Remember when Kanye was lashing out on Nike during his radio appearances last year for “marginalizing” him and making him look like a “knucklehead” ? One of which was this rant on Hot 97:
Well last Friday during the halftime of the UEFA Champions League between Spanish power clubs Real Madrid and Athletico Madrid, the powers that be at Adidas took the opportunity to air their latest commercial promoting the upcoming World Cup this summer. What does this have to do with Kanye, you ask? While the visuals of the ad have the viewer locked in on stars like Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, the audio comes by way of the newest addition to the Kardashian tribe, Mr. Kanye West.
That’s right. In his first collaboration with the company since being recently signed, Kanye released his new song, “God Level” as the feature music for Adidas’ World Cup campaign. The title alone portrays somewhat of a cryptic “F U” to Nike, while paralleling his desire to be an “immortal” shoe/fashion designer. Furthermore, the blend of Yeezy’s pulsating percussion in the background, while various players work their magic on the pitch, gets you simultaneously amped for the World Cup and for a possible new body of work from West. While the ad itself only features a snippet of the actual song, including an edited version of a line referring to sharks in the water and a repeated “God Level”, it has already piqued the interest of the internet as many have searched for the completed version of the track, only to come up short with altered versions of the commercial audio on YouTube.
Although it’s not yet confirmed if the song will be featured on Kanye’s next album, God Level certainly maintains the feel from his last album, Yeezus, which could have some fans hesitant about what they should expect. Yeezus is the personification of what Kanye has become as a celebrity; a polarizing specimen that is hailed as genius by the most Stan of fans, or criticized as a noise that takes itself too seriously by everyone else. Unlike the layered, clean sound of MBDTF, or the anthemic, regality that was Watch the Throne, Yeezus was raw, aggressive, and agitated. The soundtrack for the angry drunk, who just took an extra line of cocaine.
God Level, or the snippet of, maintains that same level of agitation, tearing through the speakers with its loud, fast paced percussion. Though no one except those close to the production have even heard a completed verse from the full song, the tempo and rawness of it all was enough to have this writer ready to put on the countries kit and run through a freaking wall. Regardless of your views on soccer as a sport or Kanye as an individual, this collaboration should leave you feeling intrigued, anticipating the highlights for the summer ahead.