| "I'm in It" | |
|---|---|
| Song byKanye West | |
| from the albumYeezus | |
| Released | June 18, 2013 |
| Recorded | 2013 |
| Studio |
|
| Genre | |
| Length | 3:54 |
| Label | |
| Songwriters |
|
| Producer | Kanye West |
"I'm in It" is a song by American rapperKanye West from his sixth studio album,Yeezus (2013). The song features additional vocals fromJustin Vernon andAssassin. West served the role of lead producer andEvian Christ co-produced it with Dom $olo, whileNoah Goldstein,Arca, andMike Dean contributed additional production. The rapper, Evian Christ, and Dean served as co-writers with the vocalists,Malik Yusef,Cyhi the Prynce, Sakiya Sandifer, and Elon Rutberg, whileDre & Vidal,Jill Scott,Carvin Haggins, andKenny Lattimore received credits due to a sample of their composition. The song started as a six-minute arrangement with a differentsample and melody, edited down to run for around three minutes.
Ahip hop,dancehall,industrial, andtrap track, "I'm in It" features prominentreggae elements and a sample of Lattimore's "Lately". Lyrically, West discusses a sexual fantasy of himself andKim Kardashian. The song received polarized reviews frommusic critics, who were divided in their feelings towards West's sexual lyrics. Some highlighted his fantasy and others criticized the inappropriateness, while a few critics praised the production. The song reached numbers 17 and 43 on the USBillboardBubbling Under Hot 100 Singles andHot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts, respectively. West performed it duringThe Yeezus Tour (2013–14).
Jamaican deejayAssassin commented that West decided to go in the direction of Jamaican culture on the album as he incorporateddancehall elements, benefitting the genre for continuing its combination withhip hop. He felt that West's usage of dancehall and reggae influenced different artists of his styles, making front-page headlines across continents for working with him.[1] Assassin was recruited by West's team at Gee Jam Studios in Jamaica'sPortland Parish, finding the initial sessions to resemble his posse cut "Mercy" (2012) and he delivered different verses to instrumentals with no other vocals. West enjoyed listening to Assassin's recordings and he contacted him to use one of the verses without disclosing it was forYeezus at the time; the deejay excitedly learnt he was on the album when at a club.[1] The two did not communicate directly during the recording process and first met each other in December 2014, being introduced byRodney "Darkchild" Jerkins.[2] Around a year later, Assassin recalled that receiving recognition from someone like West proved he was "doing a lot right".[3]
AfterBon Iver singerJustin Vernon collaborated with West on his fifth studio albumMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in 2010, he developed a bond with the rapper and worked on ten songs forYeezus, of which three were included. Vernon was playing guitar around a campfire and drinking beer with a band of his at a barn when there was a suddenpower outage, leading to him starting to write for "I'm in It".[4] Record producerMike Dean cited Vernon as an artist West would always collaborate with and did not pinpoint him as any musical genre, not knowing if he would sing like theBee Gees or perform indistortion and comparing his focus on emotion toMichael McDonald. Vernon looked back with a lack of awareness of his lyrics on the song and described West as discussing "really violently and stunningly visual sex shit", which came from the "intelligent conversations" about the state of women held in the studio rather than how the rapper talked to his friends.[5] The singer also compared the imagery to the 2000 filmAmerican Psycho, through West resembling a director as not everything he discusses is "actually him saying it every time".[5] Vernon felt that he played a character on the song that would be defined by West's editing and used his section of singing "star fucker" for "calling somebody out", while he had no idea of what Assassin was saying.[5]
West and the artists on his labelGOOD Music repeatedly listened to English record producerEvian Christ'sKings and Them during the recording sessions forCruel Summer, theircompilation album released in 2012. This led to him recruiting Evian Christ forYeezus; he later signed to GOOD Music on his major label debut.[6] The producer was given two days to record material for West and crafted nine tracks in January 2013, one of which was selected for "I'm in It". The track started with "breathy sex sounds" over thesnares for its sexual nature, going into overdrive with the emphasis after West contributed rapping.[5] Evian Christ did a double-take on a couple of West's lines at first, although felt that the rapper had to "go all the way" about sexual topics.[5] According to engineerAnthony Kilhoffer, the song originated with a differentsample and melody that West abandoned for a six-minute arrangement, until producerRick Rubin edited it to flow in the structure of a three-minute composition. Dean recalled how everyone would "push things to be weirder" and he moved in a more musical direction, although West gravitated towards hip hop and he praised the final product that contrasts with "crazy guitar parts and all this stadium stuff".[5] ProducerNoah Goldstein recalled that West was fully responsible for thereggae voices, standing as the curator of the production.[5] The rapper produced "I'm in It", while Evian Christ and Dom $olo served as co-producers and additional production was contributed by Goldstein,Arca, and Dean. West, Evian Christ, and Dean co-wrote it with Vernon, Assassin,Malik Yusef,Cyhi the Prynce, Sakiya Sandifer, and Elon Rutberg, while the duoDre & Vidal,Jill Scott,Carvin Haggins, and singerKenny Lattimore received songwriting credits due to the sample of "Lately".[7]
Musically, "I'm in It" is a hip hop,[5] dancehall,[1][8][9]industrial, andtrap track, with elements of reggae,[10][11]techno,[12] andpunk rock.[13] It features a sample of Lattimore's "Lately".[7] The song contains screechingsynthesizers, percussion, and fast-paced snare drums.[14][15] It features dog bark sounds, which are incorporated low into the mix.[16] The song also includes "Oh" vocals, as crafted by Tammy Infusino andKen Lewis.[7] It features apulse when the beat drops following the chorus, with atempo of around 70 beats per minute.[17] West raps in amelancholy voice that ischopped and screwed, being distorted to an aggressive tone.[8][13][17] A verse is contributed from Assassin,[1] who also delivers lines next to West's verses andcrooning is contributed from Vernon;[15][18] he sings thechorus with West.[17]
In the lyrics of "I'm in It", West details a sexual fantasy of a night with his then-wifeKim Kardashian.[14][19] The highly explicit content was noted by numerous publications,[20] withPitchfork andThe Daily Telegraph seeing it asXXX-rated.[9][21] West proclaims "Thank God almighty, free at last" in reference to Kardashian unveiling her breasts, alluding toMartin Luther King Jr.'s1963 speech.[14][19][22][23] He demandssweet and sour sauce as he raps about oral sex with an Asian women and also quirks about making a girl scream "AAAAAAH-a-a-a-a-a!",[14][24] then repeatedly asserts "That's right, I'm in it"[17] as he is accompanied by Assassin every few lines.[8] The deejay also mentions his "bad man ting", while Vernon calls out a "star fucker" during the bridge.[4][5][17] In the final verse, West declares that he cannot abandon nightlife in spite of being married with children and admits to sleeping with hisnightlight on,[9][18][21] concluding that he speaks "Swag-hili".[10][20]
"I'm In It" was included as the sixth track on West's sixth studio album,Yeezus, released on June 18, 2013, through his labelsDef Jam andRoc-A-Fella.[13][25] The song was met with polarized reviews frommusic critics, with split asessments of the sexual content. Ryan Reed fromPaste identified West and Vernon as the album's best collaboration, labeling the song a "disturbing sex rap" backed by snares as West references Kardashian's breasts and goes "for condoms like a ninja".[15] Writing forAllMusic, David Jeffries was taken aback by the song's "punkish, irresponsible blast-femy" as West articulates his dreams at his loudest during the sexual lyrics.[13] The staff ofBillboard noted that West "mangles his voice and flips to beast mode" for the content, beginning at a slow pace and transitioning into "a dancehall romp".[8] Ryan Dombal ofPitchfork noted the song's heavy explicitness and that it sounds like "a dancehall orgasm mired in quicksand", making West's similar songs such as "Slow Jamz" (2003) seem likeDisney theme songs, while he considered the sweet and sour line to come across as oafishness.[9]HipHopDX reviewer Justin Hunte thought that the song's club-appropriate sexual lyrics, reggae influences, and "Swag-hili" line make it "quickly embed itself Indian-style into the eardrum".[10] Jon Dolan ofRolling Stone wrote that the song resembles the soundtrack of "asnuff film forCylons" and said that in the lyrics, West "sounds at once righteous and evil".[26] AtPopMatters, David Amidon was interested in certain lyrics from West and found imagining him asleep with his nightlight on to be fun, while he stated Assassin goes "in and out of the beat like apirate ship on the high seas".[18] However, Amidon believed that listeners will take time to appreciate the song and West should have articulated a response toRay J's "I Hit It First" without its incoherent last verse.[18]
Providing a less enthusiastic review forThe New York Times,Jon Pareles stated that West enacts the black stereotype of "the insatiable superstud, callous and lewd", who uses women for sexual means.[27] He noted that West adds "a little blasphemy" for a reaction, despite not seeing any achievement in being smarter than "hip-hop's many other raunchmongers".[27] In theLos Angeles Times, Randall Roberts was both surprised and impressed with West's reference to King's speech, although expressed that the song "could be called bawdy were it not so lyrically dark".[19] In a mixed review, Jesal "Jay Soul" Padania fromRapReviews felt that the "quick-quick-slow dancefloor fuck song" is highly explicit to varying levels of success, criticizing how West'smisogyny resembles fellow rapperLil Wayne'sI Am Not a Human Being II (2013).[20] Forrest Cardamenis ofNo Ripcord wrote off West's mixed messaging with his "racially-charged lyrics" as he sexually references King's speech and acivil rights sign, making a historical error as theBlack Panther Party's sign was instead a closed fist.[28] Referencing the latter line forNME, Gavin Haynes questioned if there would be "a more sacrilegious moment in 2013" and he also found a lack of meaning in the title of "I'm in It".[29] On a similar note,The Fly's Alex Denney called West misogynistic and hard to listen to as he seemingly places "the rap lexicon on the psychologist's sofa".[11] For theChicago Tribune,Greg Kot was irritated with West for his sweet and sour sauce line that takes part in "the kind of transgressive 'humor'" of artists of a lesser caliber.[30] Gary Suarez ofThe Quietus thought that West went too far with the line, which he called the "most tasteless joke" onYeezus.[24]
Upon the release of the album, "I'm in It" debuted at number 17 on the USBillboardBubbling Under Hot 100.[31] It also entered the USHot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart at number 43.[32]
West incorporated five spelled-out segments intoThe Yeezus Tour (2013–14), performing "I'm in It" during the third segment "Falling".[33][34] He wore atunic made from spare green military material with a large number of pockets for the performance, while men in body suits walked around him.[33][35]
Within the same week of the album's release, a remix of the song was released by DMNDZ. A trap remix, it adds prominent808s andhi-hats. Faceasaurus Rex also shared their "Swaghili Remix", based in the same genre with heavy bass.[36]Tinashe premiered her track "Vulnerable" in November 2013, featuring a verse from rapperTravis Scott thatinterpolates "I'm in It".[37] In spite of his admiration for West, Canadian musicianDrake criticized his "Swaghili" line and said that even fellow rapperFabolous "wouldn't say some shit like that" in a February 2014 interview.[38]
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.[7]
Recording
Personnel
| Chart (2013) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| USBubbling Under Hot 100 (Billboard)[31] | 17 |
| USHot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[39] | 43 |
| USOn-Demand Songs (Billboard)[40] | 27 |
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