The Revival They Played Jimmy and Rick

[Intro] Eight years of arguing over the most divisive album he made The man in the room says the one they graded wasn't the one they first played [Verse 1] Two hours forty into The 3rd Verse Denaun's on the André 3000 collab that almost happened, then he drops something bigger "The version of Revival that came out was not the version that we played at first It was a lot shorter," and that line flips the whole record in reverse "The reason that album wasn't received well was the track listing" But those songs weren't originally there, that's the part that's missing "The one with Kehlani and the one with Alicia Keys, those were added later" "Nowhere Fast" and "Like Home," put it on paper The version they played Jimmy and Rick was a lot shorter And strictly about that, the politics, strictly in order Jimmy Iovine and Rick Rubin, that's who he means A short, focused political album that grew to eighteen tracks in 2017 [Hook] The Revival you heard ain't the Revival they played Shorter and angrier, strictly political, before the tracklist changed The one they played Jimmy and Rick was strictly about that Eight years of arguments, and the man in the room brought it back [Verse 2] Em was furious first, that flips what people assumed Not a pop-rap star chasing a political moment in the room 2016, police shootings like Alton Sterling's in the news, week after week "We're so programmed, I didn't know how programmed I was," Denaun would speak "Because Em was extremely furious about what was going on" Kept sending him news he'd stopped letting himself react to for so long It made him sit with his history, handcuffed to a tree at fourteen Beaten by police, and he'd filed it away as normal, routine "It made me go back to them times, I was like, fuck it, it's all or nothing" "This is where we going to go, let's call Mark Batson and Emile," and they went in [Hook] The Revival you heard ain't the Revival they played Shorter and angrier, strictly political, before the tracklist changed The one they played Jimmy and Rick was strictly about that Eight years of arguments, and the man in the room brought it back [Verse 3] Revival's politics didn't stay theoretical The BET cypher, October 2017, then "Untouchable" and "Like Home," the loudest fight, all of it critical "The fans was coming to the studio and asking questions 'cause he went at Trump Y'all do understand, you dissed the president," the fallout walked right in the front He lost a lot of fans that was really about Trump life, he ain't care Drew a line in the sand, and anybody making a stand like that on a career That's not an easy thing to do "Kudos to him for having the balls to do that," that's Denaun's view [Bridge] December 15, 2017, the consensus low point for eight years straight Eighteen tracks, tonal whiplash, pop hooks next to protest on the plate Denaun doesn't dispute the verdict, he explains the shape An album that changed size and mission between the first playback and the shipping date Nine months later, Kamikaze, short, furious, single-minded Shaped exactly like the Revival Denaun says they first designed it [Outro] One producer's memory is not a tracklist leak No song titles from that first version, nothing more to speak But he was in the room, no reason to flatter what the world already judged Specific enough to check if the vault ever opens up Somewhere in it is the Revival they played Jimmy and Rick