A Lyrical Analysis of Kanye’s Downfall

 

Hello, welcome to my last post on the blog! 

A Lyrical Analysis of Kanye’s Downfall

Originally, after seeing the blog posts about Graduation and My Beautiful Dark and Twisted Fantasy (MBDTF) by Gavin and Madden, I was planning on analyzing the Life of Pablo, but after seeing more of what Ye did, I thought I would lyrically analyze his albums, connecting the decline of his mental state and his musical performaces. If you need a reminder, Ye West (formerly Kanye) has: taken very problematic political stances, posted much on X (formerly Twitter), sold merchancdise with obscenities, defended bad historical figures and groups, gotten addicted to nitrous oxide, etc. But, how did he get here, and should you “separate the art from the artist”? To answer these questions, I will analyze his upcoming in The College Dropout, his “peak” in Graduation, and MBDTF and one of his newer albums, Vultures 2.

First, we need to start with Ye’s rise to fame, his first breakthrough came from the album The College Dropout. He came from humble beginnings, having impressed Roc-A-Fella Records with his work with Jay-Z. Many tracks on this record are amazing. He strays away from the normal rap of the time and focuses on major societal issues. For example, in “All Falls Down,” he discusses the problems of materialism:

That major that she majored in don’t make no money / But she won't drop out, her parents'll look at her funny… Cause that's enough money / To buy her a few pairs of new Airs (it all falls down) / 'Cause her baby daddy don't really care (I'm telling you all) / She's so precious with the peer pressure / Couldn't afford a car, so she named her daughter, "Alexus" (oh, when it all)

First, he mentions the construct, where “she” needs to go to college and pursue her degree, even though she does not know what to do. He discusses the societal structure and the value that we put on money and possessions, which sometimes outweighs what truly matters. The intro of “Jesus Walks,” states that we are at war with racism, terrorism, and ourselves. In the chorus, he discusses how he wants Jesus because the devil is trying to “break me down.” In the rest of the song, he talks about his struggles with finding Jesus, while also providing examples of where Jesus walks with sinners. He also mentions religion being a topic that was taboo in the music industry as “They say you can rap about anything except for Jesus.” This album was released with great production and got a great reception from the world, and helped get Ye on the map.

Next, in what many consider the golden years of Ye, he released 2 albums, Graduation, then MBDTF. The focus of  Graduation is discussing the problems that come with his newfound fame and wealth. In “Flashing Lights,” similarly to in All Falls Down, Ye expresses his turmoil about materialism, though he now has it to a more extreme extent with his fame. “She don’t believe in shooting stars / But she believes in shoes and cars… I’m more of the trips to Florida / Order the hors d'oeuvres, views of the water / Straight from a page of your favorite author.” Here, he is talking about the struggles of finding someone who truly loves him instead of material things. “She” is looking for material things, while Ye wanted experiences and to live life. The chorus of the songs is comprised of the words “flashing” and  “lights.” The chorus reflects the new fame that he had acquired and struggles with. “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” is another song from Graduation, still focusing on his fame. He starts strongly with “I had a dream I could buy my way to Heaven / When I awoke, I spent that on a necklace.” The chorus also takes this very strong attitude and energy that no one can tell him what to do. But, in this song, there is a mix as he talks about his struggle as “To whom much is given, much is tested,” meaning that he is tested by his fame and money every day, either referring to being tested because of being in the public eye or being tested by God. But, this song still maintains the energy of the opening verse and chorus as “This is my life,” meaning he does not like people telling him what to do.

He struggled with fame because between Graduation and MBDTF, he had his infamous moment with Taylor Swift, putting him in a bad public eye. Ye made MBDTF as his return album to get him back into good standing. He was very focused during the creation of this album, making it on an island in Hawaii while he had essentially been exiling himself. “Power” on this album can sound like an upbeat and powerful song, but it also reflects more of the struggle that he deals with. The line “I just needed time alone with my own thoughts / Got treasures in my mind but couldn’t open up my own vault,” reflects how he needed time by himself without the distraction of all the power he has. Next, he further analyzes the effect that the power had on him as “My childlike creativity, purity, and honesty / is honestly being crowded by these grown thoughts.” This reflects on his line from “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” where he is tested more from his power.

Lastly, I will listented to and will be analyzing 2 songs from Vultures 2, a sequel released in 2024. First, in “Fried,” Ye has many lines that are about him lusting over women as well as threatening his enemies as he “Pray on our enemies when we dine.” When I listened to this song, Ye’s voice sounded almost unrecognizable. The lyrics also sounded unlike “the Old Kanye,” where I felt the many meanings in each line. A song that felt a little more familiar on this album was “My Soul.” On this ending track, Ye’s voice sounds much more similar. In the lines “Cancel culture, before I get censored,” and “only God can judge me,” Ye was discussing the topic of people censoring their opinions, saying that humans have no power to judge other humans. On this song, he also discusses discrimination issues as he says, “We mass targeted, mass marketed.” On “My Soul,” the issues discussed are similar to issues discussed in previous albums, however, the way he presents them sounds more “out of touch.”

So what? I believe that as Ye got more famous and powerful, he got more and more out of touch. His mental state has been crazy, and he has done unacceptable actions, especially while being in a position that many people look up to. In some of his new songs, he sounds unrecognizable from the Kanye that came from humble beginnings. He has always been challenging the norm. Sometimes in his new songs, he sounded similar to his old tracks, however, he presents the topics less relatably and, in my opinion, less musically. It reminded me of A Midsummer Night's Dream, where the rhythm of the characters reflects their emotions. I think that at some point (probably long ago), he crossed a line where his music was not good enough to “excuse” his actions. Some argue to “separate the art from the artist,” however, I believe that the artist is especially important to look at when analyzing art. The experiences and feelings of an artist are reflected in their work. For this reason, the emotions of Ye have been reflected in his work, resulting in his new music being received much more poorly than in the past.

Thanks for reading!

Thomas Ballard