“Bound 2” by Kanye West

“Bound 2” is Kanye West’s version of a love song. The implication, considering the time in his life he dropped it as well as the music video and all, is that it is by and large directed to Kim Kardashian. But there is also a more general storyline featured. And that is the addressee being “bound to fall in love”. It appears that said phrase is another way of Yeezus saying that the addressee has a natural propensity towards being in a serious romantic relationship. However, up until this point in her life she has been unable to find a partner with a similar disposition. But that is until she has hooked up with the vocalist, who is obviously in it for the long haul.

You can view the lyrics, alternate interprations and sheet music for Kanye West's Bound 2 at Lyrics.org.

Writing and Production of “Bound 2”

A notable number of musicians worked on “Bound 2”. For instance, the track has six producers besides Kanye West. The aforementioned producers are listed below:

  • Eric Danchild
  • Mike Dean
  • Noah Goldstein
  • Che Pope
  • No I.D. 

All of the producers above, besides Danchild, are also credited as co-writers. Other co-writers include John Legend, Malik Yusef, and Charlie Wilson. Additionally this song samples three older tracks. Said tracks are as follows:

  • Wee’s “You Can Fly on My Aeroplane”
  • Brenda Lee’s “Sweet Nothin’s”
  • Ponderosa Twins Plus One’s “Bound”

And the writers of those songs are also acknowledged as writers of Bound 2.
The aforementioned Charlie Wilson, a long-tenured soul singer and regular collaborator of Kanye’s, also provides additional vocals to this song.

Legendary hip-hop producer Rick Rubin is also known to have contributed to the composition of Bound 2.

Kanye West never got official permission from the Ponderosa Twins Plus One to sample Bound for this track. This resulted in band member Ricky Spicer, who sang the song when he was just a lad, suing Yeezus in 2013 for unauthorized usage of his voice.  Indeed he didn’t even know “Bound 2” existed until he heard it on the radio. And Kanye did make him right in 2015, as in settled the lawsuit.

Release Date of “Bound 2”

“Bound 2” itself is the second single from Kanye’s sixth album, Yeezus. The track was officially released as part of said project, by GOOD Music and Def Jam Records, on 18 June 2013.

Official Music Video

This song’s official music video was directed by British fashion photographer Nick Knight. It gained a notable amount of notoriety – or infamy, depending on one’s perspective. For instance, it features Kim Kardashian, who at the time was Yeezus’s fiancée, topless and loving the rapper in what is, by all reports, a graphic manner.  Moreover as of the writing of this post the clip, as hosted by Kanye West’s YouTube account, has a notable number of dislikes, which as of 2021 stand at approximately 490K as compared to 580K likes.

Moreover Hollywood actors Seth Rogan and James Franco went on to parody the clip in 2013 with their own video entitled Bound 3. And it has also been made fun of by the likes of Saturday Night Live and South Park in 2013.

But for the record Kanye never intended – or perhaps we can say never expected – the clip to be taken serious per se. Or rather the way he put it, he “wanted it to look as phony as possible” but also likened the intended visual effect to “a dream” and “performing art”, where he did not mind “looking stupid” in some people’s eyes. Additionally, he reportedly admitted to Seth Rogan that the clip was “supposed to be bad” and that he didn’t vest any significant time into putting it together. And yes, many critics concurred that it was in fact “cold garbage”. However, others did recognize and appreciate its artistic value also.

“Bound 2” becomes a Hit!

Chart-wise “Bound 2” proved moderately successful by Yeezy’s standards, peaking at number 10 on the UK R&B Chart and number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. But overall, it did go double-platinum in the United States. And professional critics were perhaps more impressed with it than the world at large. That is to say that whereas it didn’t chart in a lot of countries, the song still received a couple of Grammy nominations in 2015.

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