| "Eazy" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single byThe Game andKanye West | ||||
| from the albumDrillmatic – Heart vs. MindandDonda 2 (Stem Player version) | ||||
| Released | January 15, 2022 | |||
| Recorded | January 2022 | |||
| Genre | Progressive rap | |||
| Length | 3:54 | |||
| Label | 100 Entertainment | |||
| Songwriters | ||||
| Producers | ||||
| The Game singles chronology | ||||
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| Kanye West singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "Eazy" onYouTube | ||||
"Eazy" is a song by American rappersThe Game andKanye West. It was released as a single on January 15, 2022. The song was released exclusively onSpotify two days before. The cover art for the single attracted controversy due to it featuringNick Knight's highly graphic 1997 photo of a skinned monkey. The song'smusic video attracted additional controversy due its depiction of West burying comedianPete Davidson alive, who was dating his ex-wifeKim Kardashian at the time.
On January 12, 2022, in anInstagram video shared by designer Tracey Mills, West was seen talking toDJ Premier onFaceTime with the Game and fellow collaboratorsPusha T andMike Dean in the studio. In the video, West said that he was releasing a song that Friday and was asking DJ Premier if he could do ascratch for the song.[1][2] On January 15, 2022, the song was released exclusively onSpotify before being added to other streaming platforms a day later.[3][4]
On January 14, 2022, West revealed the cover art for "Eazy" onInstagram, captioning the post "My life was never eazy".[5] The artwork depicts a skinned monkey against a blood red background.[5] Originally photographed by English photographer and frequent West collaboratorNick Knight in 1997, it was part of his research for theWar editorial ofBig Magazine, which he described as "a study in physiology, form, philosophy, and death".[6][7][8] The picture was not published until 2013, when Knight curated a series of research imagery for SHOWstudio. In the same year, Knight said the following regarding the image:
These corpses of skinned animals had nothing of life left in them, not even the most tiny speck or hint of their former beauty, majesty and purpose. However, they were not inhabited by death in the way they had been by life. Once the life had gone, they were just bags of barely held together of [sic] flesh, bone and sinew. Nothing left, except their smell; they stank. They reeked. Every time, for years afterwards when I looked at the 10 by 8 transparencies, the stench came straight back to me as pungent as if each image was saturated with it. That, I concluded was death.[7]
Animal rights organizationPETA commented on the cover, saying that it is "reminiscent of monkeys PETA has found" and that "when you remove the fur, you can't miss that there's a person in there, that they are fellow primates, and do not belong to us to abuse for any purpose".[9]
The first music video for "Eazy" premiered viaInstagram on March 2, 2022. The video is halfclaymation and halflive action. It was heavily criticized upon release, as it depicts West kidnapping and burying alivePete Davidson.[10][11] Davidson is implied to be decapitated, as West holds a disembodied head throughout the live action segments.[12] In response to the controversy, West posted on Instagram that "Art is not a proxy for any ill or harm, Any suggestion otherwise about my art is false and mal intended."[13]
On March 9, a second music video withCGI-animated visuals was released, in which the skinned monkey from the "Eazy" cover art is depicted beating a3D model of Davidson, whose face is blurred out.[14][15]
| Chart (2022) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[16] | 35 |
| Global 200 (Billboard)[17] | 35 |
| Iceland (Tónlistinn)[18] | 11 |
| Ireland (IRMA)[19] | 20 |
| Lithuania (AGATA)[20] | 59 |
| New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[21] | 35 |
| South Africa (TOSAC)[22] | 13 |
| Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[23] | 86 |
| Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[24] | 63 |
| UK Singles (OCC)[25] | 32 |
| UK Indie (OCC)[26] | 3 |
| UK Hip Hop/R&B (OCC)[27] | 13 |
| USBillboard Hot 100[28] | 49 |
| USHot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[29] | 13 |
