Mary J. Blige and Kanye West Want You to “Love Yourself” on New Song

Mary J. Blige and Kanye West join forces for "Love Yourself," the first track off the Mary's forthcoming album Strength of a Woman. Over horns and knocking drums, MJB and Yeezy implore listeners to do just as their song says.

In a recent interview with Power 105.1's Angie Martinez, MJB touched on the background of her new track. “‘Love Yourself’ is hardcore hip-hop soul,” she explained. “It’s me talking to myself when I was in it. ‘Don’t give up. Love yourself.’ When you hear the words, you’ll hear it…I’m a fan of Kanye. I’ve always loved Kanye. I’ve always wanted to work with Kanye. I reached out to his manager, got a number on him, began to text him back and forth about how I really wanted him on ‘Love Yourself.'”

Throughout the song, MJB emphasizes the need to take care of yourself before you work on taking care of anyone else. Mary J's hook for this soulful track fortifies this idea.

On the chorus for the song, she sings, "Oh, you gotta love yourself/If you really wanna be with someone else/You gotta feed yourself/Before you feed somebody else/You gotta stay open, and don't be foolish/'Cause everybody don't mean you well/You gotta love yourself/Before you love somebody else."

Yeezy approaches the DJ Camper-produced track by addressing what he feels he needs to do to be a better version of himself. "I decided not to use my color as a handicap/He a designer, artist, producer, and he rap," 'Ye raps in his opening lines.

The "Champions" performer continues, "Never found virtue from patience/In a dark room just pacin'/Precious time is just wastin'/You do not know what we facin'/I cannot be complacent/In my job, be courageous."

You can cop Mary J. Blige's new Kanye-assisted single "Love Yourself" on iTunes or stream it below via Spotify. Strength of a Woman is due out on April 28.

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