I'm in It

"I'm In It" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Kanye West, from his sixth studio album, Yeezus (2013). It was produced by West, Evian Christ, Dom Solo, Noah Goldstein, Arca and Mike Dean. The song features vocals from Justin Vernon and Assassin and a sample of "Lately" by Kenny Lattimore. Assassin recorded different verses unaccompanied to instrumentals, which West used for the song unannounced. The song started as a six-minute arrangement with a different sample and melody, edited down to run for around three minutes. In the song, West describes numerous sexual fantasies using very sexually explicit lyrics. The song has received mixed reviews from music critics, with its explicit lyrics receiving the most criticism. It reached numbers 17 and 43 on the US Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts, respectively.

Jamaican deejay Assassin commented that West decided to go in the direction of Jamaican culture on the album as he incorporated dancehall elements, benefitting the genre for continuing its combination with hip hop. He felt that West's usage of dancehall and reggae influenced different artists of his styles, making front page headlines across continents for working with him.^[1] Assassin was recruited by West's team at Gee Jam Studios in Jamaica's Portland Parish, finding the initial sessions to resemble his posse cut "Mercy" (2012) and he delivered different verses to instrumentals with no other vocals. West enjoyed listening to Assassin's recordings and he contacted him to use one of the verses without disclosing it was for Yeezus at the time; the deejay excitedly learnt he was on the album when at a club.^[1] The two did not communicate directly during the recording process and first met each other in December 2014, being introduced by Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins.^[2] Around a year later, Assassin recalled that receiving recognition from someone like West proved he was "doing a lot right".^[3]

After Bon Iver singer Justin Vernon collaborated with West on his fifth studio album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in 2010, he developed a bond with the rapper and 3 of the 10 songs he worked on for Yeezus were included. Vernon was playing guitar around a campfire and drinking beer with a band of his at a barn when there was a sudden power outage, leading to him starting to write for "I'm in It".^[4] Record producer Mike Dean cited Vernon as an artist West would always collaborate with and did not pinpoint him as any musical genre, not knowing if he would sing like the Bee Gees or perform in distortion and comparing his focus on emotion to Michael McDonald. Vernon looked back with a lack of awareness of his lyrics on the song and described West as discussing "really violently and stunningly visual sex shit", which came from the "intelligent conversations" about the state of women held in the studio rather than how the rapper talked to his friends.^[5] The singer also compared the imagery to the 2000 film American Psycho, through West resembling a director as not everything he discusses is "actually him saying it every time".^[5] Vernon felt that he played a character on the song that would be defined by West's editing and used his section of singing "star fucker" for "calling somebody out", while he had no idea of what Assassin was saying.^[5]

West and the artists on his label GOOD Music repeatedly listened to English record producer Evian Christ's Kings and Them during the recording sessions for their compilation album Cruel Summer (2012), which led to him recruiting the producer for Yeezus. The producer was given two days to record material for West and crafted nine tracks in January 2013, one of which was selected for "I'm in It". The track started with "breathy sex sounds" over the snares for its sexual nature, going into overdrive with the emphasis after West contributed rapping.^[5] Evian Christ did a double-take on a couple of West's lines at first, although felt that the rapper had to "go all the way" about sexual topics.^[5] According to engineer Anthony Kilhoffer, the song originated with a different sample and melody that West abandoned for a six-minute arrangement, until producer Rick Rubin edited it to flow in the structure of a three-minute composition. Dean recalled how everyone would "push things to be weirder" and he moved in a more musical direction, although West gravitated towards hip hop and he praised the final product that contrasts with "crazy guitar parts and all this stadium stuff".^[5] Producer Noah Goldstein recalled that West was fully responsible for the reggae voices, standing as the curator of the production.^[5] Within the same week of the album's release, a remix of the song was released by DMNDZ.^[6] The song was part of West's setlist during the first concert of The Yeezus Tour, performing at the Barclays Center in New York City.^[7]

The song contains very sexually explicit lyrics, in which West describes a sexual night with his wife Kim Kardashian and reflects on living a life of constant sexual arousal.^[8] He discusses using sweet and sour sauce when he's with an Asian woman, putting his fist in a black woman "like a civil rights sign," and referencing Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech "thank God almighty, we are free at last" speech while referring to unclothing a pair of breasts.^[8] The track includes a chopped and screwed sample of "Lately" by Kenny Lattimore.^[9] The song includes additional vocals from Justin Vernon of Bon Iver and Jamaican DJ Assassin.^[10] The type of lyrical absurdity shown by West in "I'm In It" was later displayed by him in the 2018 singles "XTCY" and "I Love It" (with Lil Pump).^[8]

It has been noticed by people that the dog barks in the song are similar to a Chain Chomp from Super Mario.

"I'm In It" was released on June 18, 2013, as the sixth track on West's sixth studio album Yeezus.^[11] Since release, the song has received generally mixed reviews from critics, with much criticism regarding its sexually explicit lyrics.^[12] Billboard described "I'm In It" as where West "mangles his voice and flips to beast mode".^[13] Jon Dolan of Rolling Stone wrote that the song "sounds something like the soundtrack to a snuff film for Cylons," and commented upon the "civil rights sign" lyrics, in which West is described as sounding at once "righteous and evil."^[14] Ryan Dombal of Pitchfork described the song as a "XXX creeper" and sounds like "a dancehall orgasm mired in quicksand," effectively making his similar songs, such as "Slow Jamz", come off like a Disney theme song.^[15] Ian Kan of Heavy.com found the track one of the weakest on the album, writing "There are some moments when the song feels like it'll pick up, but it doesn't really get there."^[16] Sputnikmusic called the track "sexually charged and completely insane" and called its lyrics "completely ridiculous."^[17] Of the criticism, West said in a 2013 interview with Jimmy Kimmel: "I'm totally inappropriate sometimes".^[18] However, Lou Reed, formerly of the Velvet Underground, described it as West "just having fun" and criticized the negative reaction to its lyrics.^[19]

Upon the release of the album, the track made its debut at number 17 on the US Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100.^[20] It also charted at number 43 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in the same week.^[21] It also peaked at number 27 on the US Billboard On-Demand Songs chart the week of July 6, 2013.^[22]

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.^[23]

• Producer – Kanye West
• Co-producer – Evian Christ and Dom $olo
• Additional production – Noah Goldstein, Arca, and Mike Dean #MWA
• Engineer – Brent Kolatalo, Noah Goldstein, Anthony Kilhoffer, and Mike Dean
• Engineer assisted – Marc Portheau, Khoï Huynh, Raoul Le Pennec, Nabil Essemlani, and Keith Perry
• Mix – Noah Goldstein at Shangri-La Studios, Malibu, CA
• Mix assisted – Sean Oakley, Eric Lynn, Dave "Squirrel" Covell and Josh Smith
• Vocals – Justin Vernon and Assassin