‘Champion’ by Kanye West

How people perceive you, that comes from yourself.

“This album came out my freshman year of high school, Fall 07. I went to a school basketball game and the song played as the team was coming out. I was like ‘holy shit, this is like amazing, this is great.’ It’s a lively song. They won that game. I’m all about positivity. That’s kinda why I work in what I work in — helping people and telling people ‘you can do better. I know things are going bad for you but there’s always a positive side and you can beat any challenge. You can be a champion’… How people perceive you, that comes from yourself. You give out confidence, the image that you want to portray, and that’s how people are going to perceive you, most of the time.”

You don’t see just how wild the crowd is/ You don’t see just how fly my style is/ I don’t see why I need a stylist/ When I shop so much I can speak Italian

Champion — Kanye West

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Song Story Series is an exploration of the ways in which music and life cross paths. Documenting experiences, one song at a time.

Curated by Jasmine Gomez