Grade: A

Ye’s new song “Everybody” from his upcoming album Vultures satisfies the public’s curiosity about the troubled rap star’s mental and musical state. Ye (formerly Kanye West) takes the reins in the first verse of the song, which plays with the public’s bewilderment about him. Then he passes the mic to his frankly less interesting collaborators Ty Dolla $ign and Lil Baby in the latter verses. Ye seems to be having fun on this song, getting into his flow, all the while establishing that he can still produce music which is catchy and powerful. One caveat is that this version of “Everyone” floating around the internet isn’t necessarily the final version for the official album, though it sounds fairly polished.

It might be a little surprising that Backstreet Boys of boyband fame would let Ye use a sample from the hook of their hit song “Everybody,” given that Ye is so mired in controversy and personal turmoil. Well, it turns out they didn’t give him permission. TMZ reports that it isn’t clear whether Ye failed to reach out to Backstreet Boys at all, or whether they rejected his request to use “Everybody.” (SEE ALSO: Axl Rose Me-tooed (Probably BS))

So what to do when you’re persona non grata but you need the approval and permission from fellow artists to sample them? Ye’s creative solution is apparently just not to ask them! 

This boyband sample (specifically the chorus, Everybody/ rock your body) was probably not what one expects from a hip-hop artist where street credibility is paramount. But perhaps when you’re Ye, you feel that you have the artistic license to take this type of risk. What’s more, the hook really works behind a hip-hop beat, reappropriated. Now it’s “Yeezy’s back alright” instead of “Backstreet’s back alright.” It is more than a touch of irony that the most bubble gum pop group of the oughts hit has been repackaged by the 2020’s most dangerous artist. 

Now let’s be clear, the whole song is pretty crass lyrically, with extremely graphic sexual references. It gets even more graphic in the second and third verses. As a side note, notice that none of this lewdness is really controversial; rather, only Ye’s forays into politics and antisemitism that provoked financial attacks and boycotts against him. 

The first verse, sung by Ye, is the one worthy of our attention: 

When I talk to the shrink, you better not blink Ninety-nine problеms, it start with the kink
One in the pink, onе in the stink
When you shave it down, is it still mink?

Come sue me, #MeToo me Survivin' Ye, come shoot me You wanna color me bad like a Coogi 
You wanna pack me up like a Tumi

Everybody waitin' for me to say the wrong thing 
Okay, you the king, Burger King 
I'm finna make a scene, murder scene
'Cause, homie, we done seen everything

The first line references Ye’s “shrink,” a nod to the increasingly common perception that Ye suffers from psychological problems or even a mental disorder. “You better not blink,” says Ye, toying with the listener.  At this point, we’re quite interested in what he has to say; we’re on the edge of our seats listening to his first track. We want to know: How does one reenter the mainstream after appearing on Alex Jones in a mask and praising certain fascist dictators? The next few lines are a matter of sexual hedonism. 

Then Ye seems to challenge his audience and the general public: “Come sue me.”  This recalls Michael Jackson’s “They Don’t Really Care About Us”: “Sue me, Jew me/ everybody, do me.” Jackson generated a similar antisemitism controversy as Ye has experienced. “Me too me” is an equally interesting provocation in “Everybody,” given that the me-too phenomenon has brought stars as big as Ye to their knees. And yet here is Ye saying he’s not scared, defiant in such cultural whirlwinds. 

Ye notes that “everyone’s waiting” for him to “say the wrong thing.”  Teasing the listeners, he continues, “ok, you’re the king…burger king.” 

This is the most strange and intriguing lines in the song. What to make of this? It could be Ye mocking his enemies, that their “kingdom” is not real, but rather the equivalent of fast food. Or it could be Ye saying that he’s the king, but following it up with a self-deprecating “burger king,” as a nod to his recent financial troubles (he uses second person, but it could be him referring to himself from the vantage point of a third-party). The lyrical pacing, giving a pause before the phrase of this line, makes it especially inventive and captivating, and the bizarre insertion of “burger king” makes the line stand out as discordant or farcical.  

Ultimately, it seems most likely that by saying “ok,” Ye is facetiously conceding to his critics, then elevating his critics to a position of authority (king), but then in the next beat putting them back in their place as pedestrian and unnoteworthy (Burger King).  

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