Ty Dolla $ign – “Ego Death” (Feat. Kanye West, Skrillex, FKA twigs, & serpentwithfeet)
Ty Dolla $ign has often functioned as a human crossroads for various corners of the musical mainstream. On his new single, he brings many of those corners together for a superstar posse cut.
“Ego Death,” Ty’s new single out now, features a fascinating and impressive array of contributors. There is Kanye West, who has often deployed Ty’s voice in recent years and who released his own new single “Wash Us In The Blood” just yesterday, and whose “Fade” instrumental seems to be the foundation here. There is Skrillex, who teamed with Ty and Boys Noize on last year’s “Midnight Hour.” There is FKA twigs, who previously has no features with Ty but has worked with Skrillex. And there is serpentwithfeet, who teamed with Ty on “Receipts” last year.
What have they come up with? Hear “Ego Death” below to find out.
Speaking with Zane Lowe on Beats 1, Ty explained the genesis of the new song:
Basically, I was at a party, and I don’t remember. I heard some girls saying something about some guy, like, “Oh, that’s the death of his ego.” I remembered that when I got to the house. I’m like, “Wow, that’s hard.” It’s like I had the song “Ego Death,” and then I made the beat. Then I was watching Instagram, and there was some video of Ye walking through Chicago. Then he was like, “Hold up. There’s a train going by.” I thought that was so hard, just seeing him just walking through Chicago by himself. So I sampled that part, and then I went out to Chicago to work on Yandhi with him. Then I played him the record, and he went crazy. Everybody in the room ran out, like, “Oh, shit.” So he came back. He grabbed the little performance mic, and he started beatboxing and just freestyling and shit.
We recorded all that, kept all that. Then I ended up going to London. I linked up with Twigs. She laid her part, went crazy, and then I came back to LA and I hooked up with Sonny. He added his magic, and now we have the song. So it was definitely a process.
“Ego Death” is out now on Atlantic. Purchase it here.