The 50 Best Kanye West Songs Ever

38. Swagga Like Us

Release Date: September 6, 2008

Album: T.I.’s Paper Trail

Writer(s): Clifford Harris, Shawn Carter, Kanye West, Dwayne Carter, Mathangi Arulpragasam, Topper Headon, Mick Jones, Wesley Pentz, Paul Sminonon, Joe Strummer

Producer(s): West

Notable Lyric:

“Mr. West is in the buildin’

Swagger on a hundred thousand trillion

Aye yo, I know I got it first

I’m Christopher Columbus, y’all just the Pilgrims

Thanksgiving, do we even got a question

Hermes pastel, I pass the dressing”

Another collection of rappers convene to rap about themselves, and it works out wonderfully.

Sampling the chorus of M.I.A’s “Paper Planes” from her 2007 album Kala — you might remember the song from the Seth Rogen and James Franco vehicle Pineapple Express as well — Kanye lays the foundation for himself, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne and T.I. to make their cases for being in possession of the most swagger on the planet.

A good amount of those boasts revolve around fashion, which might perhaps be an indication of Kanye’s growing influence on rap culture at that point in time. The one exception to that is T.I.’s concluding verse, which doesn’t even bother mentioning skinny jeans or jewels or even Hermes. Why couldn’t T.I. just fall in line?

Next: 37. No More Parties in LA