The acclaimed (and disgraced) rapper Kanye West has once again set the internet ablaze, this time after a 15-year old song has surfaced online that is an unreleased outtake from one of his most beloved albums, entitled “I’ll Be Alright”.
The song is, according to rumors online, from transitional period between the cancelled Good Ass Job album that was initially going to be his fourth album after Graduation in 2007 but was cancelled and replaced with 808s & Heartbreak, which released November 24, 2008.
Its sound feels firmly in West’s 808s & Heartbreak aesthetic rather than Graduation, feeling very much like a lost track from that album than something from anything that came before it.
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The “I’ll Be Alright” era: The influence of Kanye West’s 808s and Heartbreak
Real question: Is there any album more influential to the last 15 years of music than Kanye West’s 2008 album 808s & Heartbreak?
It was there that West went fully into his own emotions rather than running from them in the wake of the loss of his mother Donda West and a failed relationship, harnessing the power of autotune and the Roland TR-808 drum machine popular in 80s synth music to craft an entirely new sound that influenced rap, R&B and beyond in more ways than just aesthetic, helping filling those worlds with introspection and pathos until the present day.
The emotions of the song are as raw as anything on 808s, as he sings about the uncertainty after a split (“I don’t know if you love me, I’ve been on my own”) and reflects whether it was his fault (“Did I take too long to love you?”, a perfect fit for what the album would eventually become, featuring chart-topping hits such as “Heartless” and “Love Lockdown”.
Here’s the full lyrics to West’s latest unreleased song to leak, via Genius.
“I’ll Be Alright” – Kanye West – Full Lyrics
There may be no more influential era for tthan
[Intro]
Na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na
Na, alright[Verse 1]
Alright, alright
I don’t know if you love the na-na-na-na
But I been on my own
And now I’ll be alright
Sit down, I’ll grow distant, distant
Fa-fa-falling, all them listen
Did I mention my love for God?
Did I take too long to love you
Fall-fall on the ball
I’m not God
Maybe it’s not nothing for them both[Chorus]
I’ll be alright
Alright, hey *harmonizing*
I’ll be alright
Alright, hey-hey
And I’ll be alright, hey[Verse 2]
Lovers, sisters
Society told ’em don’t love nobody
All you get older in loving time
You have enough time to be in love, be in love
So we’ll just run, facing
Time is on your side
Young lovers, don’t give up
Don’t got ’em, I’m on my
Um, lovin’ lover boy
You got enough timе to fall in love[Chorus]
Alright, hey-aye
I’ll bе alright
Alright, hey-aye
Na-na-na-na
I don’t know if you care enough
But I’ll be alright
Alright[Verse 3]
Loving, facing
Boredom, boredom, morrow, come through
Something, so soon, so far, I’m gone
Dum, dum, dum
They’ve seen, battle, battle
Bom, bom
Revisit 808s & Heartbreak on Spotify here.