.

Kanye West

"Mama's Boyfriend"

Rolling Stone: star rating
Community: star rating
5 4 0
June 14, 2011

Update: Kanye West says that the version of his song which was widely circulated this week is "entirely bogus and unsanctioned" and features a fake backing track.

"We are the voices of our parents' bad choices, the aftermath of divorces," Kanye raps on this Twisted Fantasy outtake. In one of his sweetest, realest, funniest songs ever, he channels his childhood rage at the hapless wannabe-dads who dated his single mom, while admitting that he's grown up to become pretty much the same kind of dude. "You your mama angel / Don't get it twisted baby boy, I'll Ving Rhames you," he tells his lady's son, over a soul-drenched beat that would have fit perfectly on College Dropout. You can almost hear the kid shoot back you're not my real dad!, before throwing a toy diplodocus at the Louis Vuitton Don's head.

Kanye West's Career Highs — and Lows

prev
Song Review Main Next

ADD A COMMENT

Community Guidelines »
loading comments

loading comments...

COMMENTS

Sort by:
    Read More

    Music Reviews

    more Reviews »
    Daily Newsletter

    Get the latest RS news in your inbox.

    Sign up to receive the Rolling Stone newsletter and special offers from RS and its
    marketing partners.

    X

    We may use your e-mail address to send you the newsletter and offers that may interest you, on behalf of Rolling Stone and its partners. For more information please read our Privacy Policy.

    Song Stories

    “Help Me”

    Joni Mitchell | 1974

    Joni Mitchell wrote and recorded this song for her album Court and Spark, but she had to switch from her regular band to make the song sound exactly the way she wanted. "I had attempted to play my music with rock & roll players," she told Rolling Stone. "They’d laugh, 'Awww, isn't that cute? She's trying to teach us how to play.'" Mitchell switched to a jazz band, Tom Scott’s L.A. Express, and scored the biggest hit of her career in the process.

    More Song Stories entries »