The 50 Best Kanye West Songs Ever

3. Power

Release Date: May 28th, 2010

Album: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Writer(s): Kanye West, Larry Griffin, Jr, Mike Dean, Jeff Bhasker, Andwele Gardner, Ken Lewis, Francois Bernheim, Jean-Pierre Lang, Boris Bergman, Robert Frigg, Michael Giles, Greg Lake, Ian McDonald, Billy Carter, Harold Cowart, Jimmy O’Rourke, Ron Ziegler

Producer(s): West, S1, Bhasker, Dean, Dawson, Happy Perez

Notable Lyric:

“Reality is catching up with me

Taking my inner child, I’m fighting for custody

With these responsibilities that they entrusted me

As I look down at my diamond encrusted piece”

If “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” was the bold proclamation of a peaking ego, “Power” is the sober reflection that follows.

For as much power and influence and swagger as Kanye accumulated following his first four albums, he has become his own biggest threat. Only his ego and immaturity can remove him from the throne, but those are forces that are much harder to control than anything external.

It’s fitting that this song would be the lead single for the first album to follow the Taylor Swift incident, a moment that many felt Kanye might not recover from.

They weren’t entirely wrong. Kanye did take a break from music shortly afterward, moving to Italy to work on his fashion line and reflect. The time away did some good, and produced songs like “Power” — songs that contained just as much ego as his previous works, but with a small sliver of self-awareness to add some zest.

Next: 2. Ni**as in Paris