My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy: Part 4, Continued
In the previous post I left off about halfway through “All of the Lights”. As confusing as that probably was for you, lets jump back in.
We left off in our story/song when our character in the song was having flashbacks of the “lights”. Well now in the song reality is hitting our young man.
Restraining order, can’t see my daughter
Her mother, brother, grandmother hate me in that order
Public visitation, we met at Borders
Told her she take me back, I’ll be more supportive
I made mistakes, I bumped my head
Courts sucked me dry, I spent that bread
She need her daddy, baby please
Can’t let her grow up in that ghetto university
Pay attention to the 4–5 line, it is extremely important. Remember, in the story of the man, he is out of prison after he served his time. In Genius, a lyric website, they pointed out something amazing. They said that once a criminal gets out of prison, in the American Legal System, things should be settled, as that criminal had already paid their dept. Well as Genius points out, that is not how it works. This legal system leaves our man in the story emotionally crushed. He just wants his normal life back and pleads to his girlfriend that he “made mistakes” and “bumped” his head. He is trying very hard to prove that he has changed and his “small mistakes” “have made him a better person” (Genius).
Genius, also makes an argument on how this relates to Kanye’s life. Since the MTV incident with Taylor Swift, it has been hard for Kanye to come back into the eye of the public. As Genius puts it, “Kanye knows that he can return to the music world, but he will forever be associated with the mistakes he’s made in the public eye”. With the man, he will always be remembered for his mistakes and the wrongs he committed to his girlfriend.
The last two lines are also important. They show that the man really cares about his daughter. He doesn’t want her to go through the same situation, which is why he wants to take care of her. Thats why Kanye doesn’t want the daughter to “grow up in that ghetto university”.
After this part the climax of the song comes into play, and Kid Cudi nails it.
The man is realizing how he will be excepted back into the world. It isn’t sulking on what they did, it’s not caring on what others think. By now you should know that the man is really Kanye. Kanye was struggling with the opinion of the public about him. But you know what? You just got to learn to not give two craps of what others think of you because you control your life, you can change, for the greater or worse, it is whatever you make it. Because in reality, you shouldn’t care what others think if your being your true self. Kanye realizes this also. He knows that he would be remembered negatively for the Taylor Swift incident. He learned that life happens and the only way he can change is continue to make amazing music.
This leads into my narrative which I will be writing in my next post.
