About

"I'm God" is a hip-hop instrumental by New Jersey producer Clams Casino. Released originally as part of Lil B's 2009 project 6 Kiss, it would garner significant attention online after its release on Clams Casino's second self-released instrumentals mixtape. In 2020, the instrumental would be officially released on digital storefronts and streaming services. The song has become a cult hit among mourners online after the song became associated with two suicides, one confirmed and one rumored.

History

"I'm God" was produced by Michael Volpe, better known by his stage name Clams Casino, and given to rapper Lil B to be a part of his first studio album 6 Kiss, released on December 22nd, 2009 (music video shown below, left). Utilizing cut-up vocals sampled from Imogen Heap's 2005 song "Just for Now"^[1] (shown below, right), it was later released for free by Clams Casino on June 4th, 2012 as a part of his second instrumentals mixtape^[2], which comprised of instrumentals and productions for other artists, following an unofficial release in 2011.

On July 9th, 2011, a fanmade music video for the song, using footage from the 1989 film Perdues dans New York, was uploaded by AceDaCreator to Youtube (shown below), where, in slightly over 9 years, it would garner over 25 million views. Due to the music video's popularity, its imagery would become associated with the song for the following years. In addition to other unofficial uploads of the song, it's estimated that it currently has over 75 million streams total.^[3]

On April 24th, 2020, the song was remastered and released to digital storefronts and streaming services for the first time as a single and as part of Clams Casino's Instrumental Relics compilation after clearing the Imogen Heap sample used throughout the song.^[4]

Spread

On October 26th, 2014, 17 year-old William Derrick Watts of Hamtramck, Michigan committed suicide by jumping off the MacArthur Bridge in Detroit.^[5] In the weeks prior to his suicide, he posted a number of pictures with captions that would allude to his final actions on his Instagram @djkillbill313, including a reference to the song (shown below).

On July 23rd, 2015, a 4chan user going under the pseudonym David Higgs posted a greentext story to the /b/ imageboard detailing a failed relationship he had with an ex-girlfriend that had cheated on him named Julie, and how the song played a large part in that relationship, before ending with his suicide from a drug overdose and vodka.^[6] Despite the unconfirmed claims to its validity, the story of David would later come to notoriety, eventually resulting in the phrase "RIP David Higgs" on a number of uploads of the song. A slideshow of the thread uploaded to Youtube has garnered over 49,000 views (shown below, left) while another unofficial music video for the song recreating Higgs' story has tallied up over 28,000 views (shown below, right).

Due to the stories of William and David, AceDaCreator, the original uploader of the unofficial music video changed its title to add "R.I.P David Higgs & @djkillbill313". In addition, the comments section has become noted for becoming a way for others to pay respects to the deceased, with Vice UK writing:

"The comments section of one fan-made video for "I'm God" became a place to mourn lost loved ones. Uploaded by AceDaCreator to YouTube a few months after the song's release, it's a montage of scenes from an obscure 1989 French made-for-television film, Perdue Dans New York. […] Scroll through the comments section and it's a graveyard of memories: YouTube users come to the video to remember their lost ones or to mark the anniversary of a loved one's death."^[7]

Search Interest

External References