The song that defines the ludicrous career of Kanye West
Is there a bigger character in hip-hop than Kanye West? Seriously, even in a field littered with big personalities, you would struggle to find anyone who has mental and moral qualities (for better or worse) that are more specific to them than the man from Chicago. If Michael Jordan hadn’t played for the Bulls, Kanye would be the first person you’d think of when you mention the windy city.
Defining that character, of course, is extremely difficult, given his propensity for making offensive statements in public. His confidence is unwavering, epitomised by his infamous speech at the 2005 Grammy awards where he ended with the all time line “Everybody wanted to know what I would do if I didn’t win. I guess we’ll never know”.
Conversely, his perspective on sensitive topics may be worthy of another edit. Who could forget the time when he turned up at TMZ headquarters and said “When you hear about slavery for 400 years … for 400 years? That sounds like a choice.” With a collection of moments spanning the sensational to the psychotic, it may not be possible to define the man by his actions. A more logical approach would be to define him through his greatest form of self-expression: his music. But how exactly do we do that?
Ye is possibly the artist who creates the most discourse when discussing his greatest work. We could spend hours poring over his discography (hit me up if you actually wanna do this) and still not come to a consensus about what is the “best”. In The College Dropout, Kanye maintains the theme that trusting yourself is the ultimate form of self love. In Late Registration, Ye flexes his ability to incorporate beautiful composition alongside his growing personality.
In Graduation, the transition to a bonafide superstar occurs with the introduction of electronic sounds and ventures into pop music. On 808s and Heartbreaks, punctuated by the loss of his mother and the dissolution of his engagement, Kanye pioneers the use of autotune to enable rappers to sing. In My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, after the scandal at the VMAs where he interrupted Taylor Swift’s speech, Yeezy comes back with an album which doubles down on his new role as the main villain in the music industry.
I could go on. For the sake of brevity, we’ll cut it short there. Amongst all that chaos, though, how are we supposed to distil it down to one song? Choosing an album which thematically aligns with the man was hard enough. Perhaps we should look exclusively at the tracks that involve Kanye taking a look at himself. In essence, he is defining himself.
‘Can’t tell me nothing’ lays a solid claim to the title as it explores Kanye’s journey from making beats in his bedroom to being plastered over billboards. Lines such as “I feel the pressure, under more scrutiny / And what I do, act more stupidly / Bought more jewellery, more Louis V / My Momma couldn’t get through to me” and “I guess the money should’ve changed him / I guess I should’ve forgot where I came from” show the self-reflection that Kanye underwent during this transformative time. The man himself admitted this was one of his favourite tracks.
‘Power’ is Kanye’s admission to the world that he is a “21st-century Schizoid man”. In a time where neurodiversity wasn’t as widely accepted as it is today, this was a huge statement in Kanye accepting his misgivings, but being authentic anyway. The first three verses are full of F-you confidence before the bridge kicks in, where he discusses his contemplation of suicide and the power that he holds to choose to stay alive.
‘Through The Wire’ sees Kanye reflecting on what truly matters to him. The title of the track is influenced by two main factors. The first is that the original version of the track was recorded when Kanye was recovering from a fractured jaw after a car crash. He literally rapped through the wire. The second is a play on words paying homage to Chaka Khan’s track ‘Through the Fire’, which Kanye samples in this track. The song is summed up perfectly with the closing lines: “But I’m a champion, so I turned tragedy to triumph / Make music that’s fire, spit my soul through the wire”.
These are all classic tracks and could easily be used to define the career of an artist who has a career that has spanned more than two decades in the music industry. But there is one track that stands above the rest. Specifically, a particular performance of that track.
As mentioned above, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was Kanye’s acceptance of his role as persona non grata in the music industry, and no track fits that description better than ‘Runaway’, which operates as an experiment in clashing a big ego with low self-esteem. The opening line from Ye is an acknowledgement of the trouble that he has caused in the past: “And I always find, yeah, I always find something wrong / You been puttin’ up with my shit just way too long / I’m so gifted at finding what I don’t like the most / So I think it’s time for us to have a toast.”
The conclusion is that the only solution is for everyone to leave Kanye as he is ultimately too problematic, ending the chorus with the now iconic line “Baby, I got a plan / Runaway fast as you can”. Despite understanding that people will always leave him, the pain still exists when that eventuality arises.
In the audio version of the track, the vocals at the end are indiscernible as they are auto tuned into oblivion. However, in 2021, during the Free Larry Hoover Concert, which was aimed at promoting prison reform, Kanye performed ‘Runaway’ all the way through, without the aid of autotune. Giving listeners a glimpse of the lyrics at the end of the song.
Lyrics such as “Someday I’m gonna make you runaway”, which he repeats multiple times, put into perspective Kanye’s plight. Considering he had just split up with Kim Kardashian, the following line is gut wrenching: “And when you run away baby, I need you to run right back to me”. The track is finished off with a pointed message: “More specifically, Kimberley.”
Despite having a controversial career, Kanye West is a man who has faced tragedy yet has still been able to work through it via music. While it may not be possible to define his career due to his many iterations, we can define his character. With ‘Runaway’, he shows us that even though we may be problematic, we still need to be loved.