Ye Drops Surprise Video Featuring North West For New Y$ Track

Kevin Dolak
·2 min read
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Ye (formerly Kanye West) dropped the first release from his project with rapper Ty Dolla $ign on his Instagram and X on Wednesday, a new song and video that features the rapper-producer’s eldest daughter, North West.

The lush video for “Talking/Once Again” opens with Ye and Kim Kardashian’s 10-year-old daughter lip-syncing to a mash-up sample refrain, while various hands of unseen people brush then braid her hair. The sample — “You don’t want no problems, you’re just/talking,” part of which is derived from a stomp and shake routine by the cheerleading squad at Wilkes Barre Area High School — repeats before North West begins rapping with a mounting cadence that reflects elements of her father’s vocal style.

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“I love it here. We gonna take over the year for another year,” the girl raps. “It’s your bestie, Miss, Miss Westie. Don’t tryna test me. It’s gonna get messy. It’s gonna get messy. Just, just bless me, bless me. It’s your bestie, Miss, Miss Westie. Just tryna bless me, just bless me, bless me.”

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Ye then appears on screen with the young girl on his shoulders. The two display some impossible-to-resist father-daughter cuteness before he grins, flashing his James Bond villain-inspired grills; the dental adornment, made of metals including titanium, palladium and platinum, was installed via a fixed prosthodontics procedure and reportedly cost the rapper $850,000.

The artist’s vocals don’t appear on the track until its closing moments. His daughter’s verse is followed by vocals from Ty Dolla $ign, whose daughter Jailynn Crystal also appears in the clip alongside her dad. “Once again the clouds are gathering to release what they held in,” he croons, then laying down the song and video’s theme.

“How much to stop the car from speeding? They might try to slow down/How much to stop my daughter from growing? I just can’t take it now,” the five-time Grammy nominee sings. West closes the track with a repeat of the refrain: “Once again the clouds are gathering to release what they held in.”

The track and video for “Talking/Once Again,” marks the first release from ¥$, Ye and Ty Dolla $ign’s collaborative project. The superduo’s first album, Vultures, is scheduled for release on Friday. The project comes after Ye’s public image was severely damaged when antisemitic remarks he made cost him major brand deals and Kardashian filed for divorce after seven years of marriage. (He apologized in a now deleted post ahead of his album release.)

The clip was directed by the D’Innocenzo Brothers and photographed by Matteo Cocco, and the track was produced by Ye and British singer-producer James Blake.

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