WW3 (Kanye West song)
2025 single by Kanye West
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"WW3" is a song by the American rapper Kanye West. It was released on March 26, 2025, as the intended lead single from his unreleased studio album, Cuck. Written by American rapper Dave Blunts, the song was produced by West, 1srael, Quadwoofer, Sheffmade, and South Korean production trio Templecitygrounds. It samples the song "I Get High (On Your Memory)" by Freda Payne. A hip-hop song, it features raps from West about his controversies and antisemitism.
| "WW3" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||
| Single by Kanye West | ||||
| Released |
| |||
| Recorded | March 2025 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 1:43 | |||
| Label | YZY | |||
| Songwriter | Dave Blunts | |||
| Producers | ||||
| Kanye West singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
West first previewed "WW3" on March 15. It was incorrectly reported as being part of an update to his twelfth studio album, Bully (2025), which had been released that same month as an unfinished demo. The track was later confirmed to be part of Cuck during a livestream with media personality DJ Akademiks, who announced the album under the title of WW3. The song's music video was premiered at the end of West's interview with DJ Akademiks on March 30, and was later posted to West's Twitter account. It was later removed from all streaming services on November 17, 2025, after West expressed remorse for his antisemitic statements.
Background
Prior to the release of "WW3," West released Bully V1, the demo version of his then-upcoming twelfth studio album, Bully (2026). This came after West announced that he wanted to cease his usage of artificial intelligence in his music. On March 15, 2025, he posted an image of a red swastika, stating that it was the cover art for his new album, as well as a logo using the SS insignia of the Schutzstaffel for his group Sunday Service Choir.[3][4] Afterwards, he'd tweet that his new sound is called "antisemetic [sic]."[5][6]
"WW3" was first previewed by West via Twitter on March 15.[7] As he had yet to announce Cuck, many believed the song was part of an update to Bully.[8] The song was referred to by fans as "Rari" and "Nazi" before its official name was revealed.[9] During a show in April, Dave Blunts performed the song, including an unreleased verse meant to feature on the album version of the track.[10] In a post-release interview with DJ Akademiks, where West had infamously appeared in a black Ku Klux Klan uniform, the latter revealed that he had two custom KKK robes commissioned, being identical black and white ones.[11] West had previously shown off his white costume with the caption "fit pic" on March 10;[12] its hood is reused for the single art of "WW3."
Composition
A hip-hop song running one minute and forty-three seconds in length, "WW3" contains prominent samples of the Freda Payne song "I Get High (On Your Memory)." West begins the song by repeating the phrase "She wanna hop in a 'Rari." He also references his various controversies regarding antisemitism ("They telling me that I'm a bully, I'm antisemitic, fully / They sayin' I'm actin' like Hitler / But how am I actin' like Hitler / When I am a fuckin' nigger?"),[9] reveals that he voted for Donald Trump over Joe Biden in the 2020 United States presidential election (which West himself ran in as an independent candidate), and questions those who went with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to his private island, Little Saint James. He also mentions his recreational use of nitrous oxide, a 2020 video of him urinating on a Grammy award, him "rocking swastikas 'cause all my niggas Nazis," and that he reads two chapters of Hitler's manifesto Mein Kampf before going to bed.[6][9]
Release and reception
"WW3" was met with widespread condemnation due to its lyrical content. In their piece regarding public reaction to the song, Complex referred to its lyrics as "atrocious."[9] Paul Thompson of GQ called it "a hyper-literal exercise in doubling down on [West's] recent public comments." He likened the song to "a near-perfect distillation of this moment in America: unfathomably dumb, proudly evil, but above all else, crushingly desperate."[13]
The song was also met with confusion from various public figures, including Adin Ross, who is Jewish, who expressed shock at the song and suggested that West's friends needed to "submit someone to get a mental check" on him;[9] Ross subsequently gave a more positive reaction on a later stream with Kodak Black.[14] Outside of the RMNZ charts, it reached number one on multiple Spotify viral charts.[15][16]
On May 22, West tweeted that he was "done with antisemitism." That day, "WW3" was reuploaded with the words "antisemitic," "Hitler," "Mein Kampf," "Nazi," and "swastikas" censored.[17] Since then, on November 17, the song has been removed from all streaming services along with "Hit Symphony" and "Hallelujah" following his apology to Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto.[18]
Music video
West debuted the music video for "WW3" at the end of his interview with DJ Akademiks on March 30, 2025. The following day, he released the video to his Twitter account. It contains repurposed material from the TV miniseries Roots (1977), as well as several stills of interracial pornography and footage of a KKK gathering.[8] The video ends on a shot of a burning cross.[19]