Violent Crimes (song)

"Violent Crimes" is a song by American rapper Kanye West, released as the final track on his eighth studio album, Ye (2018).

It was written by West, 7 Aurelius, Irv Gotti, 070 Shake, Mike Dean, Kevin Parker, Ty Dolla Sign, Malik Yusef, and Pardison Fontaine, and produced by the former three.

However, some critics, who generally placed less focus on West's verse, expressed more positive feelings, often highlighting the inclusion of the song on the album and sometimes complementing the composition.

Despite the mixed critical reviews, fan reactions to the song were generally positive praising the gentle production, 070 Shake's vocals and Kanye rapping on his fears for his children.

[6] West asked his wife Kim Kardashian to get Nicki Minaj's help with figuring out how to deliver some lines on "Violent Crimes," yet he ultimately decided on including the actual voice note itself that was received from her.

[7] Nicki Minaj revealed on Queen Radio that she was initially surprised when Ye premiered due to being unsure about how her voice note would end up being used.

[8] Ty Dolla Sign contributes softly sung vocals to the song that appear next to those of 070 Shake, prior to Nicki Minaj's outro.

"[20] On September 30, 2018, West took to Twitter and revealed that co-writer Pardison Fontaine, who has the real name of Jordan Thorpe, was the person held most responsible for writing the track.

[21] Due to the personal content addressed by West within "Violent Crimes," many people assumed that he wrote it, and the rapper "ended up breaking a few hearts" by revealing that he didn't.

[22] Around two months later, in an interview with GQ, Pardison Fontaine admitted to being "pissed" that West revealed the information about songwriting when saying that nobody "needed to know I hit him about that, like, 'That's not why I do that for'".

[23][24] He elaborated, explaining that, due to wanting to be known as an artist, not just a writer, Pardison Fontaine only writes for people who have his respect, such as West, because he considers him his idol.

"[25] Pardison Fontaine detailed that the song was inspired by his personal experience of having a daughter, looking at "the duality of the situation" as a man who can take advantage "versus seeing legitimate feelings that are there for a woman.

[31] At their second concert two weeks later, the Sunday Service Choir delivered a gospel rendition of "Violent Crimes" and were led through their performance by West again.

[34] Clash's Grant Brydon branded the track as seeing West "lazily praying that his daughter be stripped of her femininity to avoid objectification".

[8] Simon Miraudo from Student Edge wrote that "it inches uncomfortably towards racial respectability politics", which he looked at as being a possible influence from American conservative Candace Owens that West is a fan of.

[14] West's performance was described by Rodney Carmichael and Ann Powers in a less negative review for NPR as what shows him "reaching out to his young daughters in love, but ultimately getting distracted by the idea that other men might hurt them".

[39] In The Line of Best Fit, Ross Horton pointed to the song as doing "a little bit to redeem the record", while criticizing "the recycled wordplay" despite writing that "it appears some effort went into the jazz-backed poetry on show".

Sam Moore, writing for Metro, characterized it as a "blissful climax" to Ye and viewed the song as continuing "good vibes" on the album.