Mary J. Blige teams up with rapper Kanye West for her motivational song called “Love Yourself.” Serving as the opening track on Strength of a Woman, “Love Yourself” is a powerful song that promotes self-love.
“You gotta love yourself (oh yeah) / 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,” Blige sings on the DJ Camper-produced track.
West adds, “Precious time is just wastin’ / You do not know what we facin’ / I cannot be complacent / In my job, be courageous / Another kid just got shot / They can’t find the assailant.”
In an interview with Angie Martinez, Blige explained how her collaboration with West came about. “I’m a fan of Kanye. I’ve always love Kanye and wanted to work with Kanye,” she said.
“So, I reached out to his manager and got a number on him and began to text him about how I really wanted him and I knew him, we speak you know we see each other but it’s never like “hey Kanye would you do a record with me?” but I knew I needed him on ‘Love Yourself.'”
Blige’s new album, Strength of a Woman, will release on April 28.
Listen to “Love Yourself” below.