The definition of a polarizing figure is one who can be as popular as they are toxic, and it’s no mystery that the man formerly known as Kanye West has embraced that status. The seemingly chaotic swirl around his life applies to his music-making as well, and thus it’s not surprising that “Carnival,” a ferocious collaboration with Ty Dolla $ign, Rich the Kid and Playboi Carti, was seemingly a work in progress until the day it was released amid a maelstrom of controversy.
“Carnival” began life in Saudi Arabia, where Ty was chipping away at “Vultures,” the first volume of his collaborative album with Ye. He invited Rich the Kid to jet over, and they recorded two songs. One of them, freestyled over beats by TheLabCook, stood out: a punk-rap hybrid originally titled “Honor Roll.” Ty passed the song on to Ye, who immediately saw its potential.
He rearranged the melody, contributed a verse and invited Carti. Producers Ojivolta, the Legendary Traxster and Digital Nas were brought in to round out the sound — and fans of Italian football club Inter Milan, known as “ultras,” were tapped to chant the chorus. Ye then called on Playboi Carti to join the party. He, in turn, ushered production duo Ojivolta into the increasingly full fold.
“We worked alongside Ye’s team to oversee and execute the logistical aspects of both the promo and the groundbreaking listening events,” SalXCo’s Manny Dion says. “There was so much content around the events that you could not open your phone without hearing the record in some form.”
When “Carnival” debuted at a listening event in February, it incorporated a sample of Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man,” which prompted lead singer Ozzy Osbourne to issue a cease and desist. Undeterred, Ye swapped in his own 2010 track “Hell of a Life,” which just happened to include an already cleared sample of “Iron Man.”
The backlash was loud, but “Carnival” was louder. The Swifties who took umbrage at a reference to Taylor Swift in Ye’s verse could only slow its momentum. The X-rated refrain went nuclear on social media, spawning a TikTok mirror trend (i.e., creators lip-synching the song into a mirror). A menacing video featuring skinheads and rioting football fans fanned the flames of controversy, and the song rocketed to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — Ye’s first since 2011, making him the first rapper to have chart-toppers in three consecutive decades.
Having pulled off one of the more unlikely comebacks of 2024, Ye fired up his Instagram account to thank his fans and collaborators, saying the hit was “for the people who won’t be manipulated by the system.” Contrition, however, was not on the menu. “Just know they tried to destroy me, and here we are with the No. 1 song in the world.”
Having a No. 1 single and the No. 25 song of the year was a rare positive note for a formerly widely admired artist whose indefensibly racist and hateful public comments have cost him a huge percentage of his fan base, not to mention $2 billion of his net worth. Congratulations.
Songwriters: Raul Cubina, Grant Dickinson, Digital Nas, Playboi Carti, Rich the Kid, Ty Dolla $ign, Kanye West, Mark Williams
Producers: Digital Nas, Ojivolta, TheLabCook, The Legendary Traxster, Ty Dolla $ign, Kanye West
Label: YZY/Vydia
Hitmakers: •Manny Dion, president, SalXCo •TheLabCook, producer •The Legendary Traxster, producer •Ojivolta, producer •Ryan Starling, artist manager, SalXCo
Publishers: III Media Group, BMG Platinum Songs, Concord Music Group, Kobalt Music America, Ric Volta Publishing, Rich the Kid Pub, Songs of Pulse, Superreal Publishing, Warner Tamerlane Publishing, Wav Dream Music
