The 50 Best Kanye West Songs Ever

28. Bound 2

Release Date: August 28th, 2013

Album: Yeezus

Writer(s): Kanye West, John Stephens, Charlie Wilson, Che Pope, Elon Rutberg, Cydel Young, Malik Jones, Sakiya Sandler, Mike Dean, Norman Whiteside, Bob Masey, Robert Dukes, Ronnie Self

Producer(s): West, Pope, Eric Danchick, Goldstein, No I.D., Dean

Notable Lyric:

“What you doin’ in the club on a Thursday?

She say she only here for her girl birthday

They ordered champagne but still look thirsty

Rock Forever 21 but just turned thirty”

Kanye doesn’t do love songs all that often. Even his breakup record 808s & Heartbreak is more about his own pain than the girl who inspired it.

That’s not to say that Kanye is eye-rollingly pretentious. He’s simply another pop star. If anything, such myopic focus on himself is one of his enduring charms. It also makes those moments when he breaks away from his narcissism all the more poignant.

“Bound 2” is easily among the best of those moments. While it still manages to be both rude and crude, it’s also a surprisingly tender description of his relationship with the eventual mother of his children, Kim Kardashian.

It’s the last track of an album, Yeezus, that overflows with self-destruction and angst, and it’s positioning there acts as as a salve for what came before it. The last verse in particular — “maybe we can make it to Christmas” — is enough to put a smile on your face.

Next: 27. New Slaves