Dissect - S2E3 – The Old Kanye

Episode Date: August 15, 2017

We dissect Kanye West's first four albums and pivotal life events that lead to the creation of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Follow Dissect on social media @dissectpodcast. Purchase Dissect merch at dissectpodcast.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to Dissect, long-form musical analysis broken into short digestible episodes. I'm your host, Kolkushna. Today we continue our examination of Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, with part three of our three-part introductory preface. On our last episode, we explored Through the Wire as an example of Kanye's early production in rapping style. We also saw how the track spearheaded the release of his major label debut, The College Dropout, an album made possible by Kanye's Unsailable.

resolve and self-confidence. On today's episode, we'll cover Kanye's early discography and the life events leading up to the creation of my beautiful dark-twisted fantasy. Our job today is frankly impossible. We're going to cover four masterful albums in a little over 30 minutes, a borderline audacious premise for a show about in-depth analysis. But we must remember the larger goal, to provide context, to get a basic understanding of the arc of Kanye's musical output and success. We'll cherry pick a song or two from each album that's representative of Kanye's production and lyrical subject matter at that particular time, gaining a broad sense of the evolution of Kanye's art leading up to our main course,

my beautiful dark twisted fantasy. And so without further ado, let's dissect. As we heard on our last episode, Kanye's early musical style was defined by his chipmunk soul production, and a unique lyricism that was equally at home in both conscious and superficial subject matter. In the same breath, Kanye muses on faith, insecurity, and Louis Vuitton, all laced with humor and a relatable candidness that made his music so accessible to such a wide audience. Case in point, the song Jesus Walks, from his debut album The College Dropout of 2000. Here, Kanye packages law enforcement and racial profiling with a punchline from the comedy movie Happy Gilmore and a song about Jesus. Our initial reaction is asking us questions, harass and arrest us, saying we eat pieces of shit like you for breakfast, huh?

Y'all eat piece of shit. What's the basis? We ain't going to wherever got suits and cases. Our initial reaction is perhaps to chuckle at Kanye's clever and somewhat absurd use of this pop culture reference and a line about police brutality. It's a kind of juxtaposition stand-up comedians often use when addressing serious issues. It's entertaining and engaging, style and substance, comedy and tragedy. And we'll see this juxtaposition time and time again in Kanye's early work. On the song All Falls Down, Kanye speaks on materialism as a symptom of insecurity,

the charade of power, the African-Americans place in the American dream, all with earnestness and a charming humor. That's why you always see me with at least one of my watches. Rollies and posters, then drove me crazy. I can't even pronounce nothing. Pass that for Sacy. Then I spent 400 bucks on this. Just to be like, nigga, you ain't up on this.

And I can't even go to the grocery store. Without some ones that's clean and a shirt with a team. We live in the American dream. The people high and stuff got the lowest self-esteem. The prettiest people through the ugliest things. For the road to riches and diamond rings. us. Floss because they de graders. We're trying to buy back our 40 acres. And for that paper, look how low we're a stoop. Even if you in a bend, you're still a nigger.

Oh, idiot. Come on, come on. The concluding lines of this verse are especially poignant. Kanye wraps, we shine because they hate us, floss because they degrade us. We're trying to buy back our 40 acres. And for that paper, look how low will stoop. Even if you in a bends, you're still an N-word in a coop. Kanye here suggests that the African-American community's instincts to boost and parade their material things is born of insecurity, a fruitless attempt to prove their worth and reaction to historic degradation that dates back to slavery. The last two lines continue the illusions of slavery. He says,

and for that paper, look how low will stoop, which on the surface implies degrading oneself in attempt to get money. But the word stoop also calls the mind a porch stoop common to American homes and plantations in the south. The next line, even if you in a bends, you still an N-word in a coop, suggests that even the most desirable of material things can't change the color of your skin or the perception of black Americans. The word coop then comes to have multiple meanings. On the surface, it refers, of course, to the luxury car, Mercedes-Benz-Coop.

But Coop, spelled C-O-O-P, is also slang for prison, implying that materialism is a new kind of slavery in contemporary society. The college dropout is full of potent lines and verses, but is also equally fun and lighthearted. Songs like The New Workout Plan, Breathe In, Breathe Out, and Slow Jams find Kanye at his most whimsical. She be grabbing, calling me Biggie like shine home, man, I swear she find home. She always nine, though, telling me them dime-hones when she know they die-slown. She got a light-skinned friend look like Michael Jackson, got a dark-skinned friend, look like Michael Jackson. I play ready for the way.

The Michael Jackson line holds great significance in the early Kanye's mind. He told Rolling Stone, quote, That line made me a star. Before that record came out, I used to go to Virgin Mega's store and thank God for these last moments of solitude, because I knew I'd be famous after people heard the Michael Jackson line. And it's true, Slow Jams was Kanye's first number one single on an album that collected 10 Grammy nominations, propelling Kanye into the national limelight. And while the tone and content of the college dropout may not seem or sound revolutionary

to our ears today, at the time in 2004, what Kanye West pulled off was remarkable. He broke the mold of mainstream rap iconography, which at the time was dominated by drug-dealing personas and southern crunk. Rather than shunning or hiding his middle-class background to fit in, he embraced and used it to his advantage, addressing themes like the false security of college, nine to five jobs, God, and materialism that proved relatable across cultures and economic classes. He offered social criticism without being preachy or judgmental, at once confident and self-conscious, deeply personal, honest, with an affable sense of humor.

If my manager insults me again, I will be assaulting him after I fuck the manager up, then I'm going to shorten the register up. Let's go back. Back to the gas. It's honestly hard to overstack So if I stole, what in my fault? Yeah, I stole, never got caught. They take me to the back and pack. It's honestly hard to overstate the long-term impact The College Dropout had on the direction of popular music.

It paved the way for many of today's most successful rappers who are allowed to feel comfortable in their own skin, allowed to talk about clothes and God in the same song, allowed to dress, talk, and rhyme from the heart without fear of fitting in. It popularized backpacks and polos set the gold standard of Chipmunk's soul production and made hip-hop more relatable to a larger audience. On the 10-year anniversary of the college dropout,

Kanye took to Twitter to express some heartfelt words about the album. Quote, 10 years ago today, we finally released what had been my life's work up into that point, the college dropout. I say finally because it was a long road, a constant struggle, and a true labor of love, to not only convince my peers in the public

that I could be an artist, but to actually get that art out for the world to hear, unquote. For Kanye, it would seem that forever embedded in the college dropout is a struggle that it took to create it. We spent a good amount of time detailing that struggle in our first two episodes, the naysayers and the non-believers, the producer marginalization, the challenge of securing a record deal, the near-fatal car accident. If not for Kanye's persistence in the uncompromising determination, we can confidently say the college dropout would never have existed.

Kanye would not be the cultural force he is today, and the shape of popular music and contemporary culture would look drastically different. I got the perfect song for the kids to sing. Before moving on, I'd like to take a few minutes. Before moving on, I'd like to take a few minutes, to explore a few interviews and soundbites from 2004 and 2005, the time between the release of the college dropout and Kanye's next album, Late Registration. Though it's hard to imagine now, the world had mostly never heard of Kanye West before. And while the college dropout was

accepted almost universally for its musical ingenuity, Kanye's behavior and interaction with the press instantly made clear that he was not your typical by-the-script public figure. In a foreshadowing of larger controversies to come, Kanye stormed out of the 2004 American Music Awards when he lost the best new artist category to Gretchen Wilson. The no audio or video footage was captured, he told reporters backstage, quote, I felt like I was definitely robbed, and I refused to give any politically correct bullshit-ass comment. I was the best new artist this year, unquote. Of course, the incident made headlines.

Kanye was later nominated for 10 Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist, and a subplot of the ceremony became what Kanye's reaction would be if he didn't win. He didn't win Best New Artist, but he did win Best Rap album, and proceeded to give what has become one of the more memorable acceptance speeches in Grammy history. When I had my accident, I found out at that moment, nothing in life is promised except death. If you had the opportunity to play this game of life, you need to appreciate every moment. A lot of people don't appreciate their moment until it's passed. And then you've got to tell those Al Bundy stories. You remember when I?

But right now is my time and my moment, thanks to the fans, thanks to the accident, thanks to God, to Rockefeller, Jay-Z, Dame Dash, G, my mother, Rhyme Fest. Everyone has helped me. And I plan, I plan to celebrate. I plan to celebrate and scream and pop champagne every chance I get, because I'm at the Grammys, baby.

I know, I know everybody asked me the question. They wanted to know what kind, I know he's gonna wild out and he's gonna do something crazy. Everybody wanted to know what I would do, If I didn't win, I guess we'll never know. What you can't see here is the audience giving Kanye West a standing ovation. Because Kanye at this time was still the new kid on the block, and his arrogant slash confidence seemed to be viewed as a youthful, almost childlike eccentricity.

Interestingly, Connie from day one acknowledged his ego with a self-aware, psychological insight that often gets overlooked. In a 2004 interview with today, Kanye said, quote, I say in my songs I'm so insecure. So a lot of times, arrogance is to combat insecurity. So in order for me to go out and do what I've done, facing insecurity and facing people telling me I couldn't do it, I had to build a force field around myself. I had to be a borderline lunatic to think that I could do what I've done.

Unquote. Kanye's unfiltered persona doesn't end with Kanye's own opinion of himself. He'd also speak out against what he saw wrong with the world around him. In August of 2004, Connie went on MTV and took a stand against homophobia and hip hop. Mind you, in 2017, this may not seem like a risk. But in 2004, the landscape of gay rights in America was generally less progressive than it is today, especially in a genre of music dominated by machismo. A bite in high school would be like, yo, you acting like a fag.

You acting like, thaw, you gay? and I used to deal with that when I was in high school. And what happened is it made me kind of like homophobic because it was like I would like go back and like question myself. Like damn, why is there anybody else walk like this? And I walk like this. So why is that you start just looking? Because you don't realize until you're in high school.

People are like, yo, fam, look at you. Look at how you at. If you see something and you don't want to be that because it's such a negative connotation towards it, you try to separate yourself from it so much that it made me homophobic by the time I was through a high school. Like, anybody that was gay, I was like,

yo, get away from me. And you just had to sit back and think. Like, damn, you know, hip hop really is about, um, it seems like it's about, like, fighting for your rights in the beginning, about speaking your mind and about breaking down barriers or whatever. But everybody, and hip-hop discriminates against gay people.

To me, like, that's one of the standards of hip-hop. It's to be like, yo, you fag, you're gay. Matter of fact, the exact opposite word of hip-hop, I think is gay. Like, yo, you play a record, and it's, like, whack. That's gay, duh. You know, if it's good, that hip-hop right there. You see what I'm saying?

It's like the exact opposite. So it's like, the, it's like, That me speaking from my entire culture, of me looking at my rappers out there, hip hopers discriminate against gay people. Mm-hmm. They feel like they can't act. Hold on one second.

Everybody don't throw me off. I really want to say this. I want to say this to America. I want to- Speak your mind. No, he was just throwing me off just lately. Um, I wanted to just, to just come on TV and just tell my rappers,

just tell my friends, like, yo, stop it, fan. Like, seriously, that's really discrimination. To me, that's exactly what they used to do to black people. I'm just trying to tell people just stop all that. Connie's first real public controversy was his appearance on the Red Cross Hurricane Katrina TV fundraiser, broadcast live September 2nd, 2005. After the devastation of our country's costliest natural disaster

and the government's delayed response to the flooding in New Orleans, frustration grew in many who felt the lack of response was race-related. While George Bush doesn't care about black people is a sound bite we all know by heart. What most don't remember is Connie's nervous stream of consciousness before that statement. I hate the way they betray us in the media. If you see a black family, it says they're looting. See a white family, it says they're looking for food. and you know it's been five days because most of the people are black and even for me to

complain about I would be a hypocrite because I've tried to turn away from the TV because it's too hard to watch. I've even been shopping before even giving a donation. So now I'm calling my business manager right now to see what is the biggest amount I can give and just to imagine if I was if I was down there and those are those are my people down there. So anybody out there that wants to do anything that we can help with the setup the way America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less well off as slow as possible. I mean, this is, Red Cross is doing everything they can. We already realize a lot of the people that could help are at war right now fighting another way,

and they've given them permission to go down and shoot us. And subtle, but in even many ways, more profoundly devastating is the lasting damage to the survivors will to rebuild and remain in the area. The destruction of the spirit of the people of Southern Louisiana and Mississippi may end up being the most tragic loss of all. George Bush doesn't care about black people. Please call. In the past few days, America and people have been stepping up, have been stepping up to donate money. However uncomfortable this moment was and continues to be, the interesting thing to me is that his words actually exemplify in parallel everything we came to love about Connie Wes's early music.

uninhibited honesty, social critique, self-critique, passion, and a general sense of someone speaking from the heart. And despite the expected outrage and disagreement of some, Kanye's words were accepted and even championed by a large portion of Americans, who felt he was simply expressing the general feeling of the country. Even the benefits producer Rick Kaplan, who was initially disheartened by Kanye's words, said of the incident, quote, When you look at it in hindsight, boy, I'm glad he did that. A concert for Hurricane Relief became politically correct.

And I don't mean political correctness. It just became accurate. It became an accurate program, not just a fundraiser. Unquote. West himself would apologize to George Bush on the Today Show five years later. I would tell George Bush in my moment of frustration that, that I didn't have the grounds to call him a racist. The Katrina incident made Kanye West a household name

and served as an interesting, albeit unintentional, publicity piece for a second album, Late Registration, which was released just four days before the broadcast. Late registration debuted at number one on the music billboard charts, led by its chart-topping single, Gold Digger. In many ways, late-register, late registration advances the sound established on the college dropout. While the majority of production is still handled by Kanye himself,

he enlisted film composer and multi-instrumentalist John Bryan as the album's co-producer. Kanye was inspired to add orchestral sounds to his beats after hearing the British trip-hop band Portishead's Roseland NYC Live album. Unique pairing of Brian's orchestration in West's beats gives late registration a robustness and maturity while still conserving the soul-inspired sound Kanye established on the college dropout. On Diamonds for Sierra Leone, the duo creates a dark, sprawling backdrop to Wes's discourse on blood diamonds from Africa. The album's closing track, Gone, builds around a simple Otis Redding sample, and by the track's end, morphs into a fully formed string section.

Lyrically, in terms of pure bars, many feel late registration is Kanye's strongest, work as MC. He continues his high wire balance between conscious and mainstream subject matter. Despite the hit singles Gold Digger and Touch the Sky, late registration contains a melancholic thread throughout much of the album. On the album's open or heard him say, Kanye reflects somberly as he surveys the American landscape. They say people in your life for seasons for a reason, and niggas gone clapping and steps and try to be him. The devil is alive, I feel and breathing. on dreaming and put them lottery tickets just to tease us. My aunt Pam can't put them cigarettes down.

So now my little cousin smoking him cigarettes now. His job tried to claim that he too niggurish now. It's because of skin blacker than liquorish now. I can't figure it out. Sicken than now. I heard him say. Nothing's ever promised them all today. On the song Roses, Kanye expresses anguish and frustration with the hospital's treatment of his grandmother.

I know his past visiting hours, but can I please give her these flags? The doctor don't want to take procedures. You claim my heart can't take the anesthesia. It'd send her body into a seizure. The little thing by the hospital bed, it'd stop beeping. Hey, chick, I'm at a loss for words. What do you say at this time? Remember when I was nine?

Tell her everything gonna be fine, but I'd be lying. A family crying. They wanted to live and she trying. I'm arguing like, what kind of doctor can we flyin? You know the best medicine go to people that's paid. If Magic Thompson got a cure for AIDS, and all the broke motherfuckers passed away, You telling me if my grandma's in the NBA, right now she'll be okay, but since she was just a secretary,

working for the church for 35 years, things supposed to stop right here, my grandfather trying to pull it together, he's scrown. That's where I get my confidence from. Late registration escapes the quote-unquote sophomore slump and shows a maturation of Kanye's artistry. It won of three Grammy Awards and taught multiple year-end lists, including Rolling Stones' number one album of 2005. Just two years later, Kanye would release part three of the college theme albums, Graduation, somewhat of a departure from the idioms established on college dropout and late registration. Graduation finds Kanye's soul-inspired sound but a whisper of what it once was, augmented and often altogether replaced with brassy synthesizers and electro rock-influenced drums.

About graduation, Kanye said to be right now, because I can't kick much stronger. Man, I've been waiting all night now. That's how long I've been on you. About graduation, Kanye said, quote, This album has a lot of synthesizers layered on it, which has never really been done in hip-hop before. That doesn't make it good just because it's different, but it's a representation of what I've been listening to, unquote.

What he was listening to was a lot of rock music, Having toured with U2 in 2006, Kanye studied the band's stadium anthems and was inspired by their elaborate stage designs. Kanye had visions of headlining arenas himself, and graduation was a deliberate attempt to create music that would serve that purpose. While writing the power ballad, I Wonder, Kanye said he imagined performing the track to 50,000 people. He used fewer words that could be delivered at a high volume and easily sung by a crowd. This simplified approach both lyrically and thematically is a through line on graduation. No longer having to prove himself as a rapper, Kanye was departing from the lyrical acrobats of late registration for a more straightforward approach, with themes that were deliberately

more universal. Graduation is also much shorter in length. At 51 minutes, it's 20 minutes shorter than both the college dropout in late registration. With no skits in just 13 tracks, this pared down approach was again a call. conscious departure from the norms of hip-hop towards something more akin to a rock album's track list. Graduation was released September 11th, 2007. The same day rapper 50 Cent released his third album, Curtis. The two used the shared release date to wage an album sales competition.

I just think it's something really great for hip-hop. It gives the fans a reason to want to buy the music instead of downloading it. And I mean, 50 Cent, he's a pretty intimidating guy. I'm not really trying to go to war with 50 Cent. I just want to put out my album if it's okay. You know what? 50 Cent has been quoted as saying that if your album should outsell his,

he will never make another album ever again. Have you heard him? I really like 50. I don't want him to retire once. My album sales the most. I just want him... You'll kick his ass. Yeah, I think that too.

Like, let's say right now, please, 50, do not retire once my album sales and beat your album. Please do not retire. Please. Indeed, Kanye DeVille. did beat 50, selling 957,000 units in the first week to 50 cents 691,000. And while the shared release date was mostly an ingenious marketing tool, music critics saw Connie's victory as indicative

of something more, a symbol of the death of gangster rap as hip-hop's dominant mainstream genre. The retrospective article by Complex notes that, quote, if there was ever a watershed moment to indicate hip-hop's changing direction, it may have come when 50-cent competed with Kanye in 2007 to see whose album can claim superior sales. Fifty lost handedly, and it made clear that excellent song crafting trumped a lack of street life experience. Kanye led a wave of new artists, Kid Cuddy, Wale, Lupe Fiasco, Kids in the Hall, Drake, who lacked the interest or ability to create narratives about any past gunplay or drug dealing, unquote. Indeed, the trilogy of the college dropout, late registration, and graduation stands as hip-hop's most influential body of work

in the 21st century's first decade. But Kanye would neither have the time nor opportunity for a victory lap, as tragedy would strike just two months after the release of graduation. Due to complications following a cosmetic surgery procedure, Kanye's mother, Dr. Donda West, unexpectedly passed away on November 10, 2007. She was just 58 years old. Kanye and Donda's close relationship was well-documented, documented. She was Kanye's spiritual and business advisor, the person Kanye sought for solace and guidance. In a 2000 interview with MTV, he said, quote, This is the reason I did whatever song you might have heard of. This is my mother. I love her. She is my best friend in the whole world. My mother let me work on music. She helped me out. She used to drive me to the studio.

She was my first manager. She's still my general manager. Unquote. There's an endearing video on YouTube in which Connie and Donda, at a press conference together, and Kanye's asked to explain his relationship with his mother. Also, if I can to explain how I felt about my mother, I would, I would wrap the second verse from the song, Hey Mama, off the college drop out. And it says, well, I sing the chorus first. It says, hey, mama, I want to scream so loud for you, because I'm so proud of you, and let me tell you what I'm about to do, Mama. I know. I act a fool, but I promise you I'm going back to school and I appreciate what you allowed for me and I just want you to be proud of me.

Mama, I had to go, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, I want to tell the whole world about a friend of mine, this little light of mine I'm finna let it shine. I'm fin to take y'all back to them better times. I'm going to talk about my mama if y'all don't mind. I was three years old when you and I moved to the shot Lember, a horse winter gave me a cold You fix me up something that was good for my soul Famous homemade chicken soup can I have another bone You work late nights just to keep on the lights Mommy got me training wheels so I can keep on my bike

And you would give me anything in this world Michael Jackson leather and the glove But didn't get me a curl And you never put no man over me And I love you for that, Mommy can't you see Seven years old, I caught you with tears in your eyes Cause a nigger cheating telling your lies Then I started to cry as we knelt on the kitchen floor

I said, Mommy, I'mma, I'mma love you, you yon hurt no more And when I'm older, you ain't gotta work no more And I'm gonna get you that mansion that we couldn't afford See your unbreakable, unmistakable, highly capable Lady that's making loot a living legend too Just look at what heaven do, send us an angel And I thank you, Mama What you can't see here is dondomouthing every word, grinning from ear to ear.

Needless to say, the unexpected death of his mother had a traumatic impact on Kanye. In interviews years later, Kanye would blame himself for her death. When asked what he sacrificed for his success, he said, quote, My mom, if I had never moved to L.A., she'd still be alive. I don't want to go far into it because it would bring me to death. tears." Just five months after his mother's passing, Kanye and his then-fiancee of 18 months caught off their engagement.

The two had been dating on and off since 2002. His mother's passing and the end of his engagement would send Kanye into a dark period of loneliness and depression, despite being in the midst of his glow-in-the-dark world tour. Often playing over 20 shows a month beginning April of 2008 and ending in December of that year, Kanye would take a six-week break in September. through mid-October to write and record the album 808 and Heartbreak. 808s and Heartbreak is a complete departure from the sound established on Kanye's first three albums. Most notably, the album contains very little rapping.

Instead, Kanye sings, and for the majority of the album, his voice is processed through autotune. Didn't you know I was waiting on your dream that I never come true? Didn't you know I was waiting on you? My face turned a stone when I heard the news. When you decide to break the rules, because I just heard some real bad news. Sonically, Kanye shapes a lamenting reverb-heavy electronic sound, influenced by 1980s synth and electro-pop.

As implied by the album's title, a Roland TR-808 drum sequencer provides the foundation of the project's rhythm section, over which various strings, synthesizers, Japanese acoustic taiko drums, and choir monks are layered with a minimalist touch. Remember, with You Can't escape from you So I keep it low

Keep a secret cold So everybody else Don't have to know So keep your love Remember, with graduation Kanye had all but solidified His place as the number one Hip Hop artist in the world at that time

So to go from this I had a dream I could buy my way to heaven When I awoke I smit that on a necklace To this. On lonely nights I start to start to fade. On lonely nights I start to fade. Her love's a thousand miles away.

Her loves a thousand miles. Well, it was all kind of a big deal. A withdrawal seemingly no one saw coming. Of course, it doesn't take much to associate the sound of the with the loss in Connie's life at this time. Me, just on the hunt for peace, and that's where I'm at right now. It's like this soul searching. It seems to me a record about loneliness, that you feel a bit lost.

Oh yeah, well, I was feeling extremely, like, lonely with the loss of my mom and, like, the breakup in my relationship at the, you know, around the same time. Ten-time Grammy Award winner. It's a good title, but I'd rather be no-time Grammy Award still have certain people in my life, you know. You know? Yeah. Despite its dramatic departure, 808s and Heartbreak did well both commercially and critically. It debuted at number one on the Billboard chart,

and the lead single Love Lockdown grossed 1.4 million copies on iTunes alone, and was named Time Magazine's Song of the Year. That's not to say the sound of the album was for everyone. Many were off put by the use of autotune, the lack of rap, and the stark electronic minimalism. But with the gift of time and hindsight, critics now look to Adowitz and Heartbreak as one of the most influential albums of the past two decades. It encourages established rappers like Little Wayne, Jay-Z, and others to create more experimental albums of their own, while also shaping the sound and the sentiment of the next generation of artists like Drake, The Weekend, Childish Gambino, Frank Ocean, Travis Scott, Kid Cutty and more. Recently, the Rolling Stone included 808s and Heartbreak in his 40 most

influential albums of all time. As much as we'd love to believe that 808s and heartbreak was a cathartic purging of traumatic events of his life at that time, the album was simply not enough to stabilize Kanye. Remember, he'd been essentially going nonstop since the release of the college dropout. In just over four years, Kanye released four full-length albums in which he produced, wrote and performed, while simultaneously producing for other artists touring extensively, doing countless interviews, and launching the fashion line pastel. The compulsive propulsion of Kanye's life all came to a speeding halt on September 13, 2009, at the MTV Video Music Awards.

Yo, Taylor, I'm really happy for you. I'm going to let you finish. But Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time. One of the best videos of all time. And it's here we come full circle, back to the introduction of our very first episode of the season. If you remember, the VMA incident inflated into a global spectacle and would have a drastic, immediate effect on Kanye's career. He was instantly vilified. Celebrities and musicians publicly lashed out at him. He was the butt of seemingly every late-night talk show joke. His national tour with Lady Gaga was cancelled.

The president of the United States called him a jackass. still reeling from his mother's death and breakup, the aftermath of the VMAs would cause Kanye to temporarily abandon music and flee the country, a self-imposed exile, a spiritual regrouping that would allow him to reassess his life and purpose. Literally left America, I stopped doing music altogether. I just took some time. I went to Japan just so I can get away from paparazzi all together.

And then in November I moved to Rome and just lived there. And then when I came back to the States, I moved to Hawaii and lived there. To months and just worked on music again. I mean, what was good about going away was it was the first time that I got to stop since my mom had passed because I never stopped and I never tried to even, you know, soak in what all had happened. Or it's the first time I stopped since I actually, you know, made it since I started. And it was time to, you know, take a break and just develop more as a person, as a creative and focus in. more on my thoughts and my ideas

and what I wanted to bring, just what I wanted to bring to the world. In some ways it would seem Kanye felt as if he was back at Square One. Having worked so hard and for so long to prove himself as a producer, only to be marginalized as such, he worked harder still to prove himself as a rapper.

And having proved himself as a rapper, Kanye fought to prove himself an artist on 808's and heartbreak. Now, after a social gaffe at an award show, Kanye felt like he stood to lose it all. Because I really put myself in a zone that I felt like my life was dependent on the success of this album. You know, and with that being the case, I say, you know what?

No matter what anybody says about me, they won't. I can write something that can make someone that hates me the most have to really respect or love the song. Indeed, with the stakes set this high in his head, Kanye saw himself as a lot of the song. an underdog once again. He consolidated his powers, unifying his diverse musical palette, and took colossal maximal maximalism as yet unheard in the world of hip-hop. Within this sonic Coliseum, Kanye bears a confliction between his ego and insecurity, between the purity of his creative gifts and his incessant need for adoration. It would be Kanye's comeback album, a universally acclaimed modern masterwork, the album that would for many solidify his stature as the most

influential artists of the last decade. Of course, we're talking about Kanye West's 2010 album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, which will finally begin to explore next time on Dysect. Dysect is written and produced by me, theme music by B-rocratic. If you enjoy Dysk, consider dropping a review on Apple Podcasts, tell a friend about the show, or share a link on your favorite social media outlet. There's no team behind Dysect. It's just me, and I can use all the help I can get growing the show. at Dysect Podcast on Twitter and Instagram and join the Dysect Community Group on Facebook by searching Dysect podcast. If you'd like to support Dysect, you can do so at patreon.com slash dissect.

By pledging as little as $1 per month, you can help Dysk become more sustainable and help me offset some of the costs of the show. A big shout out to my Diamond Level supporters Evan Sweat, Sam and Chaudry and Jonathan Hardyway for their extra generous support. Again, that's Patreon, spelled p-a-t-r-e-o-n.com slash dissect. Finally, I've got to give a gigantic thank you to everyone who supported the recent Kickstarter campaign for the Black of the Berry book created by artist Hannah Sellers and myself. The campaign just ended and I'm extremely excited to announce that we exceeded our goal by over 450%. We also hit both of our stretch goals and we'll now be donating $2 for every book sold to Social Works, a youth empowerment charity founded by chance the rapper.

If you found Dysect late and missed out on the Kickstarter, we may still have some books available for purchase. Go to Dysectpodcast.com and sign up for the newsletter to stay updated. Again, Hannah and myself cannot thank you all enough for making this dream project a reality. Seriously, thank you. Okay, that's all. I'll talk to you next week.