"Eazy" is a song by American rappers The Game and

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer and record producer. One of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary. After ...

. It was released as a single on January 15, 2022. The song was released exclusively on

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two days before. The cover art for the single attracted controversy due to it featuring Nick Knight's highly graphic 1997 photo of a skinned monkey. The song's

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

attracted additional controversy due its depiction of West burying comedian

Pete Davidson Peter Michael Davidson (born November 16, 1993) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He began his career in the early 2010s with minor guest roles on ''Brooklyn Nine-Nine'', ''Friends of the People'', ''Guy Code'', and ''Wild 'n O ...

alive, who was dating his ex-wife

Kim Kardashian Kimberly Noel Kardashian (born October 21, 1980) is an American media personality, socialite, and businesswoman. She first gained media attention as a friend and stylist of Paris Hilton, but received wider notice after the celebrity sex tape ...

at the time.

Background and marketing

On January 12, 2022, in an

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video shared by designer Tracey Mills, West was seen talking to

DJ Premier Christopher Edward Martin (born March 21, 1966), known professionally as DJ Premier (also known as Preemo), is an American record producer and DJ. He has been frequently lauded as one of hip hop's greatest producers by publications such as '' ...

FaceTime FaceTime is a proprietary videotelephony product developed by Apple. FaceTime is available on supported iOS mobile devices running iOS 4 and later and Mac computers that run and later. FaceTime supports any iOS device with a forward-facin ...

with the Game and fellow collaborators

Pusha T Terrence LeVarr Thornton (born May 13, 1977), better known by his stage name Pusha T, is an American rapper. He rose to prominence as one half of the Virginia-based hip hop duo Clipse, which he formed with his older brother No Malice, Malice. M ...

and Mike 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 a scratch for the song. On January 15, 2022, the song was released exclusively on

before being added to other streaming platforms a day later.

Cover art

On January 14, 2022, West revealed the cover art for "Eazy" on

, captioning the post "My life was never eazy". The artwork depicts a skinned monkey against a blood red background. Originally photographed by English photographer and frequent West collaborator Nick Knight in 1997, it was part of his research for the ''War'' editorial of ''Big Magazine'', which he described as "a study in physiology, form, philosophy, and death". 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: Animal rights organization

PETA People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA; ) is an American animal rights nonprofit organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. Founded in March 1980 by Newkirk and animal right ...

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".

Music videos

The first music video for "Eazy" premiered via

on March 2, 2022. The video is half

claymation Claymation, sometimes called clay animation or plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine cl ...

and half

live action Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define film, video games o ...

. It was heavily criticized upon release, as it depicts West kidnapping and burying alive

. Davidson is implied to be decapitated, as West holds a disembodied head throughout the live action segments. 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." On March 9, a second music video with

CGI-animated Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating moving images. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both still images and moving images, while computer animation refers to moving images. Modern c ...

visuals was released, in which the skinned monkey from the "Eazy" cover art is depicted beating a

3D model In 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling is the process of developing a mathematical coordinate-based representation of a surface of an object (inanimate or living) in three dimensions via specialized software by manipulating edges, vertices, and ...

of Davidson, whose face is blurred out.

Credits

* Production –

Hit-Boy Chauncey Alexander Hollis Jr. (born May 21, 1987), known professionally as Hit-Boy, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He first signed with fellow producer Polow da Don in 2007 as in-house production staff for his l ...

, Mike Dean, Big Duke, Cash Jones * Scratches –

* Vocals – The Game,

Julia Fox Julia Fox (born February 2, 1990) is an Italian and American actress, model, and media personality. Her debut performance was in the 2019 film ''Uncut Gems'', for which she was nominated for the Gotham Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Ac ...

(background)

Charts

References

{{Kanye West songs 2022 singles 2022 songs The Game (rapper) songs Kanye West songs Music video controversies Obscenity controversies in music Song recordings produced by Hit-Boy Song recordings produced by DJ Premier Song recordings produced by Mike Dean (record producer) Songs written by The Game (rapper) Songs written by Kanye West Songs written by MC Ren Animated music videos