The melody of “Cudi Montage” is built around the grimy guitar riff from Kurt Cobain’s “Burn the Rain,” a track from the deceased Nirvana frontman’s Montage of Heck – a posthumous compilation of home recordings released in 2015, hence the title of this track.

Kanye uses it to describe the cycle of violence created by a gang mentality, the far reaching damage it causes, and that being freed from the loop requires a higher power.