Although Playboi Carti is known for his shape-shifting voice, the opening vocals on his Whole Lotta Red song, “F33l Lik3 Dyin,” don’t belong to him. Instead, they’re taken from Bon Iver’s 2019 song, “iMi,” with both Justin Vernon and his longtime friend and collaborator Mike Noyce lending a hand. It’s produced by Jay Kreased, Roark Bailey, and Richie Souf.
Noyce’s voice is the first thing fans hear on the record, with him singing:
All my life
Ini was
Ooh, mine was a lover of a wrong kind (Boy)
Keeping what you telling me
I know mine
Vernon’s vocals pop up on the song’s second and fourth verses interspersed with Carti:
(On a bright fall morning)
I done met different type of girls, yeah (Stood a little while within it)
(Man, you have to know)
I’ve done been all across the world
Now’s the time to show ‘em what I learned
Bon Iver is no stranger to hip-hop; Justin Vernon works extensively with Kanye West, and also collaborated with artists like Eminem, Kid Cudi, and Chance the Rapper. The song Carti samples, “iMi,” served as the fifth single from Bon Iver’s 2019 album, i,i.
Vernon previously told The New York Times how the song came together over the course of several years and multiple collaborators:
Read all the lyrics to Playboi Carti’s “F33l Lik3 Dyin” and Bon Iver’s “iMi” on Genius now.
