My Introduction and Views of Kanye West
Despite the manic episodes, the nonsensical tweets, and the controversy, I can strongly say Kanye West is one of my favorite musicians from the past two decades, (despite not really liking him as a person). I feel Kanye is one of the few artists who have redefined themselves and reinvented their sound with each project.
From the narcissistic material and loud, distorted sounds of his 6th studio album, Yeezus, to the melancholy, synth heavy atmopshere of 808's and Heartbreaks, all his projects are unique in their own way. Every album he has put out feels inspired and well done, aside from his past two single projects (Ye and his gospel album).
(Laws 2008)
My introduction to Kanye was through my cousin, John Rytlewski who is currently 20 (the same person who got me into Tyler, the Creator and Thundercat). I vividly rember being not much older than 7 or 8 and him putting on Stronger by Kanye West off of his Graduation album. I remeber listening to it on the L.A. beach, I remeber the Daft Punk sample. I esepecially remeber liking it. However, as I was too young to buy records or listen to 'explicit' music, this memory became an afterthought that I would only recall much later in my life. This was my first expeirence with Kanye's music. My next few still came from my family. In fact that same cousins mother, my ant who I call Tía Debra, listened to Kanye. I have sparse memories of hearing some of his songs at her house or talking about him when her children, (my cousins) who were much older than me. All of these interactions didn't instatntly make me enjoy his music, but I am guessing it helped. Finally my most recent confrontation with his music, which of course comes from my family, was when I found out my mother listens to a few songs off of his 808's and Heartbreaks album. Although this happened some time after I started listening to him, it made me laugh a little.
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by George Condo
Setting the Stage for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
The date is September 13, 2009 and the VMA's proceed normally as a bottle of Hennessy whiskey gets a little too comfortable in producer and hip hop artist Kanye West's hands. Over the past two years a combination of his Mother dying, his fiance calling their wedding, his fourth studio album flopping (it wouldn't be recognized for another 6 to 8 years), and probably the early stages of onset bipolar disorder, broke Kanye,
persuading him to make one of the most controversial and down right stupid decisions in the history of the music industry (closely followed by every other controversy Kanye has done). Or, maybe (probably) Kanye really is it that arrogant. As Taylor Swift, at the time an up and coming pop artist, was giving her speech for winning
(Decrow 2009)
best music video of the year, Kanye decided to take the mic and...well I think we all know how this ends.
Personally, despite the clear negativity of Kanye's actions, there is a silver lining. I enjoy watching Taylor Swift and Kanye fans argue. I find it funny that they would waste their time defending people they don't even know. But, more importantly, is the music that came from this altercation. In particular one of my favorite albums, and what Rolling Stones ranks as their best album of the decade is Kanye's Magnum Opus, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (Dolan 2020).
Written between 2009 and late 2010 with songs which took up to 5000 hours to write and produce, this album proved Kanye's worth as a musician and as a human at a time when he needed it most. Although many are harsh on the album for it's lengthy treks and a few questionable lyrics, most can agree it has an extremely important position and effect in Kanye's discography. Personally the highlight and appeal of the album to me comes in the production, which is maxamilist to say the least.
Of this album's 14 treks the one that shines the most and is my second (depending on the day you asked me, my third) favorite Kanye song ever, is Runaway, which is a nine minute reflection, of who he is as a person and his relationships. I think alone the trek is still very strong, but it really feel so much more complete in context of everything which happened at the time the song was written. The song is almost like an indirect apology for the Taylor Swift controversy and the controversies of Kanye's past.
Song Lyrics
Warning! Explicit lyrics
(The bolded lyrics are important and some repeats of stanzas are removed due to redundancy)
[Pre-Chorus: Kanye West]
[Chorus: Kanye West]
[Verse 1: Kanye West]
[Pre-Chorus: Kanye West]
[Bridge: Kanye West &Rick James]
24/7, 365, pussy stays on my mind
You can't blame 'em, they ain't never seen Versace sofas (Winter 2010)
[Verse 3: Kanye West]
[Pre-Chorus: Kanye West]
[Chorus: Kanye West]
[Outro: Kanye West]
(Kanye West 2010)
Song Analysis Pt. 1
The song starts with a single piano note, E, being played every few seconds. Then on the 16th note, another E is played a however this one is an octave down. After that it goes up an octave to a D sharp (E flat) for three notes, until it goes down again for another D sharp but again, an octave lower. It repeats this pattern with a C sharp until it goes down to an A which is followed by a G sharp and concluded with the first note, a high E. This is the main riff of the song and the melody. It is extremely simple with only a total of 6 notes, yet achieves its intention. It is grand, recognizable, and has a tint of sadness. The simplicity I think helps to let the other instruments shine, however this simplicity doesn't mean the melody is lac-luster.
The drums in the song are sampled from a song called Expo '83 by The Backyard Heavies, the "Look at ya" lyrics were sampled from Rick James' Mary Jane, and the Ladies and Gentleman voices sprinkled throughout the song were sampled from James Brown, Introduction to Star Time! Now that the musical content is out of the way I think it is time to analyze the lyrical content.
Song Analysis Pt. 2
The song is full of literary devices, entendres, and hidden meaning. The sample voices in the intro "Look at ya" even has meaning. This sample, like many of Kanye's samples are deliberately picked. The vocals could be referencing his past controversies and life almost telling him to look at himself or reflect on himself. Similair to look at what you have become.
The pre-chorus and chorus build off of the themes presented in the introduction. It starts with a very pessimistic line reading, "And I always find..,I always find something wrong." The next lines highlight his constant pessimism and "talent" for nit-picking. These lyrics serve as a double entendre both in relation to his work and workaholic attitude, but also in relation too, at the time, his current fiancé, Amber Rose, who left him shortly before the release of this album. The chorus directly follows the pre chorus and responds to his comments. He narrates a toast to himself (a clever way of showing his narcissism). He toasts to douchebags, scumbags, "and the jerk-offs That'll never take work off." Not only is his pessimism and jerk like tendencies highlighted from the pre-chorus, but his workaholic attitude is further explained. The final lines are suggesting that his romantic interest should leave him, or more specifically run away, do to a mixture of all the previous reasons he presented. The chorus is repeated multiple times in the song to recap the listener, reinstate his point, and exclaim to his fiancé that she should leave after more reasons are presented.
The first Verse is nothing special. It resally justs adds onto the points presented in the before sections of the song. It is essentially a generic rap verse. I would say it is even my least favorite part of the song. However, the ending lines of the verse I think help establish what is going on in Kanye's head. Additionally the bridge just builds off of the Chorus and pre-chorus.
I think verse 2, which is written by Pusha-T is particularly good.
(Vanity 2018)
In short, I really like Pusha's verse because of how much of an exaggeration it is on who Kanye is as a person. I like the excerpt from the video on how Kanye kept on asking Pusha-T to put more emphasis on being a "douchebag" in his verse (Vanity 2018).
The third and final verse is really a conclusion to all the themes presented in the song and leaves the listener with an ending, although a somewhat obscure one. In this verse he again admits to his flaws, but instead of telling the person to leave he narrates that he doesn't know if he will manage if they leave him. His statement is directly followed by the pre-chorus and chorus.
The rest of the song is followed by a distorted repeat of some of the lyrics, which are for the most part inaudible. My best guess is the disortion serves as a representation of the arrogance and narcissism of Kanye. They both are vial and somewhat unpleasant at times. As an outro it helps really solidify the entire song and let the instrumentals shine, with now a violin backing it.
Conclusion
The song, after each part is dissected, is simple. It relates to the egotistical and arrognat side of Kanye within his relationships. It narrates the strain he puts his partner under, through his reflection about it. He begins to push the person away and tell them to dissasociate themselves with him. He adds on how he is unassure if he can manage without them. But, in the end it always comes back to pushing them away and advising his lover to runaway. I guess she took the advise? In all seriousness, the song establishes some important parts of Kanye that now define him. Aside from the blatant characteristics of his personality, we see his unsureness in his mental health and his tendency to be inconsistent. We see his emotions control him and his inability to change. Most importantly, we his darker thoughts and tendencies start to appear which really come out in his later projects. Overall I really enjoy this trek. I love the instruments and production. I enjoy most of the vocals and lyrics. I feel the samples and features are very well done and don't overtake the song. However, I feel the song is a little redunadant at times and is too long. For a 9 minute trek, it stays very homogenous throughout the run time, with the most noticeable change being the distorted lyrics. On the topic of the distorted section, I felt it could have been done shorter. I would be just as content with a 6 or 7 minute trek. Despite the flaws, I still love the trek and see it as a highlight of Kanye's rather polarizing career.
Citations
Condo, George. “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.” Discogs, 2010, www.discogs.com/Kanye-
West-My-Beautiful-Dark-Twisted-Fantasy/release/10514075.
Decrow, Jason. “ Singer Kanye West Takes the Microphone from Singer Taylor Swift as She
Accepts the ‘Best Female Video’ Award during the MTV Video Music Awards on in New York
MTV Video Music Awards Show.” Rolling Stones, 13 Sept. 2009,
taylor-swifts-speech-83468/.
Dolan, Jon. “The 100 Best Albums of the 2010s.” Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 3 Jan. 2020,
my-beautiful-dark-twisted-fantasy-album-917419/.
“Kanye West (Ft. Pusha T) – Runaway.” Genius, Genius, 4 Oct. 2010, genius.com/Kanye-west-
runaway-lyrics.
Laws, Angel. “Kanye West in the Studio.” Medium, 15 Oct. 2008, medium.com/micro-chop/kanye-
carried-the-beats-for-the-college-dropout-in-a-louis-vuitton-bag-6387c2f654c0.
The Most Unruly, director. Kanye West: The Making of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
Youtube.com, 3 Feb. 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=83yQY1H5KGE.
Vanity Fair, director. Pusha-T Responds to Interpretations of His Lyrics on Genius.com.
Youtube.com, 6 June 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=l71-9b5VDRg.
Winter, Kevin. “Kanye West Performs Onstage during the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards at NOKIA
Theatre L.A. LIVE on September 12, 2010 in Los Angeles, California.” GQ, Getty Images, 12
Sept. 2010, www.gq.com/story/beautiful-dark-twisted-fantasy-5-years-later.
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