The one Kanye West song Kanye West called his “favourite ever”
What’s your favourite Kanye song? It’s a question we’ve all mulled over. Whether at the karaoke bar or on a first date, Kanye West is an omnipresent presence across all avenues of mainstream music.
We all have a favourite Kanye track – often, a few. Are you a ‘Gold Digger’ fan or more inclined towards ‘Bound 2’? Do you like his earlier records or his recent tracks? Was he making better stuff when his beloved mother, Donda, was still alive; was Kim Kardashian, and their subsequent divorce, a positive influence upon his artistry?
You don’t have to be a particular music hip-hop connoisseur to even casually listen to Kanye’s hits. And you don’t have to be even slightly opinionated to hold a view on what his best ever tune is.
Somebody who knows all of his music inside and out – and is famously, if not notoriously, opinionated – is Kanye West himself. In a somewhat interview with his son Psalm West, which circulated as a clip across social media platforms last year, the 24-time Grammy Award-winning artist was asked what his favourite song was. “What’s your favourite song ever”, to be exact.
“Fried”, Kanye replied after a while.
‘Fried’, as fans will know, is a song from Kanye’s Vultures 2 album with Ty Dolla Sign, released under their partnership ¥$ – helpfully pronounced Ye and Dollar Sign. It’s a high energy trap song that combines a thumping bass with backing vocals that sound akin to stadium crowd chanting, courtesy of The Hooligans. It was written by the duo, as well as Bump J, TheLabCook, poet and rapper Malik Yusef, Oscar Adler, and rapper Rich the Kid.
The song received mixed reviews from critics upon release. With words like ‘embarrassing’ and ‘blunder’ used on the more negative side of the scale, it would be safe to say ‘Fried’ is not appearing on the critics’ personal favourite Kanye song lists anytime soon.
But Kanye West, being Kanye West, was not having any of it. Declaring ‘Fried’ as his favourite song he’s ever released is classic Ye, sticking it to his fans and critics, reminding everyone that only he alone knows what genius can lie behind a mixed review track. The lyrics are classic Kanye: lavish descriptions of the utmost hedonism, references to sexual experiences, and explicit denotations of material wealth and living life in the fast lane.
It also nods to another theme he has personally grappled with: that of grief. “I done had too many friends that died / Sometimes I can’t believe I’m still alive,” he raps, referencing a personal acknowledgement of the mortality and wicked randomness of life.
For a song that wasn’t released as a single, it performed relatively well, signalling that perhaps fans did not necessarily agree with the general critics’ consensus. In the US, it charted at 87 on the Billboard Hot 100, and No. 43 on the UK Independent Singles Chart. It performed well in New Zealand, climbing into the top 10 for a position at No 8 on the New Zealand Hot Singles chart.