Dissect - S2E5 – Gorgeous by Kanye West

Episode Date: August 29, 2017

We continue our serialized analysis of Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by dissecting "Gorgeous." 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, Cole Kushna. Today, we continue our examination of Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. On our last episode, we explored the album's opening track Dark Fantasy. We were introduced to the grandiose, awe-inspiring approach to the album's production, as well as many of the album's central themes. It began with an urbanized alteration of Roald's retelling of Cinderella, in which the prince, who represents wealth, celebrity, and privilege, reveals a merciless

dark side that contrasts with a typical happily ever after approach to the story. We saw how this was a metaphor for Kanye's own life after his gaff at the VMAs revealed to him the cruel fickleness of celebrity. We were also presented with Kanye's nostalgic reminiscing of his life priestardom, a kid from Chicago who, like many of us, fantasized about fame and fortune. This was contrasted with present-day Kanye, who acquired fame but alludes to alcohol, drugs, and sex as escapism from the emptiness he knows is at the center of his Lamborghini-filled life.

After Dark Fantasy's extended lavish outro, a sultry, glistening guitar solo announces the album's next track, the subject of today's episode, Gorgeous. Gorgeous was produced by Kanye West, No ID, and Mike Deem. The track is built around an interpolation of the 1968 song You Showed Me, performed formed by the turtles. I'll be using this word interpolation a lot this season, so it behooves us to take a brief sidebar to define it before diving into gorgeous. We covered sampling at length in our second episode this season, and interpolation, at least in hip-hop music, is like sampling's cousin. Interpolation refers to a melody, portions of a melody, or a brief passage of music

from a previously recorded song. It's a musical quote, but rather than sample the passage and use the original recording, interpolation sees a pass is re-recorded by musicians in the studio. Let's hear a few examples. Beyonce's hold-up from her 2016 album Lemonade interpulates a few sources. First, the song's refrain. This line, They don't love you like I love you, slow down, they don't love you like I love you. Back up, they don't love you like I love you, step down, they don't love you like I love you. This line, they don't love you like I love you, was interpolated from the Yay Yayas' 2004 hit Maps. The outro of Beyonce's holdup also contains an interpolation. These lines quote,

Soldier Boy's 2009 track Turn My Swag on. However subtle, interpolations typically require copyright permissions. Both the Yeah Yeah's and Soldier Boy receive writing credits on holdup for the interpolations used on the track. Other interpolations are not as subtle as holdup. Puff Daddies, I'll be missing you, contains both a sample and an interpolation of the police's 1983 hit every breath you take. In Puff's version, the guitar is sampled directly from the original police recording,

but the vocals are re-recorded by Faith Evans, technically making the vocal part an interpolation. Can't imagine all the pain I feel or give anything to hit half the breath. An interpolation can be overt, like this Puff example, subtle, like our Beyonce examples, or anywhere in between. Bringing it back to Gorgeous, the track interpolates the 1968 song You Showed Me performed by the Turtles. And now the hook of Gorgeous. Ain't no question if I want it, I need it. Infinitely, Drift it away. I'm on me yet so why you play. Clearly the vocals have been modified both lyrically and melodically, and Kanye's studio

musicians have re-recorded the underlying harmony. But the two are similar enough that You Showed Me songwriters are given writing credits on Gorge's. The same interpolated melody used on the hook of Gorge's is also the plush guitar riff that plays nearly the entire song. This guitar riff is a sample of Enoch Light in the glittering guitar's 1969 instrumental version of You Showed Me. And so somewhat ingeniously, Gorge's contains both a sample and interpolation of the same song. The sample guitar riff comes from the Enoch Light's instrumental cover of You Showed Me, an interpolation

of its melody comes from the Turtles original. When the song's co-author, Kid Cutty heard the Gorgeous beat, he immediately lobbied to get on the track. He told MTV, quote, Gorgeous was one of those records that, as soon as I heard the beat, I was like, man, this is the one. This is that this can't be life Kanye beat. This is that classic yay beat.

I want to be on this. Of course, Cuddy did make it on Gorgeous. Let's take a listen to the opening hook in full. The hook opens, ain't no question if I want it, I need it. I can feel it slowly drifting away from me. Given what we know about the circumstances surrounding this album, coping with his mother's passing, the end of his marriage engagement, and the VMA debacle, the it here on the hook takes on multiple meetings.

On one hand, it can represent fame and Kanye's diminishing public reputation. It can also represent a more general despair, perhaps even allusions to suicidal thoughts. For further evidence, we turn to the next line, I'm on the edge, so why are you playing? Clearly, Kanye is in a fragile state mentally. Years after the release of my beautiful dark twisted fantasy, Kanye would admit to being deeply depressed after his mother's passing, even having suicidal thoughts. The hook of Gorge's continues, I will never ever let you live this down, down, down. Of course, we think instantly of the VMA incident, with this line representing the public's unified

voice lashing out at Kanye. Also, having just heard, I'm on the edge, down, down, down as ominous suicidal connotations. We can also view, I will never ever let you live this down, as Kanye talking to himself, that if he fails to produce a successful redemption album and lose all he's work for, he'll never forgive himself. This sentiment is accentuated on the repeat of the hook, in which the line, I'm on the edge becomes, no more chances if you blow this, you bogus. While we understood the stakes of my beautiful dark twisted fantasy because of research of the events that led to its creation, the hook of gorgeous is the first time we hear Kanye actually establishing those stakes on the album itself.

Mind you, this is all heard via the voice of Kid Cuddy, who becomes a narrator in Kanye's personal journey. In an interview with MTV, Cuddy stated that the thematic direction of the hook came from Kanye himself. Quote, whatever Kanye tells me, I just try to put it in my little machine and make the perfect solution for it. That's always been our collab formula, and that's just how gorgeous came about. He just kind of told me what he was trying to say. I threw out some words, we rearranged words, and we came out with a bunch of different options before coming up with the hook, unquote. This will become a motif on Twisted Fantasy, this use of third-party surrogate narrators,

commenting on and progressing the album's loose storyline. On gorgeous, Cutty establishes one of the album's central themes of mortality, and indeed on the song's verses, we'll hear Kanye rap as if his life depended on it. But before moving on, I do want to point out an ingenious use of harmony on the song's hook. If we recall from our last episode, the song Dark Fantasy used a compositional technique called a deceptive cadence to transition from the hook to the verse.

It exploited our expectations of hearing this progression in our innate yearning for resolution with the tonic or home chord, which in Dark Fantasy's case is F major. Instead, when the song transitioned to the verse, we got resolution through a D minor chord. F major, a happy chord, and D minor, a dark chord, have two out of their three notes in common, yet have totally different emotional qualities.

Because of those shared notes, we noted how their relationship was closely related, what music theorists call relative minor. D minor is literally F major's dark side and is used in dark fantasy as a tonal representation of the duality of fame, good and evil. Gorgeous also makes use of this tonal duality, but executed differently. The song's hook oscillates between three chords, C-sharp minor, E-major, and F-sharp minor. C-sharp minor and E-major have the same tonal relationship as F-major and D-minor we just discussed. They share two of the three of the, the same notes and C sharp minor as E major's dark side, its relative minor. In this progression, the E major chord, our poor, well-intentioned chord that represents purity and light, is surrounded by our chords of darkness, C-sharp minor, below it, and F-sharp minor, above it.

Here's the progression one more time. Now let's think about some of the lyrical phrases set over this progression. I can feel it slowly slipping away from me. I'm on the edge, while you playing. Clearly, Kanye fears losing his grasp on the goodness in his life, his mother, his fiance, his success post-V-MAs, and now finds himself being pushed and pulled by darkness all around him. Tonally, the chord progression is doing just that. It begins with our dark C-sharp minor, moves up to our bright E-major, and up again to another dark chord, F-sharp minor. E major is literally enclosed by two minor chords on either side, trapped in the middle and oscillating desperately between the two, a tonal reflection of the struggle Kanye feels within himself.

After three repetitions of this progression with slight variation, an A major chord is introduced during the last line, I'll never ever let you live this down, down. And now on piano alone. first our original chord progression, and now the A major chord. Can you feel that? Before playing the rest of the progression, let's just feel the breath and openness that comes with this change. After the somberness and unease of the previous minor-based progression,

the A-major is an optimistic harmonic and emotional shift. Unfortunately, its presence is momentary, a mere setup for the free fall that happens next. The remainder of this concluding chord progression is a harmonic descent, and we end up back where we started, C-sharp minor. For clarity's sake, here are just the descending bass notes of this passage. And wouldn't you know, the lyric that accompanies this dramatic down, down, downward descent is I will never ever let you live this down, down, down.

Again, Kanye and his co-writers ingeniously employ harmonic accents and subtleties that heighten our emotional experience with the lyrics. And as a brief but related aside, the same technique was actually employed. on the album's previous track, Dark Fantasy. Lyrically, the song's hook is just one line. Can we get much higher? This is sung over a four-core progression that, you guessed it, ascends upward, higher and higher.

And again for clarity, just the bass notes of this passage. In Dark Fantasy, we have lyrical and harmonic ascension as Kanye establishes his character as rich and successful. On Gorgeous, we have both lyrical and harmonic descent, as this character begins a downward spiral into the dark-twisted recess. of fame. If the hook of Gorgeous establishes the album's stakes, that Kanye's career and perhaps his life is dependent on the success of Twisted Fantasy, then the three verses find Kanye rapping as if his life depended on it. He returns to a subject that he addressed regularly on both

the college dropout and late registration, the experience of the black male in America. down down The devil dances And eventually answers To the caller autumn All them falling For the love of falling Get called with 30 rocks

The cop looked like Alec Baldwin Innocentury anthems Based off inner city tantrums Based off the way we was branded Face it Jerome get more time than branding And at the airport they took all through my bag And tell me that it's random But we stay winning

The verse begins Penitentiary Chances The Devil dances and eventually answers to the call of autumn, all them fallen for the love of Balin, got caught with 30 rocks, the cop looked like Alec Baldwin. Straightaway, Kanye constructs a deeply complex portrait of the circumstances of the black male in America. Penitentiary chances alludes to America's bloated prison population and the high likelihood that a black male faces imprisonment in their lifetime.

Indeed, the penitentiary chances are quite high, with currently one in three black men expected to see some sort of incarceration in their lifetime. Kanye likens this sentiments to the devil's work, the devil being a recurring presence throughout the album, and already mentioned several times on dark fantasy. The devil dances, tempting as he does, impoverished black men, with drug dealing and other illegal activities, then answers to the call of autumn, which is a season where things die, where things fall. Then, in a sudden very Kanye West pivot, he puns 30 rock, both an NBC comedy show and crack cocaine, and a typical white American police officer represented by Alec, Baldwin, the star of 30 Rock. Connie continues, inter-century anthems based on inner-city tantrums, based off the way we was branded.

Face it, Jerome get more time than Brandon. Kanye here links together an insightful chain of cause and effect. Hip-hop songs, or inter-century anthems, are created based on the plight of the black experience, or inner-city tantrums. These are themselves a product of the unequal perception and biases of black Americans, or the way we was branded. Kanye then elaborates on race branding, calling out the inequality of the justice system by comparing the prison sentences of black males and white males, illustrated by the names

Jerome, a black name, and Brandon, a white name. Kanye here could be alluding to the sentence disparity that developed in the 1980s war on drugs. Crack cocaine, a primarily black drug, landed you a sentence 100 times longer than powder cocaine, a primarily white drug. It wasn't until Obama's 2010 Fair Sentencing Act that the disparity was lowered and the five-year minimum sentence for simple possession of crack cocaine was removed. As verse one continues, Connie pivots from universal commentary to personal commentary. Get more time than branding 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 fit it and some job opportunities is lu quid if this the real world. Homie school finish. They distow your dreams. You don't know who did it. I treat the cash the way the government trees says. I won't be satisfied to all my niggas get it. Get it? After outlining some of the nation's race issues in the first half of the verse,

Kanye pivots to himself, saying, And at the airport, they check all through my bag and tell me that it's random. This anecdote exemplifies that even at Kanye's level of fame and success, he's still a black man living in America and is not immune to its consequences. Kanye continues with a more optimistic approach, noting that we stay winning and that he needs a happy ending, a new beginning, a new outfit, and a new job. Connie often takes a more quote-unquote common man perspective

in order to make his music more relatable to his audience, something that he's addressed in interviews. Go listen to all my music. It's the codes of self-esteem. It's the codes of who you are. If you're a Kanye West fan, you're not a fan of me. You're a fan of yourself. You will believe in yourself.

I'm just the espresso. I'm just a shot in the morning to get you going, to make you believe that you can overcome that situation that you're dealing with all the time. As the verse concludes, Kanye says, I treat the cash like the government treat AIDS. I won't be satisfied till all my N-words get it. Here, Kanye is addressing the conspiracy

that U.S. government scientists created AIDS to kill black people. While it may strike some as an egregious statement, the thought at least in part stems from the fact that over half our country's new AIDS infections occur among black people, despite them making up just 12% of the population. New research suggests that prison is the cause for the disproportionate contraction of AIDS, and that the increase in black AIDS victims coincided with the increase of the disproportionate rise in black prisoners, beginning in the 1980s war on drugs. When viewed this way, Kanye's AIDS line actually brings a verse full circle, back to the opening statement, penitentiary

chances. After an abbreviated hook, Kanye continues his discourse on race relations and his position in America. It's hip-hop just a euphemism for a new religion. The soul music of the slaves that the youth is missing. But this is more than just my road to redemption. Malcolm West at the whole nation standing at attention. As long as I'm a polo smiling, they think they got me, but they'd try to crack me if they ever see a black meet. I thought I chose a feel where they couldn't sack me. If a nigga ain't shooting the jumps, I run in a track me. But this pimper, Kanye begins the verse is hip-hop just a euphemism for a new religion, the sole music of the slaves that the youth is missing. It's a valid question and ties back into Kanye's opening lines of verse 1, in which he suggested that rap is the product of inner city plight,

which is itself a product of the discriminatory treatment blacks endure. He likens the cathartic chain gang and field anthems of slaves to hip-hop anthems of today, who used music as a blueprint for their lives, much like people use religion. And if hip hop is a new religion, Connie considers himself a high priest. As he states next, this is more than just my road to redemption. Malcolm West had the whole nation standing at attention. Connie is simultaneously acknowledging the stakes of the album in his own life in mind, but also viewing his music as something more than personal triumph.

It's a visionary, albeit controversial, spearhead to a national movement, similar to Malcolm X during the civil rights movement. Connie continues with more dense wordplay. As long as I'm in polo smiling they think they got me, but they would try to crack me if they ever saw a black me. The polo comment is in reference to his early career in which Kanye was known for his brightly colored polo shirts, a very safe public image for a black man in America, one that whites feel comfortable accepting. Connie then states that they would crack me if they ever saw a black me, that if he showed himself to be anything other than a docile suburbanite, they would crack him,

which alludes to the crack of the slave whip and crack cocaine, both referenced earlier. The allusions to slavery continues when he states, I thought I chose a field where they couldn't sack me if an N-word-Ate-shootin-a-j-junt-up running a track meet. The field here reminds us of Cottonfield's slaves worked, which he then likens to today's football fields, basketball courts, and track-and-field. All the fields whites are comfortable with black people inhabiting, a kind of call back to his unthreatening pink polo.

Like verse one, midway through verse two, Kanye pivots on the word butt. It begins a threat of empowering affirmation. This pimp is at the top of Mount Olympus, ready for the world's games, this is my Olympics. We make them say a ho because the game's so pimpsish. Choke a South Park writer with a fish stick. I insisted to get up off of this dick. And these drugs niggas can't resist it. But mind me when they try to have Ali enlisted, if I ever wasn't the greatest, think I must have missed it.

Connie's pivot begins, but this pimp is on top of Mount Olympus. Ready for the world's games, this is my Olympics. These lines are a play off his previous line about marginalizing black people as athletes. Kanye claims himself on top of the highest mountain in Greece, ready for whatever shenanigans a public throws his way. Again, we're reminded of the album Stakes in Kanye's mind, which he likens to his personal Olympics, and the quality of his bars thus far makes it clear that he's going for nothing less than gold.

Next, Kanye Jabs, Choke a South Park rider with a fish stick. This is a reference to the infamous 2009 South Park episode Fish Sticks. An entire episode dedicated to Kanye's inability to understand a joke about the word fish dicks sounding like fish dicks. Explain it to me. Why do people think I'm a gay fish? Because you like fish dicks, man. Come on, man. Don't you get it, please.

Just get it, man. Why? Look at me. Look at me. I love fish sticks. I love putting fish dicks in my mouth. You're a gay fish, huh? Coming after the World's Games Olympics line,

Connie's jab back at South Park appears to be a display of his lyrical athleticism. A single passing line is all Connie needs to blow off the world's assertive efforts to slander him. Kanye concludes the verse with a callback to the opening lines of verse one, and these drugs, N-words can't resist it. And in another unexpected pivot says, Remind me of when they tried to have Ali enlisted. Here, Kanye Kuwait's African Americans going for prison for drug offenses to Muhammad Ali's five-year prison sentence for resisting his mandatory military service in the Vietnam War. This thread that holds a seemingly random pivot together as the U.S. government who control both the laws and the enforcement of those laws.

Cleverly, the phrase Ali enlisted is pronounced to also sound like Ali and Liston, a reference to Ali's famous 1964 fight against Sunny Liston, where he won the heavyweight belt for the first time. It should also be noted that Ollie first received widespread attention as a boxer in 1960 before his first professional boxing fight when he won the gold medal at the Olympic Games in Rome, which calls back to the Olympic references earlier in the verse. Kanye punctuates the verse's conclusion by quoting Ollie's famous I Am the Greatest speech. I am the greatest. After a repetition of another abbreviated hook, verse three begins. I need more drinks and less lights and that American a pair of girl and just tight.

Connie She told her director She's trying to get in the school He said take them glasses off And get in the pool It's been a while since I watched a tool Because like a Crip said I got way too many blues

For any more bad news I was looking at my resume Feeling real fresh today They rewrite history I don't believe in yesterday And what's a black beetle anyway A fucking roach I guess is why they got me sitting in fucking coach

Connie begins With a verse 3 with a play on the phrase I need more dreams and less life With the zone I need more drinks and less lights Here he again alludes to an alcohol dependency, and lights represent the spotlight he ran from post-VMAs. Connie continues with an intricate vignette, first stating somewhat misogynistically that he needs that American Apparel Girl in just tights. But Connie quickly pivots to a more empathetic perspective, saying, she told the director she's trying to get into school.

He said, take them glasses off and get in the pool. These lines are in reference to the American Apparel's risque ads and the string of sexual harassment lawsuits that were charged against their CEO, Dob Charnie. The girl in Kanye's vignette is attempting advancement through education, signified by her glasses and mention of school, and the director clearly desires to exploit her. After all of Kanye's talk of exploitation and mistreatment of blacks, it would seem he sympathizes and sees parallels with the plight of women. Next, Kanye alludes again to his exile and depression, stating, it's been a while since I watched the tube, because like a Cripset, I got way too many blues for any more bad news. Clearly, the television will bring more.

sorrow for Kanye, as he was a butt of seemingly every late-night talk show for months after the VMAs. Kanye then sharply pivots to optimism by referencing the success of his earlier album, saying, I was looking at my resume, feeling real fresh today, only to counter with the line, they rewrite history I don't believe in yesterday. This is a play on the Beatles hit Yesterday, and its refrain, I Believe in Yesterday. In yesterday While Paul McCartney sings of believing in yesterday, for Kanye is a little more difficult. Connie believes his critics have jeopardized his reputation, rewrote history,

thus negating his past works and achievements. We can also view this as commentary on race relations, as white men have rewrote and softened our country's history of slavery and deprecating treatment of black folk, who also aren't likely to share McCartney's nostalgic yearnings for yesterday. This is further punctuated by the now classic line, and what's a black beetle anyway, a fucking roach. That's why they got me sitting in fucking coach.

Coach or the back of an airplane is being likened to the back of the bus during America's years of segregation. Connie ends verse three with a climactic string of self-empowering shots at his critics. My guy said I need a different approach because people is looking at me like I'm sniffing. It's not funny anymore. Try different jokes. Tell them hug and kiss my ass. X and no.

And kiss the ring while they had to do my thing while I got to play strings. but a dramatic end of that whack shit act like I ain't had a belt in two classes I ain't got it I'm coming after whoever who has it I'm coming after whoever who has it you blowing up that's good fantastic that y'all

it's like that y'all I don't really give a fuck about it at all because the same people that try to blackball me forget about two things my black balls Kanye verbally assaults those who attempt to ridicule him saying tell him hug and kiss my ass X and O and kiss the ring while they're at it. This is clever wordplay, as X and O are short for

kiss and hug, but Connie then uses the O to symbolize both a jewelry ring, a sign of royalty and power, and a part of his body that resembles a ring, but is definitely not a ring if you catch my drift. Connie then states, act like I ate and had a belt in two classes, likening his skills as both rapper and producer to that of a boxer-winning championship belts in two weight classes. After our sarcastic dismissal of potential newcomers, threatening his spot at the top, Kanye saves his best, most potent line for the end. Throughout Gorgeous, Kanye stitches together as thoughts on race relations in America, and his unwavering self-confidence despite those circumstances. These concluding lines of the

burst serve as a perfect punctuation mark to these two themes. Blackballing addresses those attempting to hold Kanye back, and those attempting to hold back people of color in general. Kanye then uses the same phrase, My Black Balls, to aggressively assert his pride in himself, his blackness, and by extension the entire black population. It's an empowering line, an effective exclamation mark to his three near flawless verses. Gorgeous repeats its abbreviated hook, and at the 430 mark seems to come to a natural ending point. On any other album, three high-quality verses would be more than enough justification to end a song. But like dark fantasy, the song pushes past our standard expectations and into

unknown territory. This time, we get slight transformation of the song's beat, which is suddenly stripped of everything but the piano and percussive hits, as Rayquan from the Wu-Tang Clan makes an unexpected entrance. A new drumbeat is then introduced, over which an original guitar solo is played by Mike Dean. On the first half, rab is a red jag, a louis bag grabbing the blunt fuck it, steam about a hundred and one else, kites off the jails, buying sweats, running up in steps, and nigger had game was special. In the first half of the verse, Reiquan establishes himself as a wealthy, weed-smoking success story. As the verse progresses, the hint said his success was due to the guidance bestowed on him by his elders. To every young man, this is a plan, learn from others like your brothers, Ray and Kanye.

Nothing, nothing, nothing. Not for... If you can't live, you're dying, you give in or buy in. Keep it real or keep it moving. Keep grinding. Keep shining. To every young man, this is a plan. Learn from others like your brother's Ray and Kanye.

After Kanye's three-verse sermon on maintaining self-confidence in the face of the obstacles African Americans must overcome to succeed in America, Rayquan both exemplifies and punctuates its lesson. His advice is straightforward, stay focused, and just keep going. Of course, with my beautiful dark twisted fantasy, Kanye is doing just that, confronting his personal adversity head on, and letting it push him to be the best version of himself. Conclusions Gorgeous is undoubtedly one of Kanye's strongest displays as lyricist and rapper.

While the subject matter of the blackmail experience as America is something we've heard Kanye address multiple times, on the college dropout and late registration. Gorgeous is more mature in its craftsmanship, more concise, more experienced, and more venomous. The lyrics are dense and extremely detailed, seemingly every line of callback to the previous line. This intricate approach to lyricism was a conscious effort on Kanye's part,

as my beautiful dark-twisted fantasy was the first album where he actually wrote his raps down on paper. I didn't write my raps down for my first four albums. Like I just did it from the head straight to the book, but on this last album, on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, I wrote it. Because I really put myself in a zone that I felt like my life was dependent on the success of this album. Indeed, there's an area wasted word on Gorgeous, as Kanye seamlessly weave cheeky pop culture references with poignant racial anecdotes and self-empowering affirmations.

It's a blueprint to atonement, to overcoming uncontrollable forces with sheer grit, determination, and self-assurance. He seems less concerned with how to end racism, and more concerned with how to overcome it, how to do great things in spite of it. Of course, we add layers of emotional and psychological complexity when we consider the narrator Kid Cuddy, who observes and provides commentary on Kanye's situation, revealing that a fear of failure, fear of judgment, fear of losing it all is a guiding, underlying principle in Connie's behavior. It would seem for all as bravado, Kanye is not fully confident in his confidence, his ego being a defense mechanism to adversity.

It calls to mind something interesting Connie said on his blog after seeing that South Park episode we discussed earlier, the one that mocks Connie for failing to get a joke about fish sticks. He said, quote, South Park murdered me last night, and it's pretty funny. It hurt my feelings, but what can you expect from South Park? I actually have been working on my ego. Having the crazy ego is played out at this point in my career in life.

I used to use it to build up my esteem when nobody else believed to me. Now that people do believe in support my music, the best response is, thank you, instead of I told you so. I just want to be a doper person, which starts with me not always telling people how dope I think I am. I need to just get past myself, drop the bravado, and just make dope product." And thus is the conundrum of a Kanye West. His defiant ego made possible the persistence necessary to succeed as a rapper after years of rejection and laughter by his industry peers. And now post VMA's, that very same ego has jeopardized the career he worked so defiantly to achieve. Kanye's ego is a gift and a curse. And so what's a Kanye West

to do? How do you tame the very ego that brought you success? How do you harmonize such conflicting internal emotions? These are complex questions, of course. The answers to which Kanye will attempt to find through more multidimensional exploration of self on the album's next song, Power, which will thoroughly examine, next time Mondiardier's, Dysect. Dysect is written and produced by me. Theme music by Birocratic. If you enjoy Dysk, consider dropping a review on Apple Podcasts, tell a friend about the show,

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