Ye confronts divorce, grief and parenthood on new single ‘Life Of The Party’
From a failed bid at presidency ending in humiliation, to a very public divorce from wife Kim Kardashian, Kanye West has yet again managed to bounce back onto fresher pastures. As part of the deluxe to his most recent effort Donda Ye has put out ‘Life of The Party’, which in many ways, is the spiritual successor to 2016’s ‘No More Parties In LA’. The new single features one hell of a sample flip, repurposing The Dramatics’ release ‘I Was The Life Of The Party’ (1975) to create an elegant, ambient beat, which lays the foundations for the awe-inspiring lyrics.
Just like ‘NMPILA’, ‘Life of the Party’ has one of the greatest emcees to ever grace a mic on its front end, post the chorus, thus following an almost identical song structure. Whilst in 2016 it was Kendrick Lamar, now it’s one of the most beloved names in hip-hop. It is of course Andre 3000, an artist who has kept a low profile ever since the famous hip-hop duo Outkast folded, despite being one of the most capable on the scene.
Andre’s verse is absolutely beautiful on a conceptual level. He uses the example of Kanye mourning Donda West’s passing to confide in us details about his own mother’s passing affecting him. It begins, “Hey, Miss Donda/If you run into my mama, please tell her I said, “Say something”/I’m starting to believe ain’t no such thing as heaven’s trumpets”, signalling his lack of hope. Later on in the verse, he lists out factors he shares with Mr. West. Both are hip-hop legends. They were both raised by single mothers. They lacked proper father figures. Their passing has caught both unaware, and even many years on, they can’t let go of what they’ve lost forever. Both of their mothers passed away of heart conditions, both at the relatively young age of 58 years old. Both also have things to ask their parents. It is concise, vulnerable and beautiful.
Kanye’s verse follows immediately after, with a flow very reminiscent of a lot of his old work. Of course, everything that Kanye touches tends to be somewhat controversial, and this verse is no exception. It is littered with pro-life rhetoric, claiming that “They tried to take my voice away, I ain’t try to take ya choice away/I just prayed the water break, just for my daughter’s sake, from a slip-up”. He says he wants to raise his voice, because he is proud of his decision not to abort his daughter, but he doesn’t want to take anyone’s choice away, which if well-intentioned is a good plateau for his pro-life takes. Later in the song, he also raps “God has said himself to make sure that the baby live/And if Ye ain’t here, then tell me who gonna say this here”. Nevertheless, politics aside, the song is infused with gems: for example, the sampled adlibs from The Notorious B.I.G. and Diddy that fit perfectly into Kanye’s chorus and also Ye reminiscing about his school life and his favourite art teacher, Mrs Levy, who “saw the vision”. He also touches on how the media treat his life as a kind of ‘entanglement’; Kanye’s use of this phrase is no doubt a reference to the controversy and gossip surrounding Jada Pinkett Smith’s affair with August Alsina, which she described as an ‘entanglement’ in an interview that went viral last year.
The song ends with a sample of a video of late rapper DMX with his daughter on a roller coaster, tying into the themes of loss and parenthood explored throughout the song. Whilst he was known for his rough, gangster rap, this reveals a softer side to X, as he reassures his daughter.
Overall, this single stands out as one of the better songs, if not the best on the Donda album. It’s fusion of ‘old Kanye’ with contemporary subject matter and perfect beat selection makes it worthy of all the praise it has received so far.
