"Ego Tripping Out" is a 1979 funk

Funk

Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...

-styled dance record released by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 soul

Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

 singer Marvin Gaye

Marvin Gaye

Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....

, released as a single on the Tamla (Motown) label.

The song, written, composed, arranged and produced by Gaye himself, was a self-mockery of the singer's image and lifestyle. Providing a semi-rap at the beginning of the song where he sung "I got the baddest cool/could never be the fool/the ladies wait to get down with me", he later talks about the downside of being in the spotlight as he sung about his crippling drug abuse: "cause the toot

Cocaine

Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...

 and the smoke won't fulfill the need".

The song, while not making it to the Billboard Hot 100, still made the R&B charts, peaking at #17. It would be Marvin's last Top 40 Billboard single at least on the R&B singles chart until 1981's "Praise

Praise (song)

"Praise" is a 1981 gospel-inspired funk number released by American soul singer Marvin Gaye. The song, written by Gaye, is a tribute to not only his church upbringing but also to the sound of then-label mate Stevie Wonder, who is given a shout out on the song by Gaye.The song, equipped with horns,...

".

Personnel

• All vocals by Marvin Gaye
  Marvin Gaye
  Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
  
  
• Instrumentation by assorted musicians:
  • Guitars by Gordon Banks
    Gordon Banks (musician)
    Gordon Banks , aka Gordon 'Guitar' Banks, is an American guitarist, producer, writer and musical director. He was voted one of the top 100 guitarists in America in 1985.Banks played an important part in Marvin Gaye's later years...
    
    
  • Drums, piano, keyboard and synthesizers by Marvin Gaye
  • Saxophones by assorted musicians
  • Bass by Frank Blair

• ¹ Single was later included in a 1994 re-release of In Our Lifetime and a 2007 re-release deluxe edition featured different alternate mixes for the sessions of In Our Lifetime as well as the original Love Man single of it.