Dissect - S2E6 – Power by Kanye West

Episode Date: September 5, 2017

We continue our serialized analysis of Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by dissecting "POWER." 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 serialized examination of Kanye West, My Beautiful, Dark Twisted Fantasy. We're currently in the midst of the album's first act, which we've titled Beautiful. On the album's opener Dark Fantasy, we're introduced to Kanye West, a kid from Chicago, who, like many of us, fantasize of fame and fortune. After obtaining fame, Kanye's naive, one-dimensional understanding,

standing of it quickly erodes and a dark side begins to reveal itself. On our last episode, we examined the album's second track, gorgeous. Here, Kanye delivered a dissertation on race relations in America, outlining the obstacles he overcame as a black man to find success in this country. He also expressed through his surrogate narrator Kid Cuddy, a fear of losing all he worked for after the backlash of the VMAs, a fear that would lead him to substance abuse and thoughts of suicide. Twisted Fantasy continues to develop these themes of internal

confliction, fear, suicide, and fame with the album's next track and the subject of today's episode, Power. I'm living in that 21st century, doing something mean to it, do it better than anybody you ever seen to it. Screams from the haters, got a nice ring to it. I guess every super hip only his theme music. Power is produced by Conchoprown. Kanye West and Dallas-based underground producer Symbolic 1, aka S-1.

Additional production credits are given to Mike Dean, Jeff Basker, and Andrew Dawson. The framework of the track was created by S-1, who originally gave the beat to rapper RimeFest to use, who was also Kanye's friend and collaborator. Rimefest played a number of S-1 beats for Kanye while in Hawaii during the Twisted Fantasy sessions, and as S-1 tells it, he received a text out of the blue from Rimefest saying, quote, Kanye is loving your stuff. He said he's about to change your life, unquote. Two days after receiving this text, S1 got an email saying that his flight to Hawaii leaves in three hours. When he arrived, Kanye had already recorded some vocals to what would become

Power, as well as added some additional production elements. Power is truly a masterclass in modern hip-hop production. The focal point of the track is based on an excerpt of Afro-America's 1978 song, Continent Number 6. This excerpt was then sped up and pitched up to sound like this. This version was then recreated and re-recorded by Kanye's studio engineers, which I assume was done to have more freedom in the song's mix. Powers' drums are sampled from the band Cold Grits' 1969 song, It's Your Thing. These drums are chopped up to sound like this.

Combining these two samples, and we get the basic foundation of the song. Implied harmony is then added to the track. provided by a heavily distorted bass synth. This implied harmony sets the song in C minor, a key signature with historic metaphorical significance that we'll talk more about in a minute. Over the bass, drums, and tribal sample, Mike Dean adds a solo guitar line.

It's these four elements, the Continent Number 6 sample, the Cold Grits drums, the synth bass, and guitar lick, that make up the core of powers musical material. It's an eclectic mix of tribal world music, boombat, electronic, and stadium rock that somehow maintains a pop sensibility. Things get more dynamic still, as the end of each hook becomes punctuated with the sharp interjection of King Crimson's 1969 track, 21st century Schizoid Man. And now here's the source of that sample. So with the basic understanding of the production elements that comprise power, I'd like to return to the significance of the song's C minor key signature. In the world of classical music, C minor is often reserved for significant pieces that deal with dark and brooding themes,

specifically what has been coined the heroic struggle. Ludwig van Beethoven was the composer who ushered in this metaphoric use of C minor, as some of his most tragic and heroic works used a key signature. For example, one of Beethoven's most recognizable works, Symphony No. 5 in C minor. Beethoven is said to have described these opening phrases as fate knocking at the door. And while these opening measures are of course universally recognized, you may not be so familiar with the piece's fourth and final movement. And thus the heroic struggle, fate or death knocking at the door in the opening movement

is battled throughout the symphony until we reach a triumphant victorious finale. It was a reflection of Beethoven's psyche during this time, as his progressive hearing loss led him to suicidal thoughts. But Beethoven eventually saw his deafness as a challenge to be fought and overcome. As he said, quote, I will take fate by the throat, it will never bend me completely to its will, unquote. And thus the Fifth Symphony, the hero's struggle to persevere in the face of adversity. Beethoven chose C minor as the key to express these heroic sentiments, not only in his fifth symphony, but a handful of other major works as well. Regarding Beethoven's works in C. Minor, scholar Charles Rosen said, quote,

Beethoven and C minor has come to symbolize his artistic character. In every case, it reveals Beethoven as hero, unquote. Many composers after Beethoven continued this tradition of reserving C minor for larger or important works of heroic artistic expression, including Johannes Brahms' Symphony No. 1, Dmitry Shostakovich's string quartet number 8, and yes, Kanye West's power. I'm living in that 21st century,

Doing something mean to it. Do it better than anybody you ever seen to it. Screens from the haters, got a nice ring to it. I guess every superhero needs his theme music. No one man's yet. Intentional or not, power is an exemplary use of C minor in the classic tradition of heroic struggle. As we just heard, Kanye even introduces the song as his superhero theme music. As we'll see in our lyrical analysis,

power is a multidimensional philosophical and psychological examination of power, how it can transcend, how it can hinder, how it can curse. Kanye will position himself as a man, a hero, who struggles with power, who craves it, who embraces it, who questions it, who abuses it, whose life is ultimately at risk because of it. As writer Kirk Rocker Graves wrote, quote, Power is a song about Kanye's self-conscious delusion of omnipotence, a fantasy too aware of its own extravagance. not to come undone. The track is a wrecking ball of egotism that, by the song's end,

topples the statue it helps erect, unquote. Before we dive into our lyrical analysis of the track, I want to briefly describe the visual component that was released in tandem with power, the first official single for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The video was directed by Marco Brambilla, known for his work described as moving paintings. It begins with a tight shot of a stationary, statuesque Kanye West, wearing an extremely large gold chain around his neck. Egyptian ionic columns stretch endlessly behind him. As the song progresses, the camera slowly zooms out, revealing a symmetrical congregation of Egyptian-inspired half-naked women that surround him, some with horns, and the one nearest

him with angels' wings, reminiscent of a phoenix. As a camera zooms out even further, we see suspended inches above Kanye's head a gold crown and a long menacing sword, the tip of which penetrates through the crown and towards Kanye's head. We zoom out further and see two men with swords on either side of the screen that are lunging at Kanye, what appears to be an assassination attempt. The video concludes with a shot in which all the women are removed from the scene, leaving just Kanye, the two assassins, and the sword looming above his head. The video is full of enough symbolic imagery to fill an entire episode, but for our purposes

today, I do want to point out a few revealing symbols that will help guide our analysis of the track. First, the pendant hanging from the large chain Kanye wears depicts Horace, one of the most powerful of ancient Egyptian deities. Horace was the god of the sky, his left eye the sun, his right the moon. It was said that during a battle one of his eyes was gouched out and subsequently replaced by the gods Hathor and Thoth. Horace gave this restored eye to his dead father Osiris to bring him back to life. Thus the iconic eye of Horus was born, also known as the all-seeing eye, a symbol of protection, knowledge, and royal power. We might then ask, what is Kanye protecting? I believe two things. Kanye stands in front of infinite rows of ionic columns. Ionic columns and their defining

scroll-like capitals are said to be symbolic of knowledge and wisdom. Kanye wearing the horace chain seems to be the gatekeeper or guardian of knowledge, a job I'd guess he sees fit for any true artist. Secondly, sitting on a throne to the right of Kanye is a winged woman, the only other figure in the scene aside from Kanye that's looking directly at the viewer. The two seem to be a pair. This woman has a set of large angelic wings that evoke the image of a phoenix. In mythology, a phoenix is a mystical bird that dies and is reborn across cultures and through time. The phoenix symbolizes renewal and rebirth. The phoenix also plays a central role in the short film Runaway that accompanied the release of my beautiful dark twisted fantasy.

As we'll see in our analysis of this film later in the season, the Phoenix represents represents Kanye's pure, inter-creative muse. After his self-imposed exile following his mother's death, the loss of his future wife, and the VMAs, Kanye sees himself as reborn, and uses a phoenix as symbolic of this rebirth, protective now of the creative muse that helped him rise from his metaphoric grave. The last thing we need to discuss is that looming sword above Kanye's head. This is the sword of Damocles. As legend goes, Damocles was an attendant in the court of Dionysius, a 4th century BC tyrant of Syracuse. Damocles exclaimed that, as a great man of power and authority, Dionysius was truly fortunate.

Dionysius then offered to switch places with him for a day, so he could taste firsthand that fortune. In the evening, a banquet was held where Damocles very much enjoyed being waited upon like a king. Only at the end of the meal did he look up and noticed a sharpened sword hanging directly above his head by a single horsehair. immediately Damocles lost all taste for the amenities and asked leave of the tyrant, saying he no longer wanted to be so fortunate. Dionysius had successfully conveyed a sense of the constant fear in which the great man lives. Power's narrative structure, both the song and video, resemble that of the Damocles anecdote, revealing the complexity of power and celebrity. The tight opening shot in which we see Kanye surrounded by gorgeous half-naked women is our one-dimensional

understanding of the luxury and indulgence of power. As the camera pulls back, we see Kanye surrounded by threatening swords, suffocated by chaotic decadence, revealing the pressures and the weight of power. We think of the Shakespeare quote, uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. With all this in mind, let's now dive into the lyrics of Kanye West's power. In that 21st century, doing something mean to it, do it better than anybody you ever seen. Do it. Screens from the haters. Power's opening lines are a red carpet Don't need his theme music.

I'm one man to have power. Powers opening lines are a red carpet introduction to Kanye's prodigious ego. He says, I'm living in that 21st century, doing something mean to it. Do it better than anyone you've ever seen do it. Screens from the haters got a nice ring to it. I guess every superhero needs his theme music. Knowing this to be his first official release post-VMAs, Kanye straightaway addresses the controversy and his sullied reputation.

and his sullied reputation with unabashed egoism. He positions himself as the most influential artists of the 21st century, while also slightly alluding to the king crimson sample that will punctuate the upcoming hook. He patronizes his new congregation of haters, stating that their screams are music to his ears. He seems for now to be embracing his role as villain, an invincible tyrant,

a single line all he needs to brush off the torrential outpouring of disgust following the VMAs. These opening lines are akin to, the opening shots of the power video, where all we see is a powerful, godlike Kanye, surrounded by women and nothing of the veiled fear and dread. This introduction is immediately followed by the song's hook. No one man should have all that power. The clock's ticking, I just count the hours.

Stop tripping, I'm tripping off the power. 21st century schizoid man. This hook will come to have multiple meanings as the song progresses. After the arrogance of the introduction, the hook becomes a testament to Kanye's accumulation of power. No one man should have all this power, but Kanye does. While the clock ticking undoubtedly represents the idea of a looming Damocles sword, his arrogance only allows him to count the hours, a kind of passive right-off to his inevitable demise. Stop tripping, I'm tripping off the power, is an acknowledgement and arrogant embracement of his abuse of power.

He tells his imaginary audience to stop tripping, as it's killing his buzz or high off the power, his quote-unquote power trip. The overall feeling we get from both the introduction and the opening hook is unapologetic indulgence, an abrasive assertion of ego, a kind of me against the world proclamation of power. After the song's opening hook, verse one begins. The verse begins of the haiku-like summation of the conditions of contemporary American society. The system broke, the school closed, the prisons open. It's racial and social commentary reminiscent of the album's previous track,

gorgeous. But Kanye's response to these circumstances on power is more reckless, saying, we ain't got nothing to lose, motherfucker are we rolling, with some light-skinned girls and some Kelly Rollins. Kanye's rationalism regarding the imbalance system in America causes them to roll, which can mean both driving and or taking drugs, with both light and dark-skinned black women. As a man with so much self-proclaimed power, power that could be used to help fight these

imbalance conditions, Kanye's indulgence comes off as a blatant, reckless abuse of his power. The next line, in this white man's world, we the ones chosen, is a powerful affirmation in the face of racial bias. Kanye is clearly among the ones chosen, and up until this point, he's indulgently embraced his role. But the next lines begin to reveal the chinks in his armor. He says, so good night, cruel world, I'll see you in the morning. This is way too much, I need a moment.

Kanye is beginning to retract from his initial posturing as invincible king. It would seem that the pressures of the cruel world are beginning to expose themselves, a slow reveal of the Damocles sword as our lens on Kanye's life continues to widen. After a repetition of the song's hook, verse 2 begins. Kanye opens a verse with a roundhouse swing on Saturday Night Live. Kanye's anger stems from S&L's mockery of him after the VMAs, where host Taylor Lottner, Taylor Swiss boyfriend at the time, karate chopped a Kanye mannequin's head off during the opening monologue. Kanye continues his jabs at S&L, comparing their short-minded thoughts to French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte,

while Kanye and his Mongolian furs are more akin to Genghis Khan. As a clever historic posturing of Kanye's power, as Genghis Khan's resume of 12 million square miles of territory conquered, makes child's play of Napoleon's 720,000 square miles. Kanye then goes all in on his narcissistic grandeur, saying, I embody every characteristic of the egotistic. And then, as an example of his ego, speaks about himself in third person, saying, he knows he's so fucking gifted. At this point, any more extreme self-aggrandizing like this would likely make us nauseous.

But like we've seen multiple times on the album thus far, Connie makes an unexpected emotional 180 and delivers some of his most thoughtful lines of his career. needed time alone with my own thoughts got treasures in my mind but couldn't open up my own fault my child like creativity purity and honesty is honestly being crowded by these grown thoughts reality is catching up with me taking my inner child i'm fighting for custody with these responsibilities if they entrusted me as i look down at my diamond and crush the piece thinking MAs with the lines, I just needed time alone with my own thoughts, got treasures in my mind but couldn't open up my own vaults.

My childlike creativity, purity, and honesty is honestly being crowded by these grown thoughts. It's a poetic expression of his fear after the VMA backlash and an incident that could very easily have broken him. But it isn't his fame or power that Connie speaks of being at risk, it's his creativity, the thing he holds most dear. He elaborates with the next lines, reality is kept. catching up with me, taking my inner child, I'm fighting for custody. Kanye likens his inner creative muse to a child, something innocent, something pure,

something threatened by the realities of the grown world. Kanye's exile was an attempt to escape reality, a paternal instinct to protect, to nurture, to regenerate his inner childlike creativity. Now I emerge back in the real world, Kanye stands as a guardian at the gates of creativity, the phoenix at his side, ready for a fight. It's important to note here that it's not fame or money or power that Kanye is concerned with losing. It's the purity of his art. In fact, his misuse of power and the reality that it brought him post-VMAs

is the very thing that now threatens what he deems most valuable. He's beginning to realize that it's the people that grant him power, and if those very same people are able to take it away, was his power even real in the first place? Kanye punctuates the verse with what I believe to be one of his most compelling, most cryptic lines of his career. Let's listen to this responsibility If they entrusted me As I look down at my diamond And crust to peace

Let's listen to this line one more time And ask yourself, is he saying Diamond or Dying Man? It's likely that Diamond was purposely pronounced in such a way to also hear Dying Man. It refers to Connie's famous Jesus Peace necklace that features a diamond-encrusted head

of Jesus, a dying man, complete with the crown of Thorntryor when crucified. In the context of the lyrics that come before it, the line is incredibly rich with meaning. The diamond-encrusted Jesus piece becomes a contemplative symbol of contradiction and confliction. Jesus himself can be viewed as symbolic of virtue and compassion, an example of power in its most purest, most righteous form. But around Kanye's neck, he's adorned with jewels and diamonds, and the symbolic purity of Jesus becomes tainted with frivolous adornments that represent self-indulgence and ego, power being misused and abused for personal gain. Kanye looks down at his quote-unquote diamond-encrusted peace, conflicted about his use of power. As we've seen throughout the song thus far, Kanye has oscillated between aggressive braggadocio,

the indulgent abuse of power, and a desire to return to a state of creative purity, and were left wondering which path he'll choose. Also, it wouldn't be far-fetched to think Kanye also sees himself akin to Jesus, a crusader for goodwill and righteousness, who was nailed to the cross for what he believed in. In interviews, Kanye more than once compared to standing up for Beyonce at the VMAs, with other iconic examples of historic sacrifice and martyrism. In no anonymity, I put myself in a line of fire. It's like straight up the kid in Tiananmen Square, the Chinese kid in front of the tank right I'm in front of the social, the media tank. I said, Jesus died for our sins.

Michael died for the sins of our media. Jesus had the Bible. He had Wikipedia. Just fighting. I feel like fighting that battle that Mike had. And I fight it also with explanations. People say, oh, you're overexplained yourself. Well, there's things that won't ever be explained within my time.

And I feel like when I explain my time, I'm explaining Michael, I'm explaining McQueen, I'm explaining the kids that just committed suicide two weeks ago in Chicago. I'm explaining all of that because I felt suicidal, I felt hurt, I felt compromised in a way, you know. Before moving on, let's listen again to the concluding lines of verse 2. But this time, let's think of Diamond-encrusted peace, not of his Jesus chain, but a gun. Kanye alluded to the pressures of power in the closing of verse 1 when he said, This is way too much I need a moment. Now at the end of verse 2, these pressures, these quote, responsibilities they entrusted me,

seemed to be weighing heavily on Kanye's conscious. The image of him holding a diamond-encrusted handgun represents all of Kanye's conflicted emotions we discussed in the Jesus piece. But now the imagery is much more ominous. Again, we think of that sword of Damocles hanging from a string above his head. and we wonder if it won't be Connie himself that cuts the string. Power continues with the repetition of the song's hook. After hearing these last few lines of verse 2, the hook reveals a deeper, alternative meeting.

Coming directly after Kanye's allusions to suicide, no one man should have all that power shifts from a line of self-aggrandizing egotism to a threatening self-realization. It's for good reason no one man should have all this power, as if pressures and fear it comes with is way too much for any man to handle. The lines, the clock's ticking, I just count the hours, becomes ominous forewarnings as Kanye, lonely and isolated, stares at a clock, counting the hours till his demise.

As you probably notice, the line stopped tripping, I'm tripping off the power, has been changed in this hook to I'm tripping off the powder, a reference to cocaine. It's another allusion to drug use as escapism from reality, and Kanye's power trip is now a drug trip. something that will return to at the song's end. After this altered hook is performed, verse 3 begins. Connie begins the verse with a whole fucking nation,

Lost in Translation with the whole fucking nation. This is a direct reference to the VMA's and is Katrina and George's Bush doesn't care about black people moment. Connie first likens himself to politician Colin Powell, a black man with real power, who suddenly transforms into Austin Powers, a fictional character who is essentially a joke, who people laugh at. Austin Powers was played by Mike Myers, the man who was at Kanye's side when he said his now infamous George Bush Black People line. While Connie's intentions might have been good in both the VMA and Katrina incidents, the points he was trying to make were lost in translation, due to his

inability to express his message without emotion and or ego. Connie then states, they say I was the abomination of Obama's nation. Well, that's a pretty bad way to start the conversation. It would seem that Kanye is frustrated with the media's portrayal of him as an American atrocity and their lack of desire to have a real, meaningful conversation about the issues he's spoken out against. As the verse continues, Kanye takes another unexpected pivot. But rather than pivot to introspection like verse two, Kanye turns reckless, perhaps. tripping off the powder. Connie begins a downward self-destructed descent

as he attempts to once again overcome his self-doubt with arrogance. But this time it just comes off as kind of desperate and sad, a sentiment accentuated by the somber piano part that enters precisely when Kanye begins his arrogant tantrum. It all ends with Kanye asking himself, how yay doing, to which he responds, I'm surviving. I was drinking earlier, now I'm driving.

Clearly, the pressures are turning Kanye reckless as he looks for solace and drugs, alcohol, and women. Let's listen again to the end of this verse, paying close attention to the phrase, So Exciting, and the echoes that followed. Did you notice how so exciting begins to sound like suicide? Have another listen. And before some of you claim this a reach, let's jump ahead to the song's next section, the outro. Kanye says, now this will be a beautiful death, while singer, Dwellé answers, I'm jumping out the window, I'm letting everything go.

With references to a diamond-en-crusted handgun, drinking and driving, the Damocles sword, and now a very blatant suggestion of suicide in the outro, it's becoming clear that death was certainly a consideration during Kanye's exile and a key component of power as a multifaceted concept. Here on the outro, death seems to be a glorified fantasy, an easy out, the inevitable conclusion to the downward spiral that seems to come after a rise to famous spectacular as Kanye's. Like Kurt Cobain and others, there seems to be a list of powerful artists that choose to take their own life at the height of their fame, leading us to believe the pressures of celebrity

and power are real threats to those ill-equipped to deal with them. Kanye leaves us with a question before the demonic tailspin that concludes the song. Kanye asks, you got the power to let power go? It would seem to be Kanye's conclusion to his psychological. examination of power. He's shown to be all too aware of the sword of Damocles hanging over his head, realizing the power he's accrued will inevitably lead to his demise. The kind of power Kanye's accrued is granted by people, by the public, by us. And if the VMAs taught him anything, it was that the same people that given power can very easily take it away. And again, it begs

the question, is this really power at all? Kanye seems to think not, as he questions whether he has the internal power to let this external power go. This internal power is based on self-actualization and humility, a kind of egoless virtue that will certainly not come naturally to a Kanye West. Of course, coming after his blatant images of suicide, another way Kanye can give up the power is to take his own life. The path more than a few have taken to escape the pressures of power and fame. This darker reality of power is accentuated by demonic screams in the song's outro, as well as a second King Crimson sample that repeats the phrase, Neuroscream. His frenetic persistence is perhaps a reflection of Kanye's mind,

as the parasitic pressures of fame eat away at his ego. Power ends on one final interjection of the King Crimson sample we've heard used throughout the song. With Kanye introducing himself as the ruler of the 21st century in the track's opening lines, it would seem that the 21st century schizoid man is a title Kanye is Donning Himself. If you're like me, you might have assumed that schizoid was short for schizophrenic, but in fact, it's not that simple. Schizoid is in reference to schizoid personality disorder, a condition characterized by isolation and difficulty or lack of interest in social relationships. Because their attachment to the external world is frail and non-existent, they live in rich, elaborate internal fantasy worlds. Yes, fantasy worlds.

People with schizoid personalities have difficulty assessing the impact of their own. actions and social situations, VMAs, and many speculate that schizoid personalities have ties to creativity. The literal meaning of schizoid is split type, and in the case of the schizoid, what one thinks has little to do and is separate from how one feels or behaves. Schizoid individuals commonly act out with substance abuse that substitute human relationships, calling to mind that already numerous references to drugs and alcohols escape on the album thus far. Suicide is an idea common for most schizoid individuals, though they're not likely to attempt one. As schizoid scholar Ralph Klein says, quote,

For some schizoid patients, suicide's presence is like a faint, barely discernible background noise, and rarely reaches a level that breaks into consciousness. For others, it's an ominous presence, an emotional sort of Damocles, in any case, it's an underlying dread that they all experience, unquote. Suicide, the sort of Damocles, we're treading familiar water here, are we not? Obviously I'm not a doctor, but having just a surface level understanding of schizoid behavior is enough to find parallels with the behavior Kanye has displayed on the album thus far. For all the egotism and braggadocio found on power, ultimately the title Connie gives

himself as 21st century schizoid man, characterized by isolation, disconnectiveness, substance abuse, thoughts of suicide, and living in a fantasy world. With our camera now fully zoomed out, Kanye is stripping away the armor of his ego. and revealing to us the complexities of power, a 21st century update on the Damocles anecdote. Like Dionysius, Kanye is attempting to express to us the fear and pressures of power and fame, as we, like Damocles, almost always see it as a one-dimensional luxury.

Conclusions. In multiple interviews, Kanye claims that he and his team put 5,000 man-hours into the song Power. So even a song like Power, we spent 5,000 hours writing it. And it's really psychological. behind the lyrics too. Like it's not just bladley, hey, I got all the powers. No one man should have all that power. And it's wording in a really sensitive way that, you know, opens it up for everyone. From its meticulous heterogeneous production to its tightly wound lyricism and complex metaphoric thematic content, power is a detailed, intricately chiseled marble statue

approach to songwriting. He simultaneously explores power both as a concept in and of itself, as well as its personal effects on his life and mind. It's something Kanye clearly struggles with. He's smart enough to recognize power's ability to deteriorate his spirit, but also recognize his own inability to let it go. By his conscious use of Greek mythology and symbolism and perhaps his unconscious use of the heroic struggle key signature of C minor, Kanye's power is textured with antiquity,

breathing new life into old themes, a 21st century presentation of ancient ideas. ideas. In the end, power borders on Greek tragedy as Kanye imagines his death as a beautiful release from the vice-like clutches of power and fame, which at this point the album's loose narrative seems to have gotten the best of Kanye West. At the very least, it has him on the ropes. Interestingly, for all its self-centered philosophizing, Kanye ultimately concludes power

by breaking the third wall and asking his listeners the same question he asked himself, You Got the Power to Let Power Go. It's a question we can interpret a myriad of ways. It certainly asks us to reserve judgment until we put ourselves in Kanye's shoes. If you accrued enormous power, how would you handle the pressure, the constant scrutiny? How strong is your skin in the face of adversity? If your mother died and your engagement ended, how would you behave why the whole world was watching? We often reserve empathy for those lower on the social and economic totem pole, for people

whose circumstances are less fortunate than our own, or for people facing tragic adversity. But what about the people, quote unquote, above us, the fortunate, the powerful, the ones who seem so well off at a distance? What do we make of them? Is there a threshold or limiter on empathetic capacity? Is it possible to empathize with a homeless person in the same way we would a millionaire? The definition of empathy is simply the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. It says nothing of who is deserving of empathy, because empathy as a concept is objective and without bias. In its pure state, empathy is applied equally to all things,

because when practice, empathy is infinite, a well that never runs dry. Our culture seems to love tearing down the same statues we help erect. We love a good rag's riches story, but equally love a fall from grace. Because with success and celebrity comes an inherent dehumanization, the famous become objects on a screen, talking points, points of debate,

representations of larger concepts or trends or movements, but often lost somewhere in those constructs is our capacity to empathize, our ability to understand and share the feelings of others. In the case of Kanye West, it would seem he believed wholeheartedly in the invincibility of success. When achieved, he found himself still vulnerable

to the basic human feelings of loss, hurt, depression, pressure, stress, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, the whole gammon of the human experience. On power, he begins as a self-aggrandizing, egocentric tyrant, and ends an unrivaling suicidal schizoid. His question to us at the end of the track is rooted in empathy, as it forces us to ask ourselves the same question he's asking himself. Do you got the power to let power go?

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