I Am a God

It was produced by West, Hudson Mohawke, Daft Punk, and Mike Dean, and includes vocals from Justin Vernon of Bon Iver.

The song contains samples of "Forward Inna Dem Clothes", written by Capleton and H. Hart, and performed by the latter, and "Are Zindagi Hai Khel" by Manna Dey, R. D. Burman and Asha Bhosle.

[2] In reference to the material recorded by West, Bangalter stated that "It was very raw: he was rapping – kind of screaming primally, actually" and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo of Daft Punk added that "Kanye doesn't give a fuck.

"[2] Bangalter stated in a July 2013 interview that the duo "were the first people that Kanye came to" when working on Yeezus and they stand among the album's major producers.

[5] Prior to working with West on Yeezus, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver had appeared on his 2010 single "Monster" from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

[11][12] During a 2013 interview with Zane Lowe on BBC Radio 1, West responded to criticism of claiming to be a God by delving into the topic of classism and self-hate, positing the question: "Would it have been better if I had a song that said, 'I Am a Nigga?'

[14] On June 12, 2013, six days before Yeezus was released, a video was uploaded on West's website of him recording vocals for "I Am a God" with producers Rick Rubin and Mike Dean.

in an exasperated way at the end of "Black Skinhead" to show the mind of the character portrayed on Yeezus as mutating the external idea of God into an internal one.

[21] The song samples "Forward Inna Dem Clothes", written by Capelton and H. Hart, and performed by the former, and "Are Zindagi Hai Khel" by Manna Dey, R. D. Burman and Asha Bhosle.

Jon Dolan of Rolling Stone looked at it as an example on Yeezus of where "Kanye's lyrics are pretty focused" and he renders "his classic themes as petulant primal screams.

"[27] The staff of Billboard wrote of the song: "Through shooting synths, squeals and mushed bass, Kanye revels in all the negativity he's endured -- the hate received for everything from his fashion sense to brand of hip-hop -- and proclaims himself to be a god 'until the day I get struck by lightning.

For starters, the track sounds less triumphant than breathtakingly vexed, crashing in with a gnarled dancehall vocal sample and paranoid sawtooth synths that aim to destroy.

[29] Alexis Petridis of The Guardian viewed "I Am a God" as what "offers up a bass pulse overlaid with epic, cavernous synthesisers" that he claimed to be influenced by Daft Punk.

"[30] Slate's Forrest Wickman cites "I Am a God" as one of the album's tracks that "rattle as if they'd been produced by industrial hip-hop group Death Grips" and compared the song's heavy bass to the band's single "Come Up and Get Me.

'"[31] Rolling Stone ranked the track at number 65 on their list of the 100 best songs of 2013, writing of it: "This is the greatest hate-rap screed by a deity with dangerously low blood sugar in ages.

[39] In August 2013, The Association of French Bakers (a satirical pseudonym of writer W. David Marx)[40] penned a letter to West over the lyrics "In a French-ass restaurant/Hurry up with my damn croissants," telling him to be patient.

[41] The letter stressed that a croissant cannot be rushed because one is comparable to a work of art, though the bakers gave West a pass and stated that they take his lyrics seriously.

In early 2025, Australian singer Nick Cave said in his newsletter “The Red Hand Files” that he wanted “I Am A God” to be played at his funeral.