Some Initial Thoughts on “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”
So, I need to spend some more time with Kanye West’s new album, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.” You can count on some more developed posts about it; those are on the slate for winter break. However, I thought I’d put a few initial observations into circulation.
Imma use a claptrack, too:
So, “Power,” the first single Yeezy releases after the infamous “Imma let you finish” incident echoes the very song that Kanye thought should have won Taylor Swift’s VMA. As I have argued before on this blog, Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” is basically a claptrack with sound effects and vocals. “Power” begins similarly with a claptrack; Ye emphasizes this in the remix, where his verse begins “Now when I walk in, everybody do the Power clap,” and the refrain through this section is “clap, clap, clap.” So, the question is: is Kanye making a direct reference to “Single Ladies” here?
Two more things to note about this “Power” remix: (1) oh, SNAP! So, there’s the obvious sampling of Snap’s “I Got the Power”…I guess it’s not surprising that a kid who grew up in Chicago in the 90s is gonna turn to some house music…however, it’s interesting that he uses a Belgian group…(2) “Norman Mailer shit”–Mailer’s (in)famous essay “The White Negro” is one of the most well-known treatises on white appropriations of black music, and often cited in discussions of white hipness. I wonder if this is further evidence of a turn to what I’ve called “postmillenial black hipness” (i.e., black artists appropriating white appropriations of black culture)?
Kanye West, Feminist?:
Both “Monster” and “Runaway” seem to argue that patriarchy is really damaging to women, and normatively “macho” d00ds are total assholes to women. This is most clear in Kanye’s solo at the piano in “Runaway,” about 13:45 into the video. Here, he proposes “let’s have a toast for the duchebags, let’s have a toast for the assholes,” etc., and in response he suggests “baby runaway fast as you can…You’ve been putting up with my shit way too long.” So, men are rewarded for treating women like shit, and women ought best to get the hell out while they can. This sentiment is echoed in “Monster,” where West repeatedly claims “Everybody know I’m a motherfuckin monster.” Then, in the scene immediately following the performance, West’s Phoenix (i.e., avian) girlfriend is served roasted poultry for dinner. She responds with disgust and abject revulsion. Perhaps the idea here is that patriarchy gets women to buy into/eat up their own oppression? Here’s the video–I suggest you start at 13:45:
Now, I’m not suggesting that West is intentionally or “fully” feminist…but I do think there is some evidence of an awareness in the way that patriarchal gender roles harm both women and men.
While I’m not sure if West can be considered a feminist I agree with your analysis but you hardly mentioned the phoenix. I’ve been wondering why he chose a phoenix since I watched this video, so here’s my try.
Since a phoenix has the ability to burn and regenerate West could be portraying the way women historically were forced to constantly heal from the oppression of the patriarchy. The phoenix has the evolved the ultimate defense against abuse by being able to burn, die, and be reborn. After “Runaway” West then tells her “I’ll never let you burn” which could be taken as Patriarchy attempting to control the phoenix’s/woman’s nature/body. He is ultimately unable to control her because it is in her nature to burn. Since she will always burn, he could be saying Patriarchy’s attempt to control a woman’s nature will always fail. There is also some triumphant power in the image of the phoenix which he seems to be linking to women. The phoenix/woman in this video has the ability to heal from even death and so him telling her to run away seems egotistical. Even though she is outcast by his family/friends at the dinner she is a far more powerful figure than anyone else in the video. This image of the man acting as though he had all the power but ultimately being powerless to control the woman reminds me of gaga’s videos such as paparazzi and telephone.
Thanks for the comments, Javan. I haven’t looked carefully enough at the entire album to really give completely substantive comments about the Phoenix, but here are some thoughts re: your comments:
I generally agree, but I would not say that patriarchy controls “a woman’s nature” so much as posits a “nature” that is supposed to be “woman”/”feminine.” I don’t think that women have a nature as such; I tend to follow Beauvoir’s claim that “woman” is a position in relation to–in this case, patriarchal–power.
I do agree that West may be finding something in women’s–perhaps especially black women’s–ability to “burn and return”. Black feminists often talk about the various strategies black women have developed for existing in, persisting through, and resisting oppression; the phoenix may be a good figure for this. I also agree that the “runaway” claim is ultimately self-serving (“oh, woe is me, I’m such a jerk”) than other-oriented.
Yeah, I guess I didn’t really mean to say there was a “nature” of women but that the scene seems to be him refusing to accept her doing what she must do. In the case of the phoenix there seems to be a sort of essential quality in that she must burn. I don’t think real people necessarily have an essence. I’m trying to work my way through Sartre right now and it reminds me of the existence before essence argument. I like your blog though and read all your posts especially the ones concerning popular music like West and Gaga.
Thanks, Javan, again for your comments and compliments. And count me on team Sartre (as opposed to team Heidegger). 😉
if kanye is such a gawd damn genius why does he ‘ave to fooking sample so much?