The 50 Best Kanye West Songs Ever

29. H A M

Release Date: 2011

Album: Watch the Throne

Writer(s): Kanye West, Shawn Carter

Producer(s): West, Lex Luger, Mike Dean

Notable Lyric:

“Just forget it, you talk it, I live it

Like Eli, I did it, joke’s on you motherf*cker, and I get it

No paper ho, but you can have some more of me

Or-a-gy or are we speaking metaphorically?

Historically I’m kicking b*tches out like Pam, n*gga

Going H·A·M n*gga”

By all rights, “going HAM” should have stuck in the English lexicon well beyond the likes of “YOLO.” It’s a simple, easy to remember acronym that could apply to just about anything in life.

Alright, that’s not entirely true. Rare are the moments the average person actually needs to be reminded to “go hard as a motherf*cker.” We’re not all out there making platinum records that would require such hardness, and in fact most things in everyday life would probably benefit from a softer touch.

“YOLO”, in contrast, is a shrug toward the pressures, the hardness, of life. It’s no wonder that that phrase stuck while “HAM” didn’t, even if the song that produced the latter has persevered long after the song that produced the former.

Next: 28. Bound 2