After a week of alienating many of his fans on Twitter through praise of Donald Trump, Kanye West shared two new songs on Friday. The first, "Lift Yourself," promised to be "a verse that will bringEbro the closure he's been seeking," turned out to be nothing but a troll, with Ye spitting gibberish bars which Genius has transcribed as "Poop-de-di scoop / Scoop-de-di whoop / Whooptyscoopty poop / Poop-discoopty /Scoopty whoop." Naturally, fans were a little confused by the song, but many acknowledged it as a successful prank nonetheless. Some insisted it was "still flames," while others felt it resembled a track you'd hear "when you got catfished tryna download a new songoff Limewire." View some responses to the song below.
Listen to "Lift Yourself" and "Ye Vs. The People"
Later in the night, Kanye released a more traditional track called "Ye Vs. The People" with T.I. While there was considerably more substance to be found on the track, it doubled down on some of the more controversial views Kanye has recently expressed on Twitter (Make America Great Again had a negative reception / I took it, wore it, rocked it, gave it a new direction / Added empathy, care and love and affection / And y'all simply questionin' my methods"). At the same time, he allowed Tip to provide a rebuttal ("Fuck who you choose as your political party / You representin' dudes just seem crude and cold-hearted / With blatant disregard for the people who put you in position / Don't you feel an obligation to them?"). Some fans found the music interesting but were put off by Kanye's beliefs. Some were receptive to his incorporation of "both sides" to the debate while others weren't ready to give the rapper a pass for any of his rhetoric. Check out some tweets below.
The songs precede a new 7-track album from Kanye scheduled to be released in June. According to West, the solo album will be followed by a collaborative project with Kid Cudi in which the two rappers will go by Kids See Ghosts. Kanye-produced albums by Pusha T, Nas, and Teyana Taylor are due out in the next two months.