Kanye West's 'Mama's Boyfriend' Hits The Net

One of the standout moments from Kanye West's barnstorming, pre-My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy corporate boardroom tour last summer was "Mama's Boyfriend," a searing (and quite endearing) song in which he rapped from the perspective of his 5-year-old self, watching his mother work through a series of bad relationships.
Of course, as you probably know by now, the song didn't end up on Fantasy, for reasons never adequately explained. But on Monday, fans finally got the chance to hear "Boyfriend" in its fully conceptualized form, when it leaked to the Net.
Floating over a crackling soul sample (in early live versions of the song, the sample was Billy Joel's "Movin' Out"), crashing drums and stirring handclaps (all of which recall his College Dropout days), West raps about being a 5-year-old in "Superman pajamas, super duper fly," who is forced to sit on the sidelines as his mother's new love interests invade what had been his domain — as the title explains. As a child, West, like many kids of single mothers, envisioned himself as his mother's boyfriend and protector, dismissing one potential suitor with a curt, "Trying to get to know me homey, just kill the charm/ You ain't interested in me, you just trying to f--- my mom."
As the song progresses, West targets one boyfriend (an "Old Spice-wearing, short-chain wearing" guy) with spite, and then throws a tantrum — in full-blown pouty-kid voice — when he won't leave, declaring, "I ain't going to sleep no time soon/ And when I do, I'm sleepin' in my Mama's room."
Of course, by the final third, West has ironically realized that, as he's become a man, he's also become the boyfriend his 5-year-old self was rapping about, pondering, "I never liked you n---as, who knew one day I'd be just like you n---as?" as the breezy sample rolls to a conclusion.
A spokesperson for West did not respond to MTV News' request for comment on the leak.
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