How to Sound Like an Art History Expert (With Kanye West Lyrics)

Yeezy, yeezy, how you do it, huh?

Not Available Lead
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Not Available Lead

Kanye West has been winning the music and art world lately with the promo for his upcoming album Yeezus. From video projections, to live performances, to his "Please Add Graffiti" album art campaign, Ye has really set the bar high for other musicians to get creative with the way that they build buzz around projects.

As we've learned from his past tweets, Mr. West loves the arts. We thought it would be cool if his music could teach you more about art of the past so we created this gallery of memes: How to Sound Like an Art History Expert (With Kanye West Lyrics).

RELATED: How to Sound Like an Art History Expert (With 2 Chainz Lyrics) 

"She had hair so long that it look like weave, then she cut it all off now she look like Eve"

Not Available Interstitial

"All Falls Down" Meets Woman with Long Hair by Man Ray (1929)

Lyric: "She had hair so long that it look like weave, then she cut it all off now she look like Eve"

Long hair don't care..oh wait, that's a Lil' Wayne lyric.

art via

"Sunglasses and Advil, last night was mad real"

Not Available Interstitial

"No Church in the Wild" Meets Self-Portrait by Andy Warhol (1963)

Lyric: "Sunglasses and Advil, last night was mad real"

This four-panel self-portrait by Warhol sold at Christie's for $38million. We know Kanye could afford it but we're pretty sure he wasn't the buyer.

art via

"If we die in each other's arms, still get laid in our afterlife"

Not Available Interstitial

"Lost in the World" Meets Death and the Maiden by Egon Schiele (1915)

Lyric: "If we die in each other's arms, still get laid in our afterlife"

Like the lyric from Kanye and most of Schiele's work, this painting is both beautiful and tragic.

art via

"You cut me deep b****, cut me like surgery"

Not Available Interstitial

"Bittersweet" Meets Stitch & Cut by Luke Chueh (2010)

Lyric: "You cut me deep b****, cut me like surgery"

Luke Chueh is known for blending cute and disturbing imagery in his illustrations. This bear is a reoccuring character in his work and is bloody more often than not.

 

art via

"She stopped drinking Diet Coke, she on that Coke diet"

Not Available Interstitial

"Everyone Nose Remix (All the Girls Standing in the Line for the Bathroom)" Meets Lola Cola by Mel Ramos (1972)

Lyric: "She stopped drinking Diet Coke, she on that Coke diet"

Andy Warhol often used popular culture imagery in his artwork, and Coca Cola is and was about as popular as a soda company could be. This photo was a little too risque so we had to censor it.

art via

"I need to just step back and kiss myself"

Not Available Interstitial

"Diamonds (Remix)" Meets Small Mirror Twin by Graham Dean (2012)

Lyric: "I need to just step back and kiss myself"

Kanye was on his James Brown steez. 

art via

"They say your attitude determines your latitude, I'm high as a motherf***er, fly as a motherf***er"

Not Available Interstitial

"Brand New" Meets Over the Town by Marc Chagall (1918)

Lyric: "They say your attitude determines your latitude, I'm high as a motherf***er, fly as a motherf***er"

We aren't sure how these people are flying when they're both missing an arm but hey, anything is possible right? Maybe Yeezy taught them.

art via

"Illuminati, High society. We in this party and nobody invited me"

Not Available Interstitial

"Diamonds (Remix)" Meets Party in Paris by Max Beckmann (1947)

Lyric: "Illuminati, High society. We in this party and nobody invited me"

The Illuminati is a myth. At least that's what they told us to say.

art via

"He wasn't really drunk, he just had a few brews"

Not Available Interstitial

"Clique" Meets The Bean King (The King Drinks) by Jacob Jordaens (1638)

Lyric: "He wasn't really drunk, he just had a few brews"

Whatever you say, Kanye. Old-king wasted is like white-girl wasted to the nth degree!

art via

"And I'm rapping on the beats they was supposed to buy, I guess I'm getting high off my own supply"

Not Available Interstitial

"Made In America" Meets Old Fisherman Smoking his Pipe by Katsushika Hokusai (1835)

Lyric: "And I'm rapping on the beats they was supposed to buy, I guess I'm getting high off my own supply"

Rule number one is never get high off of your own supply. Never.

art via

"I ain't saying she a gold digger, but she ain't messing with no broke n***as"

Not Available Interstitial

"Gold Digger" Meets Naked woman on the beach and shovel by Pablo Picasso (1960)

Lyric: "I ain't saying she a gold digger, but she ain't messing with no broke n***as"

She might need some assistance if she plans to use that shovel.

art via

"This ni**a graduated at the top of our class, I went to Cheesecake he was a motherf***in' waiter there"

Not Available Interstitial

"School Spirit" Meets Waiter by Boris Kustodiev (1920)

Lyric: "This ni**a graduated at the top of our class, I went to Cheesecake he was a motherf***in' waiter there"

Cheesecake refers to the popular restaurant chain The Cheesecake Factory. If that guy had gone on to higher education he would at least be a manager by now. Learn from his mistakes, kids.

art via

"How could you be so, cold as the winter wind when it breeze yo"

Not Available Interstitial

"Heartless" Meets A Resting Place of Prisoners by Vasily Vereshchagin (1878-1879)

Lyric: "How could you be so, cold as the winter wind when it breeze yo"

At over nine-feet wide, this incredibly detailed painting captures a scene witnessed by the artist during the Russo-Turkish War. It hangs on the west wall of Beaux-Arts Court in the Brooklyn Museum.

art via

"We in Kanye West's Benz, cause I will turn you back to a pedestrian"

Not Available Interstitial

"Birthday Song" Meets In the Car (Driving) by Roy Lichtenstein (1963)

Lyric: "Don’t be reachin’, don’t be touchin’ shit, we in Kanye West’s Benz. Cause I will turn you back to a pedestrian"

There are two versions of this piece by Lichtenstein. The artwork was inspired by a panel in the 1961 comic strip Girls' Romances. 

art via

"Ooh girl your silhouette make me wanna light a cigarette"

Not Available Interstitial

"The New Workout Plan" Meets Gone, An Historical Romance of Civil War As it Occurred Between the Dusky Thighs of Young Negress and Her Heart by Kara Walker (1994)

Lyric: "Ooh girl your silhouette make me wanna light a cigarette"

This is only a portion of the Walker artwork. She is known for making provactive and controversial pieces, and in its entirety this is no exception.

art via

"Don't talk about style cause I'll embarrass you"

Not Available Interstitial

"Cold" Meets Emperor Franz I of Austria in his Coronation Robes by Friedrich von Amerling (1832)

Lyric: "Don't talk about style cause I'll embarrass you"

True story. You don't want that problem with the Louis Vuitton Don.

art via

"I made Jesus Walks, I'm never going to hell"

Not Available Interstitial

"Otis" Meets Le Christ marchant sur la mer by Charles François Jalabert (1866)

Lyric: "I made Jesus Walks, I'm never going to hell"

art via

"Everybody knows I'm a muthaf***in' monster"

Not Available Interstitial

"Monster" Meets A Fabulous Beast (Fragment of a Tapestry) by Unknown (1420-1430)

Lyric: "Everybody knows I'm a muthaf***in' monster"

Described as being part horse and part lion, this thing definitely qualifies as being monstrous.

art via

"Did Moses not part the water with the cane?"

Not Available Interstitial

"New God Flow" Meets Prayer of Moses after the Israelites go through the Red Sea by Ivan Kramskoy (1861)

Lyric: "Did Moses not part the water with the cane? Did strippers not make an ark when I made it rain?"

Only Kanye could mention Moses and strippers in the same breath.

art via

"Can't a young n***a get money anymore?"

Not Available Interstitial

"Cold" Meets The Misers by Follower of Marinus van Reymerswaele (1548-51)

Lyric: "Can't a young n***a get money anymore?"

Kanye ain't a miser, but he definitely counts stacks.

art via

Latest in Style