also, a black

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

is leaning against the wall, and the word "Yes!" is displayed, similar to the original cover on his debut album ''

Exit Exit(s) may refer to: Architecture and engineering * Door * Portal (architecture), an opening in the walls of a structure * Emergency exit * Overwing exit, a type of emergency exit on an airplane * Exit ramp, a feature of a road interchange A ...

'', which had a green background with an "EXIT" sign at the top left. It is his first album not to have his trademark "tree logo" on its cover. The album was included on the longlist for the

2009 Polaris Music Prize The 2009 edition of the Canada, Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 21, 2009 in Toronto

. Speaking on "I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman", k-os said, "this song started because I went over to

Saukrates Karl Amani Wailoo (born March 6, 1978), better known by his stage name Saukrates (; "Socrates"), is a Canadian rapper, singer, and record producer. He is the co-founder of Capitol Hill Music, and lead singer of the hip-hop/ R&B group Big Black ...

' house. He invited me over and he was playing a bunch of music because we were trying to get together on a track. And as the story goes, after playing me five or six tracks he was like, 'oh yeah, and I got this thing'. And I was like, 'God, dude I have to rap on that.' And he's like, 'that?' I was like, 'that's Phantom Planet'. I didn't even know it was an OC thing. And he sliced and diced it on his computer, left his verse on it and left a whole second verse for me to write my verse to. And I had that song for a year, no, six months. I was rolling on tour and then by accident we were playing Whistler, DJing and we were running out of songs and we played that song. The crowd was just like, 'I'm on the run!' and they'd never heard it before. And I was like, 'this is going to be on my next album,' and it was actually the last song that I added to the record. And so his verse is on it, and by default Nelly Furtado is on it. She's the one singing, 'can't really make you love me.'" About the title; "The title came because I wanted to call it — I couldn't call it "On the Run," because Soxx wanted to use that on his record and I couldn't call it "I Can't Make You Love Me," because there's a Bonnie Raitt song called that and everyone thought it was like blasphemy for me to call it that. So I kept on putting off the title and one morning I was in my bed hungover and my publisher was like 'You've got to tell me a name right now.' I'm like 'I don't know, I wish I knew Natalie Portman.' It was like 'Are you serious right now?' I'm like 'Yeah, I wish I knew Natalie Portman.' And that was it. It wasn't even something I thought about."

Track listing

#"Zambony" - 3:46 #*Main sample from "Morning Hymn and Alleluia" from the ''Sound of Music'' soundtrack #"Astronaut" - 3:14 #"Burning Bridges" - 3:32 #"Uptown GirL" (featuring

Emily Haines Emily Savitri Haines (born 25 January 1974) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She is the lead singer, keyboardist and songwriter of the rock band Metric and a member of the musical collective Broken Social Scene. As a solo artist, she has pe ...

Murray Lightburn Murray A. Lightburn is a Canadian musician and composer, best known as the lead vocalist and principal songwriter for The Dears. Lightburn has been called "the black Morrissey" due to his vocal similarity (and shared penchant for somewhat dark ...

) - 3:38 #*Contains a sample of "

Love Buzz "Love Buzz" is a song by Dutch rock band Shocking Blue. It was written by Robbie van Leeuwen and first released on the group's 1969 album '' At Home''. The original song is notable for its psychedelic rock style and its extensive use of the sitar ...

" by

Shocking Blue Shocking Blue was a Dutch rock band formed in The Hague in 1967. They were part of the Nederbeat movement in the Netherlands. The band had a string of hit songs during the Counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture movement of the 1960s and e ...

. #"I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman" (featuring

Nelly Furtado Nelly Kim Furtado ( , ; born December 2, 1978) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She has sold over 45 million records, including 35 million in album sales worldwide, making her one of the most successful Canadian artists. Critics have noted ...

) (Produced by Rich Kidd) - 3:10 #*Originally a Saukrates and Nelly Furtado collaboration entitled "On the Run", this track is the only track that does not appear on the ''Yes! It's Yours'' remix album, due to the fact it was a late addition to the album. On its official video, the track is known as "On the Run" #*Contains a sample of "

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

" by

Phantom Planet Phantom Planet is an American Rock music, rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1994. The band consists of Alex Greenwald (vocals, rhythm guitar), Darren Robinson (lead guitar), Sam Farrar (bass guitar) and Jeff Conrad (drums). The band is bes ...

. #" 4 3 2 1" - 3:54 #*Contains a sample of "Soul Flower (Remix)" by

The Pharcyde The Pharcyde is an American hip hop group, formed in South Los Angeles, South Central Los Angeles in 1989. The original four members of the group are Imani (rapper), Imani (Emandu Wilcox), Slimkid3 (Trevant Hardson), Bootie Brown (Romye Robinson ...

. #"Eye Know Something" (featuring Becky Ninkovic) - 3:36 #*Contains a sample of "

I Know There's Something Going On "I Know There's Something Going On" is a song by the Swedish singer and ABBA member Anni-Frid "Frida" Lyngstad, released on 6 August 1982 as her debut English-language single. It was the lead single to her third studio album and her first in the ...

" by

Frida Frida, Frieda, or Freida may refer to: People and fictional characters *Frida (given name), any of several people or characters ** *Frieda (surname), any of several people or characters *Afroditi Frida (born 1964), Greek singer *Frida (singer) ...

. #"The Aviator" - 3:27 #"FUN!" - 5:27 #*"Gotham City" (Hidden track) #"Mr. Telephone Man" - 6:06 #*"blackjackjohnson" (Hidden track) #"WhipC.R.E.A.M." - 2:56 #"The Avenue" - 9:23 #*"The Backseat" (Hidden track)

iTunes bonus tracks

The following tracks were available with the

pre-order A pre-order is an order placed for an item that has not yet been released. The idea for pre-orders came because people found it hard to get popular items in stores because of their popularity. Companies then had the idea to allow customers to r ...

of the album. #

"Dance In Your Car"

Singles

*"4 3 2 1" (January 2009) *"Burning Bridges" (April 2009) *"I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman" (July 2009)

Charts

''Yes! It's Yours''

''Yes! It's Yours'' is remixed version of ''Yes!'' containing tracks mixed by producers from all over the world. The album will be made available through concert venues with donations.

Track listing

#"Zambony" (Phil Azer Remix)- 2:22 #"Astronaut" (Tee L. Remix)- 3:17 #"Burning Bridges" (TheSoundCrate Remix)- 3:37 #"Uptown Girl" ( Jalyn (Film Composer / Music Producer) Remix)- 3:41 #"4 3 2 1" (TheSoundCrate Remix)- 3:55 #"Eye Know Something" (Herr Kaschke Remix)- 3:15 #"The Aviator" (Len Afrosaxon Remix)- 8:42 #"FUN!" (Ric Notes Remix)- 3:00 #"Mr. Telephone Man" (Len Afrosaxon Remix)- 6:18 #"WhipC.R.E.A.M." ( Remot Remix)- 2:44 #"The Avenue" (Zach W. Remix)- 4:44

Background

Track listing

iTunes bonus tracks

Singles

Charts

''Yes! It's Yours''

Track listing

Singles

Charts

References