"WW3" is a song by American rapper Kanye West, released on March 26, 2025, as the lead single from his upcoming thirteenth studio album, "In a Perfect World". It heavily samples the song "I Get High (On Your Memory)" by Freda Payne. Production was handled by West himself, alongside Quadwoofer, Sheffmade, and South Korean production trio Templecitygrounds.
When first previewed by West on March 15, many believed that "WW3" was part of revisions to his visual album "Bully", which had been released that same month as an unfinished demo. The track was later confirmed to be part of "In a Perfect World" during a livestream with media personality DJ Akademiks, who announced the album under the title of "WW3".
Background.
Prior to the song's release, West had released the demo album "Bully" after announcing he wanted to cease usage of artificial intelligence in his music. On March 15, 2025, he would post an image of a red swastika with the caption "NEW ALBUM COVER," as well as a logo using the SS insignia of the "Schutzstaffel" for his group Sunday Service Choir, coinciding with a statement that his new sound is called "antisemetic ["sic"]".
"WW3" was first previewed on the website Twitter on March 15. As he had yet to announce "In a Perfect World", many believed the song was part of an update to "Bully". The song was referred to by fans as "Rari" and "Nazi" before its official name was revealed.
In a post-release interview with DJ Akademiks, where West had infamously appeared in a black Klu Klux Klan uniform, the latter revealed that he had two custom KKK robes commissioned, being identical black and white ones. West had previously shown off his white costume with the caption "fit pic" on March 10; its hood is reused for the single art.
Composition.
A jerk song running one minute and forty-three seconds in length, "WW3" contains prominent samples of the Freda Payne song "I Get High (On Your Memory)". West begins the song by repeating the phrase "She wanna hop in a 'Rari". He also references his various controversies regarding antisemitism, ("I'm antisemitic fully/They saying I'm acting like Hitler/But how am I acting like Hitler/When I am a fucking nigger?"), reveals that his friends urged him to "get off of Twitter" and that he voted for Donald Trump over Joe Biden in the 2020 United States presidential election (which West himself ran in as an independent candidate), and questions those who went with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to his private island. Halfway through the song, simplistic snare and clap drum machine patterns, along with a 808 bass, are introduced; West subsequently mentions his recreational use of nitrous oxide, a 2020 video of him urinating on a Grammy award, him "rocking swastikas 'cause all my niggas Nazis", and that he reads two chapters of Hitler's book "Mein Kampf" before going to bed.
Release and reception.
"WW3" was met with widespread criticism due to its lyrical content. In their piece regarding public reaction to the song, "Complex" referred to its lyrics as "atrocious". Paul Thompson of "GQ" called it "a hyper-literal exercise in doubling down on [West's] recent public comments." He likened the song to "a near-perfect distillation of this moment in America: unfathomably dumb, proudly evil, but above all else, crushingly desperate."
The song was also met with confusion from various public figures, including Adin Ross, who expressed shock at the song and suggested that West's friends needed to "submit someone to get a mental check" on him; Ross would subsequently give a more positive reaction on a later stream with Kodak Black. West would later sample Ross's initial reaction on a version of the song included on a leaked copy of "In a Perfect World".
Outside of the RMNZ charts, it has previously reached number one on multiple Spotify viral charts.
On May 20, 2025, "WW3" was removed from all streaming services before an announcement on West's Twitter that he was "done being antisemetic". The song was later re-released on May 22, with the words "Nazi", "Swastikas", "Mein Kampf", "Antisemitic", and "Hitler" being censored.
Music video.
West would later debut the music video for "WW3" on both his interview with DJ Akademiks and his own X account on March 30. It contains repurposed material from the TV miniseries "Roots", as well as several stills of interracial pornography and footage of a KKK gathering.