Talking Lyrics – Kanye West & James Blake | from “WAR”

This cut, clocking in at about two minutes of ethereal drift, fuses Blake’s signature electronic haze with Kanye’s raw, looping confessions over a beat that’s more sigh than stomp. It’s alternative R&B with soulful edges, courtesy of production from Blake and Dom Maker, where minimal keys and echoing vocals build this intimate cocoon. The creative spark? Straight from those April 2022 late-nights, turning personal drifts into cosmic talks—lines like “Talking to the stars beyond the moon” chase fleeting connections, the grind of being gone by morning, and that bro-code loyalty amid the haze. It’s vulnerable without the bombast, a far cry from Vultures’ flash, feeling like Kanye cracking open old wounds with Blake’s gentle nudge.

Born as the second single for Vultures 1 back in February 2024, this version flipped the script with North West’s kid-cameo charm, but post-Vultures 2’s stumble, it resurfaced raw. Fat Money dropped his reference track in late 2024, hyping it on X as “WAR was the craziest shit I ever heard Ye WAKE UPPPP,” sparking rumors it was titled Wake Up until leakers set it straight.

WAR itself? A trio effort with No I.D., cooked up right after Donda 2’s Stem Player chaos—18 tracks of melancholic soul, blending Kanye’s imperfect bars with Blake’s smooth production for something moving and unfinished. The leaked tracklist teases cuts like What I Would Have Said at Virgil’s Funeral, Hold Up Get Up, and This One Here, all orbiting themes of loss, quiet storms, and what-ifs. Ye previewed bits on Sneako’s stream in May 2025, but blamed Digital Nas for shelving it amid the fallout—now it’s out wild via floods on YouTube and SoundCloud, no official drop in sight from Yeezy or any label.

Kanye’s been a whirlwind this year, from Bully’s raw drops to WW3’s firestorm in April that had everyone reeling with its unfiltered rants. But WAR pulls him back to that pre-chaos groove, teaming with Blake for evolution that’s less spectacle, more mirror—trading stadium roars for bedroom truths that hit because they’ve lingered.