Songfacts®:

• On Ye, Kanye West reveals that he's bipolar and his lyrics reference that condition throughout the album. During this song, West looks at being bipolar as a superhero trait.
  
  That's my bipolar s--t, n-gga what
  That's my superpower, n-gga ain't no disability
  I'm a superhero!
  I'm a superhero!
  
  During a 10-minute chat with radio personality Big Boy in June 2018, West talked candidly about his "mental condition," stating that he wasn't diagnosed until he was 39 years old. (Yeezy was born June 8, 1977). He added: "I think everybody's got something. I think everybody got something, but like I said, on the album, I said, that it's not a disability, that it's a superpower."
• During a May 2018 TMZ interview, West revealed that he became addicted to opioids when they were prescribed to him after he got liposuction. The addiction contributed to his nervous breakdown in 2016 and his drug intake increased after his hospitalization to treat the condition. On "Yikes," Yeezy raps about his opioid addiction and the battles that come with it.
  
  S--t could get menacin', frightenin', find help
  Sometimes I scare myself, myself
  
  Yeezy's prescription drugs addiction resulted in menacing side effects and he was often scared of himself.
• At one point, co-founder of Def Jam Recordings Russell Simmons, a former drug addict himself, expressed his concerns, saying "Kanye is suffering, he is unraveling in public. Time for intervention." Here, West responds to Simmons concerns:
  
  Russell Simmons wanna pray for me too
  I'ma pray for him 'cause he got #MeToo'd
  Thinkin' what if that happened to me too
  Then I'm on E! News
  
  West references the sexual assault allegations against Simmons as the #MeToo movement gained strength.
• "Yikes" borrows the bassline from Kothbiro's 1976 track "Black Savage" and also interpolates some of its lyrics.
• The song was originally titled "Exctacy,", which would have fit in with its drug addiction/bipolar theme.
• Drake penned the song's hook and the Toronto MC also wrote an entire verse that didn't make the final Ye album. Kanye spoke about their creative process to The New York Times, saying "It's incredible how we just sit there and just think and rethink and rewrite and rewrite and rewrite. We're not pulling off a magic trick here. We're like Tesla, we're not The Prestige."