"So Appalled" is a song by American rapper Kanye West from his fifth studio album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010). The song was produced by West, along with No I.D. and Mike Dean, and features verses by Jay-Z, Cyhi the Prynce, Pusha T, Swizz Beatz, and RZA respectively, who all receive writing credits. Lyrically, the song explores topics such as the troubles produced from being famous, social concerns and features numerous pop culture references.
The posse cut received mostly positive reviews from music critics, with West and Jay-Z's verses commonly being cited as the highlights. Critics generally praised the production of the song. Originally, the song was released in an unmastered form through West's GOOD Friday initiative, a weekly free music giveaway started by the rapper to promote the album. Following this, "So Appalled" made its way onto My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy with the addition of an extended verse. "So Appalled" charted on the Billboard Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles singles chart. West performed the song with Jay-Z at their Watch the Throne Tour and with Pusha T on his own tour.
Background "So Appalled" was first released on September 24, 2010, and was the seventh song to be featured on West's GOOD Fridays, a music giveaway that provided free MP3 downloads every week. It was originally believed to be a song for West and Jay-Z's collaborative album Watch the Throne, but it was later confirmed not to be. The song would later find its way onto West's fifth studio album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy along with two other GOOD Friday songs.Fennessey, Sean (2010-11-17). Review: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy . The Village Voice. Retrieved on 2010-11-17. The version on the album was altered production-wise and was longer, and featured a sample of the Manfred Mann's Earth Band's song "You Are – I Am".[ Credits: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy]. Allmusic. Rovi Corporation Retrieved on 2010-11-21. The song was released with two covers, one with a famous photo of a model vomiting red nail polish, taken by Guy Bourdin; and the other containing the same image, with dimmed lighting and obscured by thick red letters. Before its release the song was leaked online and was nearly scrapped.
Recording The majority of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, including "So Appalled", was recorded in Oahu, Hawaii.Callahan-Bever, Noah (2010-12-12). Kanye West: Project Runaway . Complex. Retrieved on 2010-11-30. Following several media controversies, West decided to record his next album in a reclusive manner only working with artists he considered himself familiar with.Rodriguez, Jayson (2010-05-25). Kanye West's 'Power' Producer Explains How Song Happened . MTV. Viacom Retrieved on 2010-11-30. Amongst the various artists invited down to Hawaii to record songs for the album was Pusha T, a rapper known for the hip-hop duo Clipse. While in Hawaii, Pusha-T commented that the very first thing he recorded was his verse for "So Appalled".Pump, Joe Lay (2010-11-03). Pusha Talks The Difference Between Working With Kanye & Pharrell . PushaT.com Retrieved on 2010-11-30. He favorably compared recording with West with another producer he was used to working with, Pharrell Williams, commenting that he enjoyed how the process was more of a canvas.
When working with other producers usually a majority of the track was already done by the time he got to the recording studio, but with West, the process was more creative in nature. Pusha described the recording process with West as a "roller coast" and stated that he never knew what to expect while working with the producer. Upon hearing the production of the song, Pusha-T commented that it was so good it persuaded him to write a particularly inspired verse.Blanco, Alvin (2010-11-18). . MTV. Viacom Retrieved on 2010-11-30. On the production of "So Appalled", he said "it's Kanye, the beat brings the ghost out of you." The rapper described his verse as "self-explanatory" and stated that it was one of his favorite of his career.Ahmed, Insanul (2010-12-22). Favorite Verse of 2010: Pusha T on “So Appalled” . Complex. Retrieved on 2010-11-30. Pusha T called his verse "his personal favorite" and that the track was originally supposed to be just him and Kanye. When the song was finished, Pusha-T was so impressed with the track that he argued with West to include it on his album, stating that the song was so good it didn't matter whether or not it had leaked. He commented;
"I had already raved over the record because it leaked. I was like listen, there is no way this be on your album, you'd have to be crazy. He was like 'Really, you think so?' I was like c'mon man we got to stop treating rap like oh it came out it's dead. When it's good, we have to make people love it and digest it. We can't treat this like mixtape throwaways like everybody else does. Everybody else does half-ass music. So what people don't know is that what Kanye did during that album is literally, I walked into the studio and I had the pick of 17 records and he was like do what you want to do to any of these, do what you like."
One of the producers and guest appearances on the song is RZA, frontman of the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan.Langhorne, Cyrus (2010-08-01). News: Kanye West fantasizes more RZA production . SOHH Retrieved on 2010-11-30. RZA spoke positively of West, viewing that he embodied the mentality of the Wu-Tang Clan. RZA sent several beats to West, including some that he cited as being edgy, because he felt that West was the type who could work well on more forceful production, including the brooding beat for "So Appalled". The song was nearly featured on Last Train to Paris, a studio album by Diddy.Barber, Andrew (2012-12-07). Kanye West f/ Jay-Z, RZA, Cy-Hi Da Prynce & Pusha-T "So Appalled" (2010) . Complex. Retrieved on 2010-11-30. According to another producer on the song, No I.D., it was offered to both Jay-Z and Diddy before it leaked. West freestyled over the track for fun and found that he actually liked it enough to ultimately use it himself, stating that it would make a good group song. Cyhi the Prynce's verse only appeared on the song because he "tricked" West. Originally he was only supposed to deliver a quick hook, but at the time West was tired and let Cyhi record his verse alone. When West awoke and played back the tape, he was surprised to find that Cyhi had recorded an entire verse. Impressed with it, West decided to include it on the track anyway. The song reportedly offended M.C. Hammer, who Jay-Z references on the line "I spent another 30 / Cause unlike Hammer 30 million can't hurt me".Martin, Andrew (2010-08-12). MC Hammer Responds to Jay-Z's "So Appalled" Verse . Prefix Magazine. Retrieved on 2011-04-30.
Composition
"So Appalled" has been described as an epic posse cut featuring a large roster of performers. West uses his verse to address his past critics and comment on his status as a celebrity.Martin, Andrew (2010-11-24). Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (New Album) . Prefix Magazine. Retrieved on 2011-04-30. West's performance on the song is notably intense, forcefully rapping lines such as "we above the law, we don't give a fuck 'bout y'all / I got dogs that'll chew a fucking hole through the wall." Swizz Beatz sets the tone of the song using several ad-libs such as "one hand in the air, if you don't really care" and the line "this shit is fucking ridiculous" which is repeated several times throughout the song, delivered by nearly every rapper.Luis, Tovar (2010-11-11). Kanye West – “So Appalled” (f/ Jay-Z, RZA & More) . Pretty Much Amazing. Retrieved on 2010-11-12.Empire, Kitty (2010-11-19). Review: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy . The Guardian. Retrieved on 2010-11-19. The second verse is delivered by Jay-Z, who spends the majority of his verse deconstructing the hate that surrounds fame and poses the question, "would you rather be underpaid or overrated?" Jay-Z comments on how a career in the music industry creates many opponents. The third verse is delivered by Pusha T, who muses on cocaine dealing.
The song contains numerous pop culture references, including The Dark Knight, the breakfast cereal Cheerios, the business figure and future United States President, Donald Trump, rapper M.C. Hammer and "We Major", a song from West's album Late Registration. On the unconventional structure of the song, Sputnikmusic's Channing Freeman said that verses were "very lengthy – Kanye appears within the first minute and then drops out for good – but the droning beat is so mesmerizing that it's barely even noticeable."Freeman, Channing (2010-11-11). Review: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy . Sputnikmusic. Retrieved on 2010-11-12. Andy Gill of The Independent explained the use of several guest appearances, writing "Kanye has never been short on ambition or ego, so it's no surprise he should have his guests (including such hip-hop luminaries as Jay-Z, Swizz Beats and RZA) queue up on "So Appalled" to confirm in turn how 'this shit is fucking ridiculous'".Gill, Andy (2010-11-19). Review: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy . The Independent. Retrieved on 2010-11-19.
Reception
"So Appalled" received mostly favorable reviews from contemporary critics. David Browne of Time wrote that he felt that the track was "built on rumbling tanks of pianos and strings" and that it sounded as if West was "marching into the apocalypse."Browne, David (2010/11/17). Review: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy . Time. Retrieved on 2010-11-18. David Amidon of PopMatters compared the production to West's album Late Registration which found West "inviting his friend Jon Brion to impart slices of film scoring to the odds and ends of his tracks". He commented that much like every song on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, the song "contains an underscore as ambitious as the beats upfront", concluding that tracks "Hell of a Life" and "So Appalled" alone "carry enough auditory sugar to make listening to this album on any regular sort of listening device almost a fool's errand."Amidon, David (2010-11-20). Review: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy . PopMatters Retrieved on 2010-11-12
Jayson Rodriguez of MTV praised the song, reporting "this all-star cipher is a backpackers dream as Ye's GOOD Music soldiers fire away with resolve. But the Brooklyn icon, Jay-Z, steals the show with an edgy verse dismissing his critics with a 16 that's as pushy as a New Yorker during rush hour. Please, Hammer, stop replying." Slant Magazines Cole Mathews thought that the song returned West to his hard rap origins, commenting "with the posse cuts 'Monster' and 'So Appalled', Kanye kicks out the two hardest rap tracks of his career." Becky Bain of Idolater described the song as a "dramatic, gloomy epic of a tune that has each artist taking turns at the mic." He expressed that trying to find Kanye's verse was "virtually a musical Where's Waldo". It was noted for its impressive roster of features and was described as "another Kanye West-helmed all-star collabo" by MTV's Hawuse Ziegbe. He noted that Cyhi managed to hold his own against several much more regarded rappers. Embling of Tiny Mix Tapes described the song as a super-sized cypher, stating that the track was packed with plenty of "shitalking" from the group of rappers.Embling (2010–11). Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy . Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved on 2011-04-30.