New Slaves

"New Slaves" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Kanye West, from his sixth studio album Yeezus (2013). It was produced primarily by West, with additional production by Ben Bronfman, Mike Dean, Travis Scott, Noah Goldstein, Sham Joseph, and Che Pope. The song's lyrics discuss slavery and segregation, as well as racism in general, materialism, and stereotypes of African Americans in the United States. It features vocals from American recording artist Frank Ocean, whom West previously collaborated with on Watch the Throne (2011). The song's coda features a sample of "Gyöngyhajú lány" by Hungarian composer Gábor Presser, who later sued West in 2016 over its use.

Before its release on the album, West promoted it extensively, projecting it on over 60 locations around the world, and performing it live on Saturday Night Live and at the Later... With Jools Holland. Since release, the song has received widespread acclaim from music critics, with many praising its message, sample, and Ocean's appearance. Despite not being released as a single, the song charted in Canada, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States in 2013. It was nominated for Best Rap Song at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards and appeared on several year-end lists. West later performed the song on The Yeezus Tour.

Background
In 2011, singer Frank Ocean was featured on the tracks "No Church in the Wild" and "Made in America" for West and fellow rapper Jay-Z's collaborative album Watch the Throne. After the appearances, Ocean developed more of a following and embarked on a tour for his debut album Channel Orange (2012). Ocean appeared on "New Slaves" in 2013, the same year as his feature on Jay-Z's song "Oceans". The singer's vocals on the song were revealed during West's video projections prior to release, with his mother confirming the appearance via Twitter.

On May 12, 2013, Scottish producer Hudson Mohawke previewed the song during his set at the Polish Free Form Festival. The preview featured the phrase "new slaves" repeatedly, although the title was not officially known nor if it would be on the album at the time. "New Slaves" was subsequently confirmed as the title by West confidant and fashion designer Virgil Abloh, and the song was also announced to be part of Yeezus. A 73-second snippet of the studio version was leaked to SoundCloud on June 5, 2013, standing as the first leak from the album. In a 2014 interview with Zach Baron of GQ, West recalled having engaged in around 30 meetings where he was advised to "Stay in your place". West elaborated that the conversations encouraged to "Stay in your box" and not go outside of his creative reach, which moved him to create tracks such as "New Slaves" and "Blood on the Leaves" for Yeezus, ideally setting out "a protest in music". After Yeezus production consultant Arca introduced West to "HBA War" by Dutch E Germ, he sampled it on the track.

Composition
Musically, "New Slaves" is an industrial hip hop and gothic rock song,  with elements of electro and heavy metal music. The production is based on sparse, punk rock-inspired synths. The conclusion of "New Slaves" features Ocean singing over a sample of "Gyöngyhajú lány" (1969) by Hungarian rock band Omega.

Release and promotion
"New Slaves" was released on June 18, 2013, as the fourth track on West's sixth studio album Yeezus. Prior to the song's release, West unveiled it with video projections at 66 buildings across the world. West posted the locations and times of the screenings via his website, including Los Angeles, London, Paris, and Toronto. A black and white projection of West staring onwards as he rapped the song was shown; Miriam Coleman of Rolling Stone said the simplicity "provided a striking context for the rapper's searing lyrics on race and materialism". The projections launched the promotion of Yeezus, concluding with its title and release date of June 18, 2013. They were also shared via YouTube and Vine. Another projection at Miami Beach, Florida was shut down by police, but left fans excited and eager to see the song's then-upcoming performance on Saturday Night Live.

West updated his website's map with 24 further locations for projections on May 24, 2013. The locations included US cities like Atlanta, Austin, and Philadelphia, in addition to European cities such as Amsterdam, Birmingham, and Milan. Three of the projections were cancelled in Houston, including one at the Rothko Chapel due to a lack of permit. West also cancelled a screening in San Antonio for the same reason. West followed the projections of "New Slaves" by projecting other songs from the album on buildings across the world in June 2013, including North America, Europe, and Oceania. West tweeted that he was opening the debate of the song's second verse being the best rap verse of all time in July 2013, an opinion he reiterated in his interview with GQ one year later.

West performed "New Slaves", along with "Black Skinhead", on Saturday Night Live on May 18, 2013. During the performance, West stood in place and stared dead-eyed at the camera the whole time, performing "in front of a projection of eyes." West also changed his lyrics to more TV-friendly, changing words such as "dick" to "prick." West subsequently performed the song live at the Governors Ball Music Festival on June 9, 2013. During the performance, West "paused and breathed audibly between scant verses, allowing interludes of emptiness to add to the corrosive aura."

Reception
"New Slaves" has received widespread acclaim from music critics, with its message, sample, and Ocean's appearance receiving praise. Jim Farber of the New York Daily News said the song has a "heavy metal girth that still swings" and called the sampling of "Gyöngyhajú lány" by Omega "the most cool, and obscure, sample" on Yeezus. Robert Christgau of MSN Music cited "New Slaves", along with "Hold My Liquor", as the album's highlights. Michael Madden of Consequence of Sound writes: "'New Slaves' has one of the clearer concepts on the whole album, about the relationship West sees between blacks of different classes and consumerism," calling upon the lyrics: "You see it's broke-nigga racism, that's that Don't touch anything in the store'/ And this rich-nigga racism, that's that Come in, please buy more." Madden ultimately called "New Slaves" one of the album's "essential tracks," along with "Black Skinhead", "Blood on the Leaves", and "Bound 2". Evan Rytlewski of The A.V. Club called the song "menacing" and praised its coda with Frank Ocean.

Accolades
On June 26, 2013, Time named "New Slaves" the "Best Song of 2013 (So Far)" and later on December 20, 2013, placed it first on its "The 25 Best Songs of 2013 (The Entire Year)". On December 2, 2013, Complex named "New Slaves" the best song of 2013. Dave Bry commented saying, "Plenty of artists sold more records than Kanye West in 2013. No one did anything near to as artistically powerful. "New Slaves" is the best song of the year. And it's not even close." It was named the second best song of 2013 by Pitchfork. There isn't a wasted breath or unnecessary word; every single thought cleaves through the meat. [...] Yes, Kanye is a wealthy man, and yes, the particulars of his rage might be convoluted, involving his lack of access to the upper reaches of the fashion industry. But its source comes from an acute, unwavering awareness of a central fact: Even in the elite corridors of power where he now walks, some doors are still locked. On "New Slaves", he transforms into the hordes demanding entry." In 2013, Beats Per Minute named the song as the 60th best track of the past five years. In August 2014, "New Slaves" was ranked as the 51st best song of the 2010s decade so far by Pitchfork.

The song earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Song at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, ultimately losing to "Thrift Shop" by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz.

Commercial performance
Following the release of Yeezus, the track entered the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 56, lasting for two weeks. It further reached number 17 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. In April 2015, "New Slaves" was awarded a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America for pushing 500,000 certified units in the US. The track also reached numbers 97 and 99 on the UK Singles Chart and Canadian Hot 100, respectively.

Lawsuit
On May 20, 2016, Hungarian composer Gábor Presser launched a lawsuit against West for one third of "New Slaves" that includes an unauthorized sample of "Gyöngyhajú lány", which he called one of Hungary and Eastern Europe's "most beloved pop songs ever". West had previously been sued for sampling on Yeezus in 2013, with Ponderosa Twins Plus One singer Ricky Spicer citing a lack of compensation for a sample on "Bound 2". The lawsuit revealed that West was granted permission for the "New Slaves" sample on the case of a formal deal being arranged and the rapper gave Presser a $10,000 check as he insisted for a license to be granted within 24 hours, although he chose not to cash the cheque. Presser filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York that cited West's intentions of having "misappropriated [the] plaintiff's composition" and alleged the defendants were not willing "to deal fairly with plaintiff" once they learnt of his theft, seeking $2.5 million.

On March 20, 2017, West reached an out-of-court settlement with Presser that was undisclosed; he was previously set to go to trial on March 22. A report further revealed that Presser was aware of West's sample since the projections for the song prior to release, although allowed the sample for another week before he sought an agreement. Presser said he was "very glad it is over", while his lawyer called the resolution amicable.

Live performances
Before its release on the album, West performed "New Slaves", along with "Black Skinhead", on Saturday Night Live on May 18, 2013. The performance introduced audiences to West's new creative shift for Yeezus and showed how musically different the album would be from his previous, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010). West performed the song again at the Governors Ball Music Festival on June 9, 2013, nine days before the release of the album. Following the release of Yeezus, West performed the song live at the first concert of The Yeezus Tour at the Barclays Center in New York City. West wore a jeweled mask during the show, which Jim Farber of the New York Daily News believed contributed to "the industrial fusion he has injected on Yeezus." When commenting on his performance of "New Slaves" and "Black Skinhead", Farber writes: "West delivers [them] with the brutality they deserve." In September 2013, West performed an acoustic rendition of the song with Charlie Wilson on Later... with Jools Holland.

Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from the Yeezus liner notes.


 * Songwriter – Kanye West, Christopher Breaux, Cydel Young, Ben Bronfman, Malik Jones, Che Smith, Elon Rutberg, Sakiya Sandifer, Louis Johnson, Mike Dean, Gábor Presser, and Anna Adamis
 * Producer – Kanye West
 * Co-producer – Ben Bronfman
 * Additional vocals – Frank Ocean
 * Additional producer – Mike Dean #MWA, Travis Scott, Noah Goldstein, Sham Joseph, and Che Pope
 * Additional programming – Hudson Mohawke and Arca
 * Noises and vocal sounds creator and engineer – Ken Lewis
 * Engineer – Noah Goldstein, Anthony Kilhoffer, and Mike Dean
 * Assistant engineer – Marc Portheau, Khoï Huynh, Raoul Le Pennec, Nabil Essemlani, Keith Parry, Kenta Yonesaka, Dave Rowland, Kevin Matela, Sean Oakley, Eric Lynn, Dave 'Squirrel' Covell, and Josh Smith
 * Mix – Anthony Kilhoffer at Shangri-La Studios, Malibu, CA
 * Mix assisted – Sean Oakley, Eric Lynn, Dave 'Squirrel' Covell, and Josh Smith