Wake Up Mr. West
The United States faces a multitude of issues. This country is far from perfect and we must all stand together and work towards a brighter tomorrow. Especially in America, many of these issues tend to be endorsed by celebrities. Musicians have the best ability to spread word and endorse messages. Music has the power to reach an enormous audience. Nobody does this better than Kanye West. Kanye is one of the most influential people in music, let alone the world, today. His voice stretches an audience around the world, using his platform to address issues he finds to be important. His music preaches these issues, giving the audience to join along side Kanye in hopes of change. Kanye West uses his musical and lyrical artistry to help draw attention to problems facing the African American community in modern America in his song “New Slaves”. He implements anecdotes and euphemisms in his lyrics to spread his message to his audience while his music includes melodies and harmonies that reflect his feelings and make the texture more complex.
Over the past year or two, Kanye West have made it a point to help free convicted people on minor charges. Kanye has brought to attention the actions of the DEA and CCA, calling them out for corrupt practices. “New Slaves” addresses this issue, where Kanye raps about the two associations “teaming up” to fill private prisons with young black people. The musical artistry in itself, sees Kanye deliver this message. The aggressive drums form a very aggravated and in your face tone. Every beat riles up the listener helping Kanye sway his resistant behavior onto them. The timbre of the song changes throughout. In the beginning of the song, we hear only one drum during this melodic phrase. As the song progresses more instruments are introduced, leading to a more complex texture. Certain instruments fade in and out while he raps, keeping the listener’s focus at all times. The power of these changes in texture show Kanye’s resistance in the cause. His constant change in timbre and texture help support these claims towards resistance. The upbeat happy melody of the outro even represents Kanye’s actions towards resistance. Today we are seeing the lighter side of the dark turmoil. More and more people are being freed due to the actions of Kanye and others, thanks to his resistance towards the system. Kanye tells us he won’t change, as the synths crash and the harmony begins to rise. The thunderous clap of the song while Kanye reminds us that he stays true to self, shows artistry in his character (Cullen). This new melody of the outro shows his artistry in his desire for change. The complete shift in melody and harmony tells us he will resist and he will prosper. It gives Kanye the freedom to make songs on topics of his choosing. This allows him to spread messages to a massive audience. Songs such as “New Slaves” give him the opportunity to shed light on topics many people, especially white people, had no idea about before. The incorporations of the samples give the song more character, as all of the samples help reflect the mood of the song. He manages to sample from a variety of genres as well, to help explain how these issues are more than just a problem in rap, or the black community. It is very clear to see that Kanye will continue to spread messages to his audience. The power he possesses is unlike no other. Kanye is truly resistant in his music. He is one of the greatest producers to ever live and the use of these musical traits certainly help express his resistance. Not only does his musical traits endorse his resistance, but so do his lyrical devices.
The song brings to light topics that at the time were still very controversial. The lyrics helped spark more public debate while the issue received more attention. The idea of ‘new slaves’ from Kanye was a trailblazer in the sense for these actions to stop. Kanye has a repeated phrase throughout his music, “Wake up Mr. West”. The phrase alone may not much, as it tries to build hype to the song. However, the rest of Kanye’s lyrics remind us it’s time to wake up and face the reality of this social injustice. Kanye West manages to use lyrical artistry throughout “New Slaves”. I have stated before that Kanye has made the song to represent how black people are treated in America today, aka New Slaves. Kanye has notoriously pushed the boundary, rapping about topics frequently avoided in hip hop (Woods). Kanye begins by using an elided double mosaic rhyme with era when and fairer skin. He is giving the listener an anecdote on what people in his life experienced living in “equal” America. This helps set the background of what the song is about, a great use of artistry. He follows it up rapping about his career as a fashion designer, saying how people in the industry want him to do everything himself. Again, speaking on personal experience. He raps “Doing clothes you would have thought I had help But they wasn’t satisfied unless I picked the cotton myself” hinting at a bit of racism in the field of work, a dark euphemism connecting past and present America. He follows this up through metaphors on how everyone can be a slave to materialistic goods in today’s society. He uses identical, slant, and single end rhymes here to show that black people may be slaves to something new today, yet everyone can fall in this category. “You see it’s broke n***a racism That’s that “Don’t touch anything in the store And this rich n***a racism That’s that ‘Come in, please buy more What you want, a Bentley? Fur coat? A diamond chain? All you blacks want all the same things’ Used to only be n***a now everybody playing Spending everything on Alexander Wang New Slaves”. Kanye then follows up his claims telling the listener where he falls in these categories. The bridge brings very suggestive and sexual artistry, with a metaphor to none other than a penis. Kanye uses double end rhymes here with follower and swallower. The words used in the song are literally referring to oral sex but Kanye uses that as a metaphor towards not silencing himself and standing out among the materialistic crowd. Most of the second verse follows the same rhyme pattern. Kanye uses half double slant end rhymes to tell listeners how he truly feels and what he sees. Kanye alludes to the lynching of black people by repeating the same line three times “I see the blood on the leaves”. A dark euphemism but one that sadly happened in American history. Kanye continues with the same rhymes for the rest of the verse and continues with the metaphors. He says he’s going Bobby Boucher on corporations for trying to control consumers, a direct allusion and metaphor to an Adam Sandler movie. It is a unique use of pop culture to relate to listeners while getting the message across. He even hints at the media trying to derail consumers into falling victim through the “New World Order” or the Illuminati. During the switch up of the outro, Kanye repeats the phrase “I can’t lose” reminding us that he will win in this conflict, which he is currently winning in the present day (Trickey). Once again, Kanye offers another allusion and metaphor in the same line. It is quite hidden but still a fantastic use of artistry yet again by Ye. Clearly, Yeezy offers plenty of lyrical artistry to make this song a living piece of art.
In conclusion, Kanye West’s musical and lyrical artistry help give such a platform to social issues. His lyrics give listeners the chance to learn and help evoke change on problems facing the social structure of America today. His music helps build mood and creates a texture that expresses such powerful musical artistry. Modern rappers looking to use their voice as a platform should look to Kanye for inspiration. His work over his musical career has inspired many and continues to do so. So it is about time we “Wake up Mr. West”.
Citations:
Cullen, Shaun. “The Innocent and the Runaway: Kanye West, Taylor Swift, and the Cultural Politics of Racial Melodrama.” Journal of Popular Music Studies (Wiley-Blackwell). Academic Search Complete, Accessed 27 Oct. 2019.
Trickey, Erick, et al. Contemporary Musicians (Vol. 80. ). Edited by Tracie Ratiner, Gale, 2015. Gale Virtual Reference Library, Accessed 20 Oct. 2019.
Woods, Alyssa. “West, Kanye (Omari).” Grove Music Online, 20 Jan. 2016. Grove Music Online, Accessed 3 Nov. 2019.
