"I Thought About Killing You" is a song by American rapper Kanye West, released as the opening track on his eighth studio album, Ye (2018). The song was produced by West, Francis and the Lights, and Benny Blanco, with additional production from Mike Dean, Andy C and Aaron Lammer. The production is driven by repetitive a cappella intonations, which play in the background. The lyrical content of the song centers around West's thoughts of suicide and homicide, delivered in both rapping and spoken word. West imparted that he has had suicidal thoughts in an interview with The New York Times.
"I Thought About Killing You" received mixed to positive reviews from music critics, with some directing praise towards its lyrical content and the beat switch, though other critics expressed negative feelings of such content. The original version of the song contained an unlicensed sample of "Fr3sh" by Kareem Lofty. The sample was removed in November 2018 after legal action was threatened by Lofty's record label, PAN. Though not released as a single, the song peaked at number 28 on the US Billboard Hot 100, while it reached top 40 positions on the Canadian Hot 100 and Irish Singles Chart.
Background and recording
West first worked with American pop project Francis and the Lights on their 2016 single "Friends" alongside Bon Iver; West appeared in the song's music video. In addition to "I Thought About Killing You", Francis and the Lights helped produce Ye tracks "All Mine" and "Ghost Town". The project produced the song with West and Benny Blanco, while additional production was handled by Mike Dean, Andy C and Aaron Lammer. British grime rapper Wiley commented on West's TMZ interview in which he suggested slavery was a choice via Twitter on May 3, 2018, claiming in one of his tweets that "Slavery was not a choice it was forced upon us. We were born into it." Despite tweeting out against his remarks, Wiley described West as "very smart." The contributions of Wiley and fellow British rapper Skepta weren't revealed until the credits of Ye were updated on June 14, 2018 to show them as co-writers on "I Thought About Killing You". It stands along with "Yikes" as one of only two tracks on the album where the vocals are solely by West.
West explained that he has had contemplations of suicide during an interview with The New York Times on June 25, 2018; the album was recorded that same year. When asked to what degree song's title was literal and metaphoric, West replied, "Oh yeah, I've thought about killing myself all the time. It's always an option and [expletive]. Like Louis C.K. said, I flip through the manual. I weigh all the options. I'm just having this epiphany now because I didn't do it, but I did think it all the way through. But if I didn't think it all the way through, then it's actually maybe more of a chance of it happening." On June 14, 2018, West posted a tweet that indicated his thoughts linked to the song were about killing his ego, and West revealed that without his ego he is "Just Ye," giving potential context into why West titled his album as such. West's wife Kim Kardashian posted a photo to her Instagram with the caption "I thought about killing you" on August 15, though did not directly reference him.
The original version of the song contains an uncredited sample from "Fr3sh", as performed by Kareem Lotfy. Bill Kouligas, head of Lotfy's label PAN, criticized West for the unlicensed sample and indicated intent to pursue legal action, saying "It's sadly another case of an artist who capitalizes on culture without any original ideas" and calling West "the ultimate narcissist." Francis and the Lights, who produced the track with West, took responsibility for the sampling and apologized, saying that he would be "reaching out" to rectify the issue and that the sample was added "at the last minute." On November 7, 2018, an alternative version of the album on streaming services revealed the song with its sample removed and the beat revised.
On the night of the album's premiere, West said that specific lyrics had been cut from it after his controversial interview with TMZ in which he made comments about slavery. On June 7, 2018, six days after the release of Ye, the clean version of "I Thought About Killing You" had the lyric "Sorry, but I chose not to be no slave" added at approximately three minutes and 30 seconds into the song in reference to those comments. The line has not been added to the explicit version of the song.