Kids See Ghosts (song)


"Kids See Ghosts" is a song by American hip hop duo Kids See Ghosts, composed of Kanye West and Kid Cudi, released as the sixth track off their eponymous debut album Kids See Ghosts. The song includes a feature from American rapper Mos Def, who is credited under his real name Yasiin Bey.

Composition

"Kids See Ghosts" includes whirring synths and hand drums alongside personal verses by West and Cudi, with Cudi referencing the private fight for his mental health and West referencing the public fight for his soul. Yasiin Bey's vocals are covered in electronics. The pace and aggression showed by West when rapping hasn't been seen by him since 2011, as interpreted by Mitch Ley of Medium.

Release

The song was released on June 8, 2018 as part of Kids See Ghosts. On the day of the album's release, multiple tracks were mislabeled on streaming services, including "Kids See Ghosts", which was mislabeled as the second track on the album, "Fire".

Reception

"Kids See Ghosts" was met with positive reviews from music critics, with Yasiin Bey's performance attracting praise. Pitchfork awarded it Best New Track, with writer Sheldon Pearce complimenting the duo's chemistry and applauding West's rapping in addition to Cudi's "awe-inspiring hums." Narsimha Chintaluri of HipHopDX called Bey's verse a "hypnotic hook," while Robert Christgau named it the album's "closest brush with wisdom." XXL wrote that "youthful energy is driving force," adding that it "also completes Kids See Ghosts strongest sequence." The Guardians Dean Van Nguyen considered that "hearing artfully fold the orchestration into the voices of his collaborators shows that his almighty ear for music is back." It was listed by Eric Renner Brown of Billboard as the nineteenth best song from the five albums produced by West in 2018.

Tyler, the Creator remix

released a remix of "Kids See Ghosts" titled "Crust in Their Eyes" to SoundCloud on June 15, 2018. Within the remix, the chorus of the original was kept and Tyler revealed via Twitter that he wrote to the song the same hour that he heard it.

Personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal.