The Best Kanye Lyrics you haven't heard - EXPLICIT CONTENT

Whatever the most recent media rumbling about Kanye, whatever latest churlish outburst or bold statement, it is undeniable that Mr. West has made a towering impression on the music industry over the past fifteen years or so.

Whether it is creating mind-bogglingly catchy beats like 'Lucifer' for Jay-Z or taking the best part of Hip-Hop royalty to Hawaii to produce 'All of the Lights,' Kanye musically, sonically and creatively has changed rap music forever. What often gets forgotten through all the hyperbole and brassiness is the fact that Kanye is also sharp to the point of bloodshed lyrically. At other times he can be so poor it's cringe-worthy; comparing separated parents at a basketball game to the horrors and brutality of South Africa's apartheid era, springs naturally to mind. There is also the opening to 'Father Stretch My Hands,' a beautiful and powerful symphonic tune, sadly not matched by the song's graphic and pretentious opening gambit.

However, it is important to focus on the positives that Kanye's words bring to the world; heaven knows there is enough out there that disparage him, not that he cares. Underneath the hubris, bravado and fanfare there is a genuine artist; a genuine lyricist. To try and regain some clarity through the madness, these are my favourite Kanye lyrics you may never have heard, explained in full.

And I always find something wrong
You been putting up with my shit for
Way too long
So gifted at finding what I don't like the most
Some think it's time for us to have
A toast

Runaway, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Ok, so a number of readers will know this one, but I feel it's an important one to start with. Here Kanye's braggadocio style is dropped completely as he raps about his failed relationship with ex, Amber Rose. Kanye in a moment of quiet reflection delves into the human and more importantly male psyche, pointing out its basic flaws. He concurs that his partner puts up with a lot of his crap, before going onto explain how he always finds what he doesn't want, in this case being lured to send explicit photos to another female admirer. Rather than fight back with contempt and vitriol, Kanye accepts his failings and raises a toast to them.

runaway kanye west

I know she likes chocolate men
She got more niggas off than Cochran

On Sight, Yeezus

This song is littered with sharp-witted, searing insights but this particular couplet is in reference to Kanye's wife, Kim Kardashian and more pertinently aimed at her white ex-husband Kris Humphreys. Kanye makes the fairly trite point that she seems to be more enamoured with black men at this juncture of Kim K's well-documented life. He goes on to reference lawyer Ray Cochran, famed for getting many black men acquitted, most notably Oj Simpson. Kanye makes the double entendre between his wife 'getting them off' in a sexual manner and Cochran doing so in a legal sense. Brutal, but funny.

You know the kids gon' act a fool
When you stop the programs for after school
And they DCFS, some of 'em dyslexic
They favorite 50 Cent song "12 Questions"
We scream: "rocks, blow, weed, park", see, now we smart
We ain't retards, the way teachers thought
Hold up, hold fast, we make more cash
Now tell my momma I belong in that slow class

We Don't Care, The College Dropout

One of the reasons people seem to love 'The Old Kanye' is his focus on social issues and insights into black, working class culture (All Falls Down). Here Kanye opens his debut record by slaughtering the education system and indeed the teachers who judged Kanye for being 'slow.' He makes the point about after-school programmes being ceased wrongly before attacking the educators and attitudes to those who are not academic. In addition, he references Chicago drug dealer lingo ('rocks, blow, weed, park'), a phrase used to inform potential buyers what was purchasable at the time. Here Kanye is depicting how some people in black communities may not be academically smart, but use 'street smarts' to get themselves out of poverty. Entrepreneurial, huh?

Now we all aint gonna be American Idols, but you can at least grab a camera shoot a viral

Power (remix), G.O.O.D. Friday bootlegs

A fairly straightforward one here. Kanye beseeches all of us rather than sit around and watch derivative Saturday night TV, or indeed aspire to be on such a show, get out there and create something yourself.

Restraining order, can’t see my daughter
Her mother, brother, grandmother hate me in that order

All of the Lights, MBDTF

Here, Kanye places himself into the shoes of a man who comes home to find his other half in bed with someone else. Deary me. A fight and separation ensue. Kanye, before having children of his own or indeed a wife, manages to succinctly depict the woes facing his protagonist. Again, he manages to use rhyme and inflection to humorous effect by listing the people he has upset by his antics.

Sorry for the night demons still visit me
The plan was to drink until the pain over
But what's worse, the pain or the hangover?

Dark Fantasy, MBDT

Following on from the death of his mother and the break-up with Amber Rose, Kanye is battling his demons. He manages to put himself (as he does so well, so often), into the shoes of the average joe and the issues we face. Kanye is sad and upset and thus reaches for the bottle. However, what's harder to deal with the pain in his heart, or the pain in his head the following day? Hmmm.......

Tell me what I gotta do to be that guy
Said her price go down, she ever fuck a black guy
Or do anal, or do a gangbang
It’s kinda crazy that’s all considered the same thing

How could you say they live they life wrong?
When you never fuck with the lights on

Hell of a Life, MBDTF

Kanye was at his most wild and reckless in this period of his career. Here he tells the allegory of having a marriage with a porn star over the course of one night. The song works fantastically and leaves Kanye realising that he doesn't need the trappings of the wild life, in his own words 'pussy and religion' are all he needs. Kanye makes the valid point that it is wrong that the lady's 'price' would go down i.e. she would be less marketable, if she had sex with him.  He then goes on to support her over-sexualised lifestyle by mocking those who are sexually inhibited. In other words, are those who find it very easy to judge actually in a position to do so, due to their lack of experience/knowledge? An interesting point for hypothesis.

Don’t do no press but I guess the most press kit

Plus, yo, my bitch make your bitch look like precious

Mercy, Cruel Summer

Here we see angry Kanye return, with a hint of acerbic wit to boot. Kanye famously stopped doing any press for a variety of reasons. Kanye makes the point that despite not doing any press, he still gets the most. In addition, he references 'press kit' a tool journalists use to get access to stars. Kanye is his very own 'press kit.' Kanye goes on to reference the film 'Precious' about an overweight, black teen from the projects, saying his other half (Kim K) ...well, I'm sure you get it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Dqgr0wNyPo

I got two white russians but I also need some drinks

Blazin, Pink Friday (Nicki Minaj)

Simple and effective, a throwaway line, celebrating Kanye's virility and attraction to the opposite success, as well as his obvious celebrity lifestyle.

Face it, Jerome get more time than Brandon
 And at the airport they check all through my bag
And tell me that it’s random

But we stay winning, this week has been a bad massage
I need a happy ending and a new beginning
And a new fitted, and some job opportunities that's lucrative

Gorgeous, MBDTF

Kanye references the injustice between black and white, using stereotypical names from each race. He alludes to the fact that blacks are still unfairly treated, a topic which needs no more highlighting in the current climate #blacklivesmatter.

Kanye doesn't let this get him down though, using the metaphor of a massage for his bad week. As such he needs a new suit fitting (he loves clothes don't you know), more money and of course a 'happy ending,' as per certain, stereotypical dodgy massage parlours.  Bless.

If my manager insults me again
I will be assaulting him
After I fuck the manager up
Then I'm gonna shorten the register up
Let's go back, back to the Gap
Look at my check, wasn't no scratch
So if I stole, wasn't my fault
Yeah I stole, never got caught
They take me to the back and pat me
Askin' me about some khakis
But let some black people walk in
I bet you they show off their token blackie
Oh now they love Kanye, let's put him all in the front of the store

Spaceship, The College Dropout

From his eponymous debut album, here we see Kanye in full flow. Kanye notoriously worked at the Gap and uses this as a reference point for how he perceives inequality. He goes 'ghetto' by threatening to attack the manager before stealing from the cash register. He then talks about stealing from shops (we've all been there, eh? Sorry Mum...), and being patted down by aggressive security guards, yet when some black customers walk in he finds himself maneuvered back to the front of the store by his over-zealous and ethnically-sensitive manager.

Now she claiming that I bruised her eosophagus
Head of the class and she just won a swallowship
I'm living in the future so the present is my past
My presence is a present, kiss my ass

Monster, MBDTF

The real skill here is the use of inflection, intonation and rhythm. In fact, it needs to be heard really. Also there is a brilliant verse by Nicki Minaj on this track for largely the same reasons. Kanye talks about his girth which obviously has caused his female companion issues in their oral sexual encounters. He uses word play and double meaning here playing off the idea of oral sex, with academic achievement. All very clever, if not the most highbrow. However, he goes on to say something mildly prophetic as he talks about the future and how he lives in it, a claim he has made many times over and if you are a Kanye fan and watched his impact on the industry, technology etc. first hand, you can only really agree with him. The final line is blunt and a shout out to his 'haters.' Whether you love him or loathe him, we are lucky to have him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOpQdJ5F5TI

Got staples on my dick. Why?
Fucking centrefolds
I swear to God she's so cold
Got a nigga in Miami wearing winter clothes
I got my fur on feeling like Jerome
She got her fur too we got our his and hers on

Illest Motherfucker Alive, Watch The Throne

My final and perhaps favourite Kanye line. You see, I love his arrogance. I love the fact he won’t settle for life on the treadmill. He demands the best for himself and of all his subjects. But this is Kanye in witty-braggadocio mode and it's marvellous. Kanye uses an explicit metaphor to explain that he is having lots of sex with pin-up girls and centrefolds. He then flips the script, complaining how her aloof coldness means he needs to wear his fur in the Miami heat, to keep out her wintry iciness. He references 80's American TV show Martin and the pimp Jerome who is seen in his fur, before making the double entendre that his girl also had her 'fur too,' however, she of course will be naked. 

So, this article has been a long time in the making and hopefully it highlights rap is still relevant and why Kanye is not only a visionary sonically and visually, but also is relevant and interesting lyrically as well.  I hope it inspires some people to go and check out the songs. I hope as well that people reading this won’t allow the media's presentation of this entrepreneur cloud their judgement of him. In Kanye's own words 'most people are slowed down by the perception of themselves. If you're taught you can't do anything, you won’t do anything. I was taught I can do everything.'

Yeezy Thesis/Yeezus- Kanye West

Kanye West wanted to create an album that was entirely his own beast; without an eye on media representation or a hit single. He has done this, but in the meantime created a rap masterpiece, a raw yet cerebral, futuristic fusion of the genre and it's artistry.

Most opinions of Kanye West come from a largely ignorant standpoint. People think of the boasting, drinking, MTV Award hollering and judge the artist unfairly. For what it's worth, a majority of the negative publicity is borne of Kanye's frustration as an artist, but more of that later on. As such, it is pleasing to see Zane Lowe's interview currently being shown in four parts, this week on Radio 1. If you missed it, catch it up; it is compelling viewing. For the first time I can remember, we see an honest interview portraying West as the artist and game-changer he is.
When discussing rappers, Kanye exclaims 'we are the new rock stars and I am the biggest of all of them.' Taken out of context, this sounds like bragaddichio as exhibited on the indulgent collaboration with Jay-Z, 'Watch The Throne.' The reality is that the man has a point. Let's take it back for a minute and look at Kanye's extensive catalogue. The College Dropout is a seminal album of it's time, spawning hits such as All Falls Down with its intelligent, social comment and tongue in cheek look at 'modern rapper style', not to mention the classic Through The Wire, literally sung 'through the wire' after a near fatal car crash. Graduation was indeed a coming of age in the commercial rap world, producing classics such as Stronger with Daft Punk and the vitriolic Can't Tell Me Nothing, with its fuck you sentiment. 808's and Heartbreaks is a mournful, beautiful record, written in the wake of his mother Donda's death and the failure of his relationship with Alexis Pfifer. Love Lockdown and the honest appraisal of stardom in Welcome to Heartbreak, prove the standout tracks on another awesome offering. Then followed My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, possibly the greatest rap album of our generation, defying genre and taking us deep into the mind of a tortured artist.

The point is that Kanye West has serious pedigree. This is a man who knows his art and will not be bent into any shape by suit wearing yes men or label execs and that is really the defining and dominant theme of Yeezus. This is an artist doing what he wants for the demons in his own headspace. A rapper answering to no-one except the strict rules he sets himself. 'Fuck you and your corporation, y'all niggaz can't control me,' he spits on the first single New Slaves. And this isn't rap star bullshit; you really can't. Yeezus received little to no airplay. Kanye insisted on zero artwork or copy for the album's release. Nothing official came from the label, just talk and more talk across the internet of what the Steve Jobs of rap had next up his sleeve. Kanye's promo was controlled by himself and included New Slaves being broadcast on building walls across a variety of cities around the world. Hardly a corporate stunt to pull in more punters, the video consisted of a close up of the rapper singing the song. That's it; the music did the rest of the advertising.
Needless to say, Yeezus went straight in at no.1 in the US and UK charts, proving the man who everybody loves to hate, is certainly causing an interest and a stir. Yet what people got upon first listen was an animal not to everyone's liking.

As stated, the lead single was New Slaves, which is an ascerbic and powerful anti-corporate message, brutalised over a metronome beat. Kanye's flow is as raw as it has been here, but lyrically it contains a powerful and serious message. 'My Mama was raised in an era when clean water was only served to the fairer skin,' is the first line and acts as a fitting curtain opener to Kanye's angst on this record. He goes on, 'See there's broke nigga racism that's that don't touch anything in store. Then there's rich nigga racism that's that come in please buy more,' West here taking a ferocious look at how the marketing world uses its subjects. Then his rage turns towards the consumers who are indeed the New Slaves in question 'what do you want a Bentley? Fur coat? A diamond chain? All you blacks want all the same things!' Deep and powerful stuff from a man renowned for lavish production, but one of the key things about the song and album is the stark and somewhat bleak production values. This is all about the lyrics and the sentiment. Kanye is seething at the lack of creativity around him and is letting the world know. Towards the end of the song Kanye's tirade reaches its crescendo and the song completely changes tone into an orchestral, string laden finale where he sings 'I can't lose, so let's get too high again' over and over again.

One of the defining features of Kanye's later works is the ability to change the beat, tone, tempo of the track at any stage and give it another layer of emotion and depth. There is no better example than On Sight, the album opener. It commences with a loud, distorted soundscape before seguing into a fast-paced electronic beat, where Kanye purrs 'Yeezy season approaching, fuck whatever y'all be hearing.' Quite right, yet normally with the modern rap bragging one doesn't tend to believe the hype; with Kanye there is no hype, just fact and brilliant songs to back up the madness. After a frenetic 1 and a half minutes, a sample of a children's choir appears for about 20 seconds before the song resumes with just as much vim as it began. Haunting and once again quite brilliant.

If there was a radio-friendly unit shifter on Yeezus, 'Black Skinhead' would be it. It begins with tribal drums and heavy breathing but has a funky beat and fast-paced rap that keeps the song moving and one for the stadium posturing for sure. 'Middle America packed in, came to see me in my black skin,' Kanye knows his target audience and believes the Yeezus tour may well be the fastest selling in American rap history and that is the point. He is not bound to the rap genre or defined by it. As such his market appeal is huge and his shows are as likely to be attended by young black men as middle aged white ones and Kanye knows it.

A song that has courted much controversy is the embryonic I am A God. Focusing on the music, it is a mid-paced nod to the Chicago House scene, layered with primal screams and heavy breathing during parts of the track. Despite following no real structure, the tune is still compelling and despite for me being one of the lesser songs on the album, I am still left intrigued by the craft and in particular the sheer gusto on show. Despite the somewhat supercilious title, Kanye raps, 'I am a God. In a French ass restaurant, hurry up with my damn croissants!' Leading us to believe he is not the self-indulgent dictator the media want us to believe and perhaps maybe playing with his audience to some extent.

The real standout tracks on this record are Hold my Liquor and Blood on the Leaves. The latter samples Billie Holliday's Strange Fruit and has an eerie, dark edge to it before thundering into life, with Kanye chastising one of his former lovers during a broken relationship. Not all of Kanye's musings however are fully thought out though. Whilst referring to attending a Basketball game with a new lover he states '...wifey on the other side, gotta keep 'em separated I call that apartheid...' And it is here where Kanye loses the moral high-ground because how can a man in one breath be making forward-thinking statement regarding corporate control and in the next be claiming having two lovers is comparable to the illegal and oppressive South African regime? Perhaps a modern take on a modern world, but questionable to say the least.

Hold My Liquor is an honest appraisal of a drunken morning after, which alludes to some of the early Kanye humour we remember him so fondly for. 'When I parked my Range Rover, lightly scratched your Corolla. Ok I smashed your Corolla...' he admits after coming home to his booty call, slightly worse for wear. But it is the rising layers of this song which make it stand out. An elongated and emotive guitar solo ebbs and flows, again shows the hybridity within the album that the rapper has become a master of.

Guilt Trip and I'm In It sound like rap music in 2024. Both benefiting from collaborations, the songs again show the craft and skill of a man who knows what he wants and refuses to conform to genre regulations.
The final song on the album, 'Bound 2' is a beautiful ode to new belle Kim Kardashian. Heavily sampled but to powerful effect, the song sounds more like a 50's Motown record, save for the piercing and tongue in cheek lyrics, 'Step back can't get spunk on the mink, I mean damn, what would Jerome think?' (See Jerome from popular 90's TV show Martin). The song is the sound of a man happy with his lot and after saying his piece is happy to enjoy the simplicities of life.

 Kanye has a lot to say and he wont be sated until his talent is recognised or the playing field is levelled, but he is also firmly in the knowledge that this may not be for a while. Lets face it Yeezus is not for the average bear. If you listen to it and don't like it, this is understandable. But to listen and to say it is not effective, would be nothing but a lie.

Kanye's talent is ferociously depicted on this 10-track offering and some people may not 'get it' for 5 years, others maybe 10 years. Yeezus is the sound of the future. It is raw hybridity at its very best. It is a man refusing to be constrained by anything the corporate world wants to enslave him with. It is a representation of where West is now, not where Rap or R&B is. If you want an album that represents 2013, go buy the Drake album; which (since time if is an underlying theme here) is light years behind this.

 If you want sonic soundscapes, matched with primal beats and poignant, caustic, comedic lyrics; buy Yeezus. In fact follow Yeezus; he might just be where the future's at.

9/10