“Famous” by Kanye West

"Famous" was the lead single from The Life of Pablo, Kanye West's seventh studio album, and it arrives with company: Rihanna sings on it, Swizz Beatz throws in ad-libs, and the track borrows from Sister Nancy's "Bam Bam" and Nina Simone's "Do What You Gotta Do". Havoc produced it and helped write it, with Andrew Dawson, Hudson Mohawke and Plain Pat also credited on production, and it went out on GOOD Music and Def Jam, reaching American urban and rhythmic radio in late March 2016.

The June video was a spectacle all its own: wax likenesses of West and a crowd of famous faces asleep and naked in one enormous bed. It split opinion, and the figures later went on show as a sculpture. The song picked up Grammy nominations for Best Rap/Sung Performance and Best Rap Song.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.