ET breaks down the rapper's darkest lyrics from his newly released album.
Kanye West's latest project, Ye, features some of his darkest lyrics yet.
The 40-year-old rapper dropped the album after premiering the seven new songs to a group of fellow artists, music journalists, radio DJs and influencers gathered together at a last-minute listening party in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Thursday.
Now, ET's breaking down all his mentions of mental health, drug use, suicide and more.
The cover
While the picture of the mountains is undeniably beautiful (and taken by Kanye himself using an iPhone, as wife Kim Kardashian West revealed via Twitter), the message written over the photo to complete the album art speaks volumes: "I hate being Bi-Polar its awesome."
Also known as manic-depressive illness, bipolar disorder causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
As many of his fans may recall, Kanye was admitted to the hospital in November 2016 after what one source described to ET at the time as "a mental breakdown." The father of three spoke out about his hospitalization and being addicted to opioids for the first time last month in interviews with Charlamagne tha God from iHeartRadio's The Breakfast Club and TMZ.
"I Thought About Killing You"
Kanye goes to extremely dark places right off the bat. From beginning to end of the first track off the album, the entertainer raps about thoughts of suicide and murder, which he first publicly spoke about in 2010.
"Today I seriously thought about killing you," he raps. "I contemplated, premeditated murder / And I think about killing myself, and I love myself way more than I love you, so."
"Today I thought about killing you, premeditated murder / You'd only care enough to kill somebody you love," he continues. "The most beautiful thoughts are always inside the darkest."
"Yikes"
On song number two, Kanye artistically addresses having a battle with inner demons, again seemingly touching on his opioid addiction, while referencing late legends Prince and Michael Jackson.
"I can feel the spirits all around me," he says. "I think Prince and Mike was tryna warn me / They know I got demons all on me."
Throughout the song he also croons, "S**t could get menacin', frightenin', find help / Sometimes I scare myself, myself / S**t could get menacin', frightenin', find help / Sometimes I scare myself, myself."
At the end of the track, Yeezy references bipolar disorder again, where he raps: "That's why I f**k with Ye / That's my third person / That's my bipolar s**t, n***a what? / That's my superpower, n***a ain't no disability / I'm a superhero, I'm a superhero."
Fans on Twitter praised him for the specific set of lyrics, writing things like, "Proud of him for revealing that," "Kanye West calling himself a superhero because his bipolar disorder is a super power is honestly so inspiring," "I felt that with my soul" and "We're just misunderstood. It is a creative superpower."
Like with every album, Kanye leaves parts of Ye open to interpretation by his fans. We'd love to know what YOU think of his new music -- are you digging it? What's your favorite track? Share your thoughts with us on Twitter (@etnow) and watch the video below to hear more on his album, including references to wife Kim, Kerry Washington and Tristan Thompson.
RELATED CONTENT:
