The Oddness of Kanye's "Lift Yourself"

AKA, the Poop di Scoop song

Kanye West is nothing if not controversial, as in being good at getting himself some media attention for the strangest reasons. His political views aside, Kanye’s been known to warrant a few eye rolls based on his behavior in the music world, too. I’m no professor of Kanye-ology, but I couldn’t help but hear his song “Lift Yourself” when it was released a few years back thanks to a neighbor/friend’s discerning ear.

Here’s the full lyrics to Lift Yourself (In case anyone wonders, it’s the last verse that this post is about.)

Hard to see, ooh
The hang ups we have today
Said we need to strive for more liberty
Lift yourself upon your feet, let's get it on
Lift yourself up on your feet, let's get it on
Lift yourself upon your feet, let's get it on
Lift yourself upon your feet, let's get it on
Lift yourself upon your feet, let's get it on
Lift yourself upon your feet, let's get it on
Lift yourself upon your feet, let's get it on
The hang ups we have today
Said we need to strive for more liberty
Lift yourself upon your feet
Lift yourself upon your feet
Lift

Lift your, lift your, lift yourself
Lift, lift your, lift your, lift your, lift your, lift, lift
Hard to see, ooh
The hang ups we have today-ay-ay
But they don't really realize, though
This next verse, this next verse though
These bars
Watch this some sh*t, go

Poopy-di scoop
Scoop-diddy-whoop
Whoop-di-scoop-di-poop
Poop-di-scoopty
Scoopty-whoop
Whoopity-scoop, whoop-poop
Poop-diddy, whoop-scoop
Poop, poop
Scoop-diddy-whoop
Whoop-diddy-scoop
Whoop-diddy-scoop, poop

—

The first couple of verses are lyrically nothing spectacular but they do seem like the start of a good, positive idea, repeated rather than fully thought out and completed. When played as a song, this two-minute part sounds like it’s building up to something cool.

And then the final 13-seconds-long verse drops, and it’s completely disconnected from the rest of the song. This is where Kanye shows up to do his thing in the video. One can’t help but wonder what he was thinking. (Actually, “WTF am I listening to?” came to mind the first time I heard it, rather than wondering what he was thinking.) Did he actually write this or did he copy some five-year-old trying out what he thinks are bad words? The lyrical style is worthy of a child’s song made up on the spot after giving the kid too much sugar. Or maybe he’s in a room full of toddlers trying to make them laugh.

Some music critics think perhaps Kanye was taking a dig at the shallowness of trap rap. (If that were the case, I’d love to see some of Kanye’s “deep” lyrics. Do they exist?) Perhaps it was really just another quest for more attention, as that seems to be Kanye’s strong suit. Or maybe it was his turn to go outside and clean up the yard. You know, scoop de poop.