Watch Kanye West Rap ‘Hey Mama’ With His Mother

Kanye West's love for his late mother is well documented--there's "Coldest Winter," the tear-jerking coda to 808s & Heartbreak. There's DONDA, the creative agency named for the woman who raised him in Chicago and instilled in him the values that would guide the first half of his wildly successful career. And now, a heartwarming new piece of video testifies to the same effect. Lifted from an MTV special that documented the making of West's sophomore album, Late Registration, the clip sees Kanye rapping with his mother to "Hey Mama," a track that was initially leaked as a demo in 2003 and ultimately ended up on Registration. (It's also the song he would reprise at the 2008 Grammys, after her premature death during a botched cosmetic surgery.) Before that, though, there's a back-and-forth performance of what sounds to be one of Donda's favorite verses from her son. She raps:

"I walk through the halls of the school and it's cool to be known
By many for my rapping ability
But what about the brothers who ain't got it like me?
Making money off the trade, you could say I got it made
Drugs are on the rise, but it's not a big surprise
See no soul in the young brother's eyes"

The song from which that verse was taken has yet to be released. Kanye's seventh solo album, So Help Me God, is expected to hit stores soon; one of the promotional singles for the record is "Only One," a Paul McCartney collaboration on which Kanye channels bother his mother and grandmother.

Filed Under: donda, Kanye West

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