POWER (Remix) Lyrics

[Chorus: Kanye West, John Legend & Kobe]
No one man should have all that power
Yea-ey-yea-ey-yeah-ey!
Oh oh
(And they say) yeah-ey (And they say)
Oh oh (And they say) yeah-ey (And they say)
Oh oh (And they say) yeah-ey (And they say)
No one man should have all that power

[Bridge: Kanye West]
Now when I walk in, everybody do the "Power" clap
Clap, clap, clap
Fresh for the club, I just took a half an hour nap
Clap, clap, clap
I seen people go crazy when the whole world in our lap
Clap, clap, clap

My socket was out the plug, now it’s time to get the power back
Clap, clap

[Verse 3: Kanye West]
I seen people abuse power, use power
Misuse and then lose power
Power to the people at last, it’s a new hour
Now we all ain't gon' be American Idols
But you could 'least grab a camera, shoot a viral

Hah! Take the power in your own hands
I’m a grown man, doing my grown dance
I don’t stop until I see the end, my vision clear, bitch
I’m on my Van Gogh, I don’t hear shit
[Chorus: Kanye West & John Legend]
No one man should have all that power
The clock's tickin', I just count the hours
Stop trippin', I'm trippin' off the power

'Til then, fuck that, the world's ours (Ey-yeah!)
Oh oh
(And they say) yeah-ey (And they say)
Oh oh (And they say) yeah-ey (And they say)
Oh oh (And they say) yeah-ey (And they say)
Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay (The power)

[Verse 4: Kanye West]
Now everything I'm rhyming on cause a Ramadan
Been a don, praying for the families lost in the storm
Bring our troops back from Iraq, keep our troops out of Iran
So the next couple bars, I'ma drop 'em in Islam
They say "As-salamu alaykum", say "Wa alaikum as-salaam"

That's no Oscar Mayer bacon, you should run and tell your mom
Now the question is, how we gon' stop the next Vietnam
Keep Flex out of Korea, 'cause you know he drop bombs


[Break: Swizz Beatz]
Showtime!
Ayo Yeezy, man, stop playing with these people, man
They want see you act all crazy in this motherfucker, man
Take that jacket off and go crazy on them niggas, man
You know what I’m talking about? (I got the power!)
[Verse 5: Kanye West & Swizz Beatz]
What do it mean to be the boss? (Oh!)
It mean second place is the first one who lost (Oh!)
The crucifixion, the being nailed to the cross (Oh!)
Truth or fiction,
it’s a hell of a cost
Do the dishes! (Bounce!)
I’m about to hit that Jeff Gordon (Ayy!)
Michael Jordan, the only one more important (Ayy!)

But I be feeling like Jordan when I’m recording (C-c-c)
'Cause every time I record, I dunk and slap the boards

I don’t know what these rappers gonna do afterwards (Oh!)
Prol'ly spaz like I might do at the awards (Right!)
Huh, I got the whole crowd going crazy (Ayy!)
Homie, I should be rewarded (Woo!)
Gettin' money, Yeezy, Yeezy, how you do it, huh? (Woo!)

Eating Wheaties, drinkin' Fiji, being greedy, huh (C-c-c)
Don’t even think you can allude to the rumors (C'mon!)
I’m immune to the boos, I’ma prove to you losers (Huh?)

It’s all in timing, nigga (Get 'em!)
See, I dreamed my whole life that I could rhyme with Jigga (Get 'em!)
Now Jay my big brother and Bey my lil' sister (Get 'em!)
And excuse me, but, you can’t see my lil' sister (Hands in the air!)

Number one sound across the board, hey, hey (Oh!)
Number one now and forevermore, hey, hey (Oh!)
Number one rule is, "Niggas, don’t hate, hate"
Maybe I’ll drop the album... nah, y’all gotta wait (Oh!)
And on the net, they showing pictures of my Cali place
My Maybach in NY but it still got the Cali plates
All my old girls know that I’m the one that got away (Woo!)
I think about 'em Christmas and play some Donny Hathaway (Ayy!)
And keep my bulletproof-hater coat on
Chill, Ye, Ye, chill! Chill, chill, chill!
Looking at some photos that I’m looking crazy dope on (Yah!)
Hand up, talking shit, yeah, I get my Pope on
And go home with something to poke on (Woo!)
That’s what Dre said, but this what 'Ye said (Right!)
How 'Ye doing? Who 'Ye screwin'? (Huh?)

That’s for my dick to know, before you get to know him
She ain’t give you ass, that pussy fictional
I gotta give her the eviction no-
-tice, "Get yo’ ass out, bitch, vamonos" (Oh!)

Five seconds to the song end, we getting close (Hah?)
I got the power, motherfucker, if you didn’t know

[Outro: Swizz Beatz]
Chill, chill, chill, man
Chill, 'Ye, chill, chill, chill
Shit's burned up already
It's over

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About

Genius Annotation

Featuring a slightly altered hook, some fresh new lyrics, and, most prominently, a feature from his big brother, Kanye remixes the first single from his own acclaimed MBDTF album as the advent of his G.O.O.D. Fridays series. The remix reiterates the themes of empowerment and general not-caring-what-you-think-ness from the original song.

There is an unexpected beat switch to “The Power” by SNAP! before Kanye delivers a long and “fiery” closing verse. There have been some long Kanye verses in the past (also see this line for reference).

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What did Kanye West say about "POWER (Remix)"?
Genius Answer

Kanye West tweeted some things about the remix during recording. He disclosed that he had some very special help of basketball star Kobe Bryant:

Kobe helped me finish my “POWER” remix verse … just building on the concept of #POWER … and Mos helped me find the ‘old me’ lyrically

I had to cut my “POWER” remix verse short to not over do it with the million bar verse like the 2nd verse of “See Me Now”

There’s so many ways to break down the subject of power … me and Kobe went in on it … perfect person to help out on that

Swizz Beatz spoke to MTV about the remix three days after it had dropped. He revealed that artists like Q-Tip, Mos Def, and Pharrell were in the studio and gave input, and that the remix was finished at rather short notice:

[Kanye] definitely, definitely was focused. ‘Cause when he made [the announcement that a “Power” remix featuring Jay-Z was on the way], we didn’t have what we had. […] 'Ye was trying to put it out the best way possible, to give it to the people. And then the day before […] the remix dropped, it just felt like the song needed to change up. I heard it changing up on something different, something that was already on the beat. […] It sparked an idea.

Jay-Z let his feature speak for itself.

How did the song premiere?
Genius Answer

On Wednesday, August 11, 2010 Kanye announced that he would release a remix to “POWER” with a Jay-Z feature on that Friday, August 13, 2010, two and a half months after the original.

There was no remix on that day however, simply because it wasn’t completed. Instead, Kanye worked on the song over the weekend and the premiere had to be delayed.

But once the track had been finished, everything went really fast: Swizz Beatz said he hadn’t even returned home from recording but the remix had already premiered on Hot 97 radio by Funkmaster Flex (Friday, August 20, 2010).

Where can I listen to the song?
Genius Answer

Originally, the remix was free to download on Kanye’s blog, but the website doesn’t exist anymore. You can still listen to the song, for example here, here, or here.

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