I Love Kanye

Lyrically, West shows self-awareness by making fun of his changing public image while referencing the internet meme that he loves himself.

In February 2016, West used the song against Kyle Mooney during their rap battle on Saturday Night Live (SNL).

Numerous remixes of the song were released from February to March 2016, including respective ones by Key Wane and DJ Premier.

[2][4] A day before the album's release, West debuted the track on Saturday Night Live (SNL) by using it in a freestyle rap battle against American comedian Kyle Mooney.

[a][21][22][23] "I Love Kanye" was met with generally positive reviews from music critics, with them mostly praising West's lyrics.

Ryan Patrick of USA Today highlighted the self-awareness demonstrated by West on the song for showing him "heralding his own singularity as an artist".

[16] The New York Times' Jon Caramanica also noticed West's self-awareness, referring to the song as "a rhyme and hubris exercise" that is "also a rant that's also a barometer of public opinion that's also a wink".

[25] Expressing a similar sentiment, Alexis Petridis of The Guardian pointed to the line as an example of "self-awareness occasionally suggested by TLOP's lyrics".

[13] Greene continued by opining that West is fine "to just stand among them, both those of his own creation and their various devotees" while branding his rapping on the song as "wryly".

[13] Reviewing in his Vice Expert Witness column, Robert Christgau described the song as a "pseudo-freestyle meta-wink" and called it a narcissist's version of The College Dropout track "We Don't Care" that is "almost as funny".

"[12] In a somewhat mixed review for The Daily Telegraph, Neil McCormick wrote "I love you like Kanye loves Kanye" is West's apparent "idea of an ultimate compliment" and noticed the line is likely his attempt "to make a joke about perceptions of his egomania" while deriding how "underlying it is an actual egomania that blinds West to just how narrow his self-obsession really is".

[27] In 2018, Billboard ranked "I Love Kanye" as the 11th greatest interlude of all time, and the magazine's Xander Zellner admitted that West "proved to the world that he sees your tweets, he reads the headlines, and he's in on the joke" with the song.

[33] During a sketch for SNL entitled "Kyle vs. Kanye" on February 13, 2016, West engaged in a freestyle rap battle with Mooney.

[5][35] The song was performed live by West as part of the Saint Pablo Tour's kickoff show at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on August 25, 2016.

[40][41][42] On February 15, 2016, a remix of "I Love Kanye" was shared by American producer Stefan Ponce, re-imagining the song with a sample of the Dramatics' "I Dedicate My Life To You" (1973).

[49] "Old Kanye" has a jazz instrumental and heavily features synths, while also adding cascading chords and soundbites of newscasts.

American comedian and actor Kyle Mooney.
West premiered the song during a rap battle with Kyle Mooney in February 2016.
Graffiti that depicts Dropout Bear, the anthropomorphic teddy bear mascot of Kanye West that is located in the Bronx, New York City.
West refers to different versions of himself as he addresses criticism of his music being better in the past, including on his debut studio album The College Dropout in 2004, the mascot for which is pictured.