Dissect - S8E11 - Bound 2 by Kanye West

Episode Date: July 27, 2021

Our serialized analysis of Yeezus continues with its final track “Bound 2,” a song that resolves the album both musically and narratively. Back in the club on a Thursday, Yeezus finally meets the one girl worth a thousand of the others he’s been sleeping with. But why is it the over-the-top player Jerome who gets the final word on the album? Limited Season 8 merchandise is available at shop.dissectpodcast.com. Follow @dissectpodcast on Twitter and Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I want you for a moment to take yourself back to the first time you listen to Kanye West Yeez's. Remember the feeling you got when you first heard the album's opening moments and that distorted synth hits you like a punch in the mouth. Recall the shock you might have felt when you first heard a line like this. And remember the feeling of awe and invigoration you likely experienced when hearing this moment for the very first time. But then, after nine songs dominated by dissonance, distortion, and musical warfare, you reach the album's final track, which by comparison emerges like a glimmering oasis. The contrast between this and everything that came before it is stunning, like a diamond suddenly crystallizing out of years of violent pressure.

It's a moment that now, after years of listening, we might take for granted. But today, after unpacking how Bound Tube brilliantly pays off and resolves so many, musical, thematical, and narrative motifs set up throughout the entire album and story? I'm hoping, in some sense, you'll be able to hear the song again for the very first time. From Spotify, I'm Cole Kushner and this is Dissect, long-form musical analysis broken into short digestible episodes. Today we continue our serialized examination of Connie West Yeezes with its final track, Bound 2. Last time I Dissect, we unpacked the second to last track on Yeezes, send it up. Despite the progress and growth we witnessed in the

album's second act, we found Yeezus back in the club failing his final test of temptation. Thematically and musically, send it up as a near mirror image of the opening track on site, as Yeezus lacks the final push needed to complete his transformation and take the mask of machismo off once and for all. And so in terms of the album's narrative, we approach the final song wondering where he goes from here. Is he bound to live in the proverbial nightclub forever, or will something or someone come and rescue our hero? It's with this in mind that we turn to the album's next and final track, Bound 2.

Uh-huh, honey. All the mother niggas lame and you know it now. When the real nigger hoe you down, you're supposed to drown. Bound 2 was produced by Connie West and Che Pope, with additional production by Eric Danchick, Noah Goldstein, OID and Mike Dean. Like we noted at the top of the episode, we have to immediately recognize how the song's musical material contrasts with everything we've heard until this point. As such, bound to glimmers with a kind of angelic sheen, awash as it is with warm, nostalgic textures

and bright soulful vocals. But that isn't to say Jesus was completely devoid of brightness. In fact, there have been multiple markers throughout the album foreshadowing this moment, both sonically and thematically. We're going to take this opportunity. We're going to take this opportunity to recap those specific moments now, as they'll help to remind us how big and frankly brilliant bound to is as a narrative moment. We'll start with the music, and more specifically the song's key signature, which is F-sharp major. Now this wouldn't be a big deal on its own, but it becomes a really big deal when we consider the fact that this is the first song that's in a major key on the entire album. Throughout the season, we've talked a lot about how dark and dissonant the sound of

Jesus is. Much of this harsh, abrasive sound had to do with the intervals that are used that make up many of the songs distorted synthriffs. For example, we've talked a lot about the minor second interval and the tritone. Both the minor second and the tritone are intervals that are notoriously dissonant, commonly used in horror film scores. But one thing we haven't talked too much about this season is that tracks 1 through 9 have been in minor keys. In Western music, a song can be written in either a major key or a minor key. Major keys are known to be brighter, lighter, and generally give off a more optimistic or happy vibe. Songs in minor keys, on the other hand, are known to be darker, broody, and generally give off a more melancholic or menacing vibe.

Like I mentioned, and Telbound 2, every song on Yeezus has been in a minor key. On site was in the key of A minor. Black Skinhead, B-flat minor. I am a god, A-miner. New Slaves D minor Hold my liquor C minor I'm in it F minor Blood on the leaves D minor Guilt Trip E minor And send it up A minor

But now at the very end of the album We get our first major key Within the world of Yeas Bound 2 is like seeing color for the first time after being colorblind your whole life. The contrast is striking. It glows even brighter and more vivid because of what came before it.

It's a huge musical payoff and displays how the emotional and dramatic impact of music can be amplified by its context, what comes before and or after it. But even though this is the first full song on Yeezus in a major key, there have been a few small parts of songs that play in major keys.

And, surprise, surprise, when we take a closer look at these moments, they are the exact ones in which Jesus finding his divine woman were being foreshadowed. The first instance of excerpt being in a major key came on on-site. The vast majority of the song was in A minor and characterized by snarling, dissonant synths and distorted drums, as we were thrust into Jesus' frenzied maniacal lifestyle. But then, amidst all that chaos, a gospel sample suddenly drops out of nowhere. Embed with major tonality, this sudden sample becomes an oasis.

in the desert, a moment of music and a track that's abandoned music. The meaning of such a choice gains clarity when we consider the lyrics. God will give people what they need, not what they want. In other words, we don't always know what's good for us, but God does. The simplest way to understand the Yeez's character's journey is through this interlude. Back on on-site, before we knew the crippling journey our main character would go on, all we had was Yeezus and the moment. He was raucous, ludicrous, and self-consumed.

He lived his most indulgent and superficial life. As a character who was running from an emotionally debilitating past, he only existed in the present moment. He was the ruler of the club, getting whatever he wanted, when he wanted. The gospel sample may have sung about God, but Jesus believed himself to be a mortal sort of God that could lead his people in a social revolution.

But as you know, that social revolution failed at the end of new slaves and exposed the limits to his celebrity. His rants amount to nothing. signaling the second occurrence of a major key tonality, the sudden sample of pearls in her hair by the Hungarian band Omega. Recalled that this sample was the second bit of foreshadowing about the Yeez's character's path. In Hungarian, the song speaks of a sun too tired to shine, and that a divine woman was needed to revive and restore the sun. We don't hear this portion on new slaves, but Omega's song concludes with the lines, Oh, that girl with pearls in her hair,

is she real or just made of air? I know she'll wait for me. she will set me free. This cryptic and very calculated sample signaled the end of Act 1. From there, Jesus' journey turned inward, and it seemed as if God was giving our character what he needs, an existential, self-reflective journey so that Jesus might grow to the point where he can not only fall in love, but sustain a relationship, something he'd been incapable of doing. All of the self-indulgent temptations Jesus has faced throughout the album, the women, the power, the money, there were all tests presented to Jesus during his hero's journey. His ordinary world had allowed him to exist as a broken man wearing a mask of contentment.

And leaving that ordinary world for one that challenged him at his core, he could emerge from the other side somebody ready to move on from his troubled past, ready to build a new identity and a new future, ready for his divine woman that would restore him. Thus, both the gospel sample of OnSight and the Omega sample of New slaves were acts of foreshadowing, narratively, thematically, and musically. And now here at the album's end, we get the payoff. What was only alluded to now comes to fruition as the major key soul sound arrives in full, signifying the arrival of the divine woman, the gift from God Jesus needs to complete his transformation.

Interestingly, Bound 2 didn't always have such a heavy use of a soul sample. The first version of the song, what's now referred to as Bound 1, contained in a entirely different musical arrangement. Executive producer Rick Rubin told Rolling Stone, quote, The whole song was written without that main sample. It was the last minute thing. The song had kind of a lot of R&B music in it. We actually got a peek at this original version when artist and Yeez's producer Hudson Mohawk played some of it at a DJ set he did in 2014. And while the audio quality of this live recording isn't the greatest, it's worth listening to, as you can clearly hear Kanye rapping his then unfinished verse over the original musical material.

All this musical material was stripped away from the song's verses to incorporate the main sample, which comes from a song called Bound by a short-lived 70 soul group named the Ponderosa Twins Plus One. To create what we hear in Bound 2, Kanye and his team sped up the original track, which also raises its pitch. Then this sped-up sample gets pitched down and actually becomes lower than the original, which is somewhat unusual given Connie's reputation to pitch samples higher than the original. The possible reason why Connie might have pitched this sample down is to match the key of the original version of Bound,

as the hook of that original version featuring Charlie Wilson is included in Bound 2. In any case, this sample loop comprises the entirety of the song's verses. And like every sample and interpolation on the album, digging into the song's song, original lyrics add essential context and depth to the track. The original bound is straightforward and incredibly sweet. In the song's first verse they sing, you started with a mere hello, then you learned her name, you notice her finer qualities, and the magic of her rare personality. This sweetness is such a change in tone from the other song sampled, interpolated, and referenced on Yeezus. Also in terms of what happens on Bound 2, this sets the stage for Yeezus,

meaning his divine woman in a club in the song's opening verse. But things get even more layered when we take a listen to the second verse of the original bound. The lyrics here are, you ask what sign she is, and you find out you're compatible. You realize how fine she is, she's just what you've been looking for. Recall that in our analysis of guilt trip, we focused on Kanye's use of zodiac signs in reference to Yeez's previous relationships and why they didn't work out. Yeezus sang, Capricorn dancing out on the lawn. He later then starts his verse, maybe because she was into Leo's and I was into trios. Clearly these two are incompatible. She's a Capricorn and Yeezus, a stand in for Kanye, is a Gemini. Traditionally it said

Geminiis are most compatible with Aries, Leos, and Libras. And it just so happens that Kim Kardashian is a Libra. After an entire journey where Yeezus has cycled through various women and have been pushed to the brink of romantic destruction, we finally have a moment of clarity through this sample of bound. Yeezus and this woman aren't just in a relationship. They're compatible. She's what Yeezus has been looking for. The final verse of the original bound also serves as a fitting summary of the Yeez's journey. Here the lyrics are, don't try to resist because you're bound, bound to fall in love. Won't you try it again because you know you're bound, bound to fall in love? Jesus had resisted love for so long because of his emotional baggage. As we'll see, even within the lyrics of

Bound 2, he's going to express some reservations about commitment as he adjusts to the idea of settling down. But as these lyrics warn, don't try to resist. Just give yourself over to love. There's also a second sample source on Bound 2, this time covering from Brenda Lee's 1960 song, Sweet Nothings. Brenda Lee sings, My Baby Whispers in My Ear, Sweet Nothings. He knows the things I like to hear, sweet nothings, things he wouldn't tell nobody else, nobody else. Again, we get additional context to Bound 2, as this song expresses a man and woman smitten with each other. And so, before we even dissect a single word of Coney's verse on Bound 2, we have an overwhelming amount of thematical

and musical context around the track. Everything from the song's key signature to the previous samples on the album that foreshadowed this moment, to the specific samples chosen to create Bound 2, They all prepare us and contribute to the album's grand finale. It's a culminating moment of arrival. When a real nigger's lame and you know it now. Yeas opens the track, All them other N-Words lame and you know it now. When a real N-word hold you down, you're supposed to drown. We start in a place of ego.

This is a love song by Yeezus after all. Up front, we shouldn't expect a complete, extermination of ego. That wouldn't be realistic. Instead, we're going to find Yeezus working towards submission, an ongoing process. These specific lines seemed directed at Kim Kardashian's ex-boyfriends. She had famously dated the rapper Ray J, NFL player Reggie Bush, and NBA player Chris Humphreys. Connie had taken shots at both Bush and Humphreys in previous songs. In fact, in 2009, a full three years before he and Kim started dating, Kanye did a feature on Carrie Hilsen's song, knock you down. It was in this song that Kanye called Kim the quote,

cheerleader of my dream that seemed to only date the head of football teams. And the last line Kanye has on the track is a pointed one. You should leave your boyfriend now. In 2012, just two months before Kanye and Kim went public with a relationship, Kanye directly addressed Chris Humphreys and the song Cold from the good music compilation, cruel summer. For years, Kanye had waited for Kim to finally give him a sense rather than those other guys. So there's a sense of personal victory in the first line of Bound 2. Kanye even had a string orchestra before him knock you down as part of the song

melody that played as he proposed to Kim in 2013. Now that this woman has Yeezus, now that Kim has has Kanye, she realizes how lame everyone else has been. And we can assume the same is true for Kanye. All those other women we heard about on the album pale in comparison to Kim. The line, When a real N-word Hold You're Supposed to Drown is a rather strange expression of love. But as we've seen, Yisus is prone to express his feelings aggressively. Hold You Down is slang for showing support and commitment to someone, and Kanye's line plays off this phrase to bridge into a reference about drowning. This might evoke the idea of dying for the one you love, or generally using drowning as a metaphor for complete immersion in a single relationship.

These darker undertones of commitment foreshadow the part of Yeezus that feels trapped by the idea of committing to a single person forever. Thus, this opening couplet perfectly sets up the dichotomy that will unfold over the course of the track, as it captures both the celebration of his new love and his reservations about settling down. What you doing in the club on a Thursday? She says she only here for a girl birthday. They order champagne but still look Thursday. Rock forever 21 but just turned 30.

Jesus begins the first verse, What You're doing in the club on a Thursday. She says she's here only for a girl birthday. This calls back to the first verse of the original bound that describes the first conversation between a man and women who are bound to fall in love. In terms of the Yeezus narrative, we once again find Yeezus back in the club, hitting on women, just like he was doing on the previous track, Send It Up.

He asked what the girl is doing there, but we should really be asking this question about Yeez's. We know the club isn't where he should be, especially on a Thursday. But the girl Yeez's meets now as different from the start, where other girls wanted stuff from Yeezes and were at the club to get close to the limelight, to get to the top of the metaphorical mountain. this girl is only at the club to support her friend. This isn't her natural habitat. In that way, she's already different from the other women Yeezus has surrounded himself over the course of the story.

Yizus continues, they ordered champagne but still look thirsty. Yizus had poured his own champagne back on Guiltrip as a means of drowning his sorrows. Even though these women are out to celebrate a birthday, the previous association between champagne and pain may indicate that the women all have their own baggage that's left him in a similar place to Yeezus, hence them being in a club on a Thursday. Thirsty is also slang for someone who's obviously looking for sex, further coupling pain and sexual desire. Yisus follows the Thirsty line with Rock Forever 21, but just turned 30.

Forever 21 is of course a popular fast fashion company whose name implies their clothing provides a kind of fountain of youth. Their clothes have a designer-made appearance but lack the same quality, so they're far more affordable to the average person. Connie points to the humorous irony of a 30-year-old wearing Forever 21, as it ties into the desperation of a bunch of thirsty, 30-somethings being in a club on a Thursday, trying to meet men. Yet, the woman Yiza seems focused on is different than these women. She's only there for her friend's birthday, so Yizes too tries to differentiate himself from the pack. Leave a pretty girl's sad reputation.

Start a fight club, Brad reputation. Yeas this raps, I know I got a bad reputation. Walk around always mad reputation. Leave a pretty girl's sad reputation. Start a fight club, Brad reputation. There's a few layers to this succession of lines. First, we notice the clever wordplay, as reputation sounds a lot like repetition,

hence the repetitive nature of these lines. Kanye is likely speaking about his polarizing public presence at the time, a reputation that obviously continues to this day. From his interruption of Taylor Swift, a pretty girl Kanye left sad, to his publicized physical conflicts with paparazzi, Kanye understands how he might come off to those who don't know him personally, who only see him at his worst or his most controversial, newsmaking moments.

In terms of the album's narrative, Yis is showing a level of self-awareness as he tries to get ahead of his reputation. He attempts to differentiate himself just like the woman did. But whereas the woman wanted to distance herself from looking like a desperate, perpetual nightclub regular, Jesus wants to distance himself from himself. He knows his reputation is an angry, out-of-control womanizer, which is, to a certain degree true. But he caps off his description of why he has a bad reputation with Fight Club, which is a fictional

movie. The inclusion of a fictional reference implies that reputations are often fantastic and not the reality of the situation. Yisus might not be as bad if a guy as his reputation makes him out to be. Of course, this reference to Fight Club is also a comedic play on the film star Brad Pitt, whose name here morphs into Brad Rep Pitt-Tation. But like every reference on Yises, we find additional subtext and the name drop when we consider Fight Club's plot. The film centers on an unnamed main character, played by Edward Norton, who befriends a man named Tyler Durdin, played by pit. Soap. Sorry. I make and I sell soap. The yardstick of civilization. And this is how I met

Tyler Durdon. The main character and Tyler start a fight club for men to work through the frustration and pain they experience in their consumer-driven existence. Through shared violence, they use physical pain to eradicate their existential pain. The fight clubs become so popular and cultish, that they eventually evolve into a revolutionary faction bent on the destruction of credit records to free people from the debt corporations used to control them. This whole storyline is actually pretty relevant to Connie's album, as Yeezus has tried to do something similar. Black's skinhead was his identification of frustration, and New Slaves was his attempt at revolution to overthrow corporations who use materialism and consumerism to control us. The other relevant

part of Fight Club is this dramatic twist ending, where it's revealed that Spoiler alert, Tyler Dernan is actually a figment of the narrator's broken psyche. I don't understand this. You were looking for a way to change your life. You could not do this on your own. All the ways you wish you could be, that's me. I look like you want to look. I fuck like you want to fuck.

I am smart, capable, and most importantly, I'm free in all the ways that you are not. Oh no. It turns out that the narrator is actually Tyler Durdon. They are the same person. One is weak and worried, the other carefree and empowered. Jesus had a similar rupture in his personality, as he often wore a mask of machismo to disguise and cope with his more vulnerable emotional side, a Brad reputation indeed. I turned the nightclub bad at a basement. I turn the plane around your ass keep complaining.

How you going to be mad on vacation? Dutting one around all these Jamaica. Un's that prom shit This that what we do don't tell your mom's shit This that red cup all on the lawn shit Got a fresh cut straight out the salon bitch Bound 2 continues I turned the nightclub out of the basement

This is an extension of the fight club reference As Tyler Dernan started that violent club out of a dingy basement But Kanye fittingly flips fight club to nightclub Asserting that Yeezus has the kind of star power to turn a regular old basement party into a happening nightclub scene. This surge of ego leads to the next lines. I'll turn the plane around your ass keep complaining. How are you going to be mad on vacation?

Given the talk about bad vacations back on guilt trip, it seems Jesus has a hard time relaxing. Again, even within this quote-unquote love song, we hear his more aggressive side bubbling to the surface. Kanye then caps off this section of verse one with one of the album's most prominent motifs, dutty whining around all these Jamaicans. Dutty wine is a Jamaican dance usually performed by young women.

The play here is that while the woman Yiesis is with should be dancing or dutty whining on vacation in Jamaica, she's instead whining or complaining, triggering his threats to turn the plane around and go home. But we have to acknowledge here that Kanye has very purposefully and pointedly interpolated or sample four different Jamaican artists on four different songs throughout Yisis. While there's no Jamaican sample on this particular track, he formally acknowledges this thread by name here at the end of the album, closing the loop. The verse then abruptly shifts its focus from hostility to Jesus's version of romance. He says, this that prom shit, this that what we do don't tell

your mom shit, this that red cup all on the lawn shit. Here Jesus evokes the spirit of a youthful romance, the kind that are, in retrospect, pure in their naivety. Promes are also viewed as the culmination of high school, a night of debauchery that serves as a last hurrah for seniors before they head off to college or other adventures. So Yiesisis captures that youthful and innocent energy, but also that sense of dangerous yet alluring transgression that's often associated with prom night, the stuff you don't tell your parents about. This is extended in the visual of Red Cups, which have become iconic symbols of American high school and college parties. This sense of Promnight spirit recalls the youthful love affair

detailed on blood on the leaves. There Yeezus had said he and his love interest had been so young it recalls their first party together, where the girl ends up running down a lobby, screaming that she loves him. There was a sense of promise between them, promise that would be soon overshadowed by the all limelight and its burning away of any and all innocence. The prom shit line recalls this sense of innocence that had been lost. Finally, everyone tries to look their best for prom, which explains the verse's closing line got a fresh cut straight out of the salon, bitch.

But people also change up their external appearance in response to the desire of a fresh start or a new beginning. Given everything Yisus has gone through, a fresh cut fits this change in attitude and behavior. Fittingly, this change in appearance is followed by a change in key and musical material, as the sample drops out and is replaced by a fuzzy synth and the lush, layered vocals of Charlie Wilson. We'll hear and discuss that right after the break. Welcome back to dissect. Before the break, we heard the first verse of Bound 2, where Yiesis met his love interest in a club. The verse ended highlighting the youthful spirit and energy of this new romance. And we suspect that his new haircut

signified a renewed sense of identity, a fresh start. So with this in mind, we head into the song's refrain, and we instead hear original vocals from Charlie Wilson. What Charlie Wilson sings here is an interpolation of the melody from a song called Aeroplane Reprise by Wii, yet another American soul group from the 70s used on this song. This Wee track is what is used extensively in the original Bound 1,

before the addition of the Ponderosa sample. As you can hear, Charlie Wilson originally sang directly over the sample, and his melodic line follows the melodic line of the synth on the track. But in the final cut of Bound 2, the sample is removed, and instead is just Wilson and a distorted low synth playing a single note baseline. The words Wilson sings are, I know you're tired of loving with nobody to love, nobody, nobody. This is the simple truth of the Yeez's character.

everything he's done has been out of a twisted notion of trying to love and be loved, but he had gone about it in destructive ways, and at this point, he's exhausted. While we don't know the full history of the woman, we can easily apply this same sentiment to Kim Kardashian and her string of unsuccessful relationships up until meeting Kanye. Both have a history of failed attempts at love, but this one is different. This one is real. Close your eyes and let the word paint a thousand pictures.

One good girl is worth a thousand. B'allin bitches. Yeezis returns to the song and instructs us to, quote, close your eyes and let the word paint a thousand pictures. The line is a play on the aphorism that a picture is worth a thousand words. But here Yeezus posits a reversal in that a single word can create a thousand pictures. For example, if I say the word family, you might have a flood of thoughts and memories involving your parents, your spouse, your siblings, your kids, etc.

Some words are naturally, powerfully charged. And in the same way, a single word or image can be more powerful than a thousand of something else. Yis states in the next line, one good girl is worth a thousand bitches. In many ways, this one line is the culmination of Yis' journey. Recall that back on the album's second track Black Skinhead, Yis had said, 300 bitches, where's the Trojans? Now we find Yis back in the club talking about the value of true love with the single partner. While he's still rough around the edges and crude in his descriptions,

there's much more awareness, maturity, and thoughtfulness than before. This section ends with Yeezus repeating the word bound, and it's likely that this is the single word that can paint a thousand pictures. Perhaps Jesus and this woman, when they close their eyes, can imagine the entirety of their lives together. It's something that you do when you're preparing yourself for marriage, which is one way to interpret the word bound at this point in the song. It evokes destiny, fate, the idea that they were meant or bound to be together.

Give you something to drink. Step back, can't get spunk on a mink. I mean, damn, what would you roam, roam, me, roam, roam think? Yisus begins the second verse with, I want to fuck you hard on the sink, after that give you something to drink. This pair of lines continues to capture the crude yet mature dynamic of Yeezus at this point. He's still concerned with sex,

but it's with this woman and not just about his own gratification anymore. After sex, he seemingly wants to be a good partner and get this woman something to drink. But the next line confirms there's a double entendre at play. He says, Step Back can't get spunk on the mink. Eezes is careful not to get the result of his orgasm on her expensive fur, which is kind of, sort of, sweet?

Consider it? Eezus then concludes this quick vignette with the question, I mean, damn, what would Jerome Romie Rome think? This is a reference to the character Jerome from the 90s TV show, Martin. Right, shitty man, hooked me up with some tick packs. because you know my breath I don't want that stinking you know and a box of extra large condoms the kind you dream about

Jerome is a comical buffoon who fancies himself a player the character is older, ugly and unrelenting in his confidence in pursuit of women the contrast between his ridiculous appearance and his bravado is what makes him such a fan favorite he often wore minks and fur coats that were a popular look for pimps in the 1970s. 70s, which ties into the line about spunking on the mink. When Yisus asks what Jerome would think, it's a playful moment that in some ways speaks to his own pass as a player on the level of Jerome.

Kanye here contrasts Yis with Jerome in the same way he contrasted Yis with other cartoonish figures from popular TV shows. As we discussed on OnSight and Send It Up, Kanye alluded to Dave Chappelle's over-the-top impressions of both Rick James and Prince to highlight the ridiculousness of the Yis' his character and his behavior. But there's actually much more nuance I play with Jerome, as he will return at the end of the song in a more prominent way. But for now, we'll press forward with verse two.

I don't think, first met, okay, I don't remember where we first met, but hey, admitting is the first step. And, hey, you know, ain't nobody perfect. And I know, with the holes I got the worst sweat, but, hey, their backstroke I'm trying perfect. The verse continues asking, You remember where we first met? Okay, I don't remember where we first met.

Within the context of the song and the Yeezis narrative, this line is ironic, since we actually witnessed these two meeting in a club on a Thursday just 90 seconds ago. We assume some time has passed or that Yeezus was so inebriated that he doesn't remember that night. But perhaps more importantly,

this line is a direct reference to Kanye and Kim meeting in real life. I knew I went in a family, and the very first time I saw, I think it was like either it was a picture, a Kim in Australia with Paris, or it was one day she had come to the studio and she was with somebody else. Like I said, I don't remember what we first met, but I knew that that was my wife. This is another subtle indication that not only is bound to about the beginning of Connie's

relationship with Kim, but that the Yeez-Sys album is a dramatization of where Connie's life was at leading up to finding the woman he would marry. The verse continues with the lines, okay, I don't remember where we first met, but hey, admitting is the first step, and hey, you know ain't nobody perfect. Here we get a transparent admission of imperfection, which is a far cry from declaring himself a God in the album's first act.

Reaching a point where he can admit he's not perfect is huge progress. Saying admitting is the first step is a reference to Alcoholics Anonymous and the famous 12th step program. The first step is, quote, We admitted we were powerless over alcohol and that our lives had become unmanageable, unquote. Again, the line is a superficially humorous thing to say, while also having deeper resonance with the journey of the Yeez's character. When it comes to his problems with women, he is similar to a recovering alcoholic.

It also gets at the fact that his personal reformation is a process, something he'll need to continuously work at. In that same vein, Yeezes follows with the line, and I know with the hose I got the worst rep, but hey, in backstroke, I'm trying perfect. His reputation with women is poor, but he's trying to improve it, using a backstroke, a stroke where he swim backwards instead of forward,

as a reference to the idea of backtracking or walking something back. While he can't change the past, he'll let his present and future redefine his damaged reputation. While still somewhat crude in its language, it's his way of showing he's working toward redemption. make it to Christmas. She asked me what I wish for on my wish list. Have you ever asked your bitch for other bitches?

Maybe we could still make it to the church steps. But first, you gonna remember how to forget. Here we get an indication that some time has passed since first one and that the relationship hasn't fallen apart like the ones in the past. Jesus wraps, we made it to Thanksgiving, so maybe we can make it to Christmas. The holidays serve as checkpoints. Make it to one, then you can make it to the next. and so on. It's similar to the way athletes approach endurance events. Someone who runs a marathon

may just focus on one mile at a time. Before they know it, they've completed all 26 miles. After this run of enduring lines, Yizus then plays on the Christmas reference and says, She asks me what I wish for on my wish list. Have you ever asked your bitch for other bitches? Again, we get a cheeky response that works for comedic purposes, but also reveals that Yizus is still struggling with commitment. Yizus still isn't perfect, but he's trying. The complicated nature of this dynamic explains the following lines. Maybe we could still make it to the church steps, but first you're going to remember how to forget. If Jesus and this woman are going to finish this marathon, so to speak,

it will depend on her ability to look past as lapses, imperfections, and bad reputation, which really is a component of just about every single relationship. For any relationship to work long term, there must be an acceptance of the mistakes we've made in the past and the present, a general acceptance of everything that made us who we are now. Unspoken here is the idea of forgetting being coupled with forgiving or to forgive and forget. Given that there's a reference to church and Christmas, this might be alluding to forgiveness being one of the central tenets of Christianity. But with all this said, how huge of a character moment is it for Jesus to be thinking about marriage? We've come a long way since on site.

And as if feeling that same sense of how wild the journey has been, Jesus ends the second verse appropriately. Jesus steps how to forget after all these long gap you tired Jesus wept Jesus closes with the lines after all these long-ass verses

I'm tired you tired Jesus wept In the last song's last verse Kanye cleverly acknowledges that we've reached the end of the album Also a typical rap verse is 16 bars or measures long

but these final lines actually go past this 16 bar standard extending the verse to an unusual 18 bars So there's irony in saying the line long-ass verses precisely at the moment the verse runs over the usual time limit. But in terms of the album's narrative, this moment marks Jesus ready to move on from his past life. Both he and his partner have had extensive trials with past relationships and sexual encounters. Exhausted, they've both reached a point in which they're ready to settle down.

But the couple it gains to mention with the last line, Jesus wept. This flips song verses to Bible verses, and at just two words, Jesus'wept. wept happens to be the shortest verse in the entire Bible, John 1135. So there's surface-level wordplay and irony here. Tired of these long-ass verses, Kanye cites the shortest verse there is. But of course, we need to dig into the context of this Bible verse, especially since Jesus wept seems to be the punctuating statement of the song and entire album. The 11th chapter of John tells the story of Jesus and Lazarus. Lazarus is a follower of Jesus who falls fatally ill. Jesus hears of his illness, yet wait

two full days before starting his travel to see him. He tells his disciples, quote, Our friend Lazarus is asleep, but I'm going to awaken him. Once at the town of Bethany, Jesus learns that Lazarus has been dead and in a tomb for four days. Lazarus's sister, Martha says to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Jesus then says, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Jesus then meets Lazarus's other sister Mary, who is weeping and mourning alongside other townspeople.

Deeply moved by their grief, Jesus weeps with them. Jesus then goes to the tomb of Lazarus with Mary, Martha, and the rest of the mourners. There he asks them to remove the stone that covered the hillside burial place. Jesus looks up to the heaven and prays to his father, closing with these words. Lazarus, come out. To the shock of everyone, Lazarus emerges from his tomb, a dead man resurrected. Knowing the context of this story, we can now circle back to the final couplet of Bountu's final verse. After these long-ass verses, I'm tired, you tired, Jesus wept.

The implication here seems to be that throughout the album, during all that manic behavior and chauvinistic womanizing, Jesus was metaphorically dead inside. We suspected this to be the case, as there are always subtle hints in this direction, but here it's stated plainly and clearly. And now, by the grace of God, this woman was sent to resurrect him. This provides a perfect resolution to the album's two key samples we recapped at the top of this episode. First we had the gospel sample in the middle of OnSight that foreshadowed the fact that despite Jesus getting whatever he wanted in the club, it wasn't what he needed. And the implication was that God gives us what we need.

Then later on New Slaves, we heard the pearls in her hair Omega sample that spoke of a woman coming to resurrect the tired sun from out of the darkness. Yeasus was the sun too tired to shine, and darkness followed, pain followed. It wasn't a literal death like Lazarus, but an existential one. Since new slaves, we've awaited the girl with pearls in her hair, the one who would take away the darkness and resurrect the sun, and now she's here. And so just how the major tonality of Bound 2 resolve the musical tension of the entire album, these two foreshadowing plot points are resolved by the final lines of Bount 2's final verse, as it combines God, woman, and resurrection in a single couplet. We also have to acknowledge that Kanye says, Jesus wept, where he very easily could have said

Yeezus wept. Recall that on the previous track, Send It Up, Yisus ended his only verse speaking about a different kind of resurrection. Here, Kanye reduced the Yeezus character to his penis, and resurrected. Rection was an erection. We heard that resurrection play as significant, as Sended up found Yeezus back in the club indulging in the same behavior as he did on on-site. All that progress and growth we witnessed in the second act seemed to be in vain, as Jesus as a man lacked that last bit of courage or strength to fully eradicate himself of his self-destructive tendencies. So in defense of this, he fell back into his old ways and resurrected the Yeez's persona,

his protective mask and machismo. But here now, through the strength that the Yeas' union between him and his divine feminine provide. Yeezus finally acknowledges Jesus and his proper context. He replaces the album title Yeezus with Jesus, humbling himself and restoring his faith in a higher power. It is Jesus and this woman that resurrects and guides him now, not his penis. It's the entire Yeez's journey captured in just two punctuating words. Charlie Wilson begins the second refrain like the first, I know you're tired of loving with nobody to love. But then we get two additional lines, so just grab somebody, no leaving this party with nobody to love. Wilson here brings with him romanticism and a sort of fatalism. You can't leave this party with

nobody to love. It's time to settle down. You don't have to be tired anymore. You can love and be loved and be in a sense reborn. This is another layer to Kanye ending the song with Yeez's saying, I'm tired, you tired. After years of bouncing from party to party, from partner to partner. Both are now in the state of mind Charlie Wilson describes. This final refrain paired with Kanye's final couplet on the last verse would make a perfect bookend to the album. It cleanly ties a nice, neat bow on the album's major themes and narrative art. It's the happiest of happy endings, as Jesus and his love ride off into the proverbial sunset. But then comes a twist, a fight club level twist that requires us to look back on the entire album's storyline. After Charlie Wilson finishes

his emotional bridge to the tune of We's romantic melody and Brenda utters, uh-huh, honey, a confluence of American soul samples at the end of this wild journey our hero has gone on. We hear from Yeez's one final time. Yvese's returns with another callback to Jerome from Martin, the show's exaggerated comedic example of a pimp or player who doesn't know when to quit. Similar to Fight Club's alter ego, Jerome is played by Martin Lawrence, who also stars as the show's lead character. The reference at the end of Bount 2 is a direct quote of Jerome's beloved catchphrase.

In the first Jerome reference in verse 1, Yeezus merely joked about what Jerome would think if a mink coat got come on it. This second mention is a bit more troubling. For most of our story, Yeezus was like Jerome, comically arrogant, disastrous, chasing any woman who crossed his path, unable to have an actual relationship because of his lifestyle and behavior. but here in Bount 2, after meaning his version of Gina,

he seemed to be doing his best to kill his ego and move beyond the pain that caused him to act that way in the first place. Yezes matured now that he's found love. But then Yisus ends the album by embodying Jerome, and it makes a second guess his transformation. Maybe he was serious when he asked this bitch for other bitches. I think of this section like those hidden scenes after the credits of a movie that leave you questioning some crucial aspect of what you just watched,

often foreshadowing the fact there'll be a sequel to the film, that the story as told isn't actually completely over. Now second-guessing our protagonist, we hear the final moments of the album. The last thing we hear from Yeez is the word bound. Of course, we've heard of music's word a few times already, and when we did, it was with a positive connotation, expressing how he is bound to fall in love.

It was the one word that could paint a thousand beautiful pictures. But now the word follows his embodiment of Jerome, and suddenly the word bound is much more complicated. You're no longer willingly bound to the woman of your dreams. From the perspective of a player like Jerome, you're nothing but a captive. And with that framing, the final aha-honey from Brenda Lee, the closing sounds we hear on Yeez-es,

feels like the perfect cap, as it carries the full charge of the word bound. Love redeems and love captures. In so many ways, love frees even as it limits. That's the reality of any loving relationship. but we're left wondering how Yeez is, who is so used to living without limits, is going to handle that dynamic long term. The infamous Bound 2 music video captures this dynamic visually.

The video is full of cheesy and romantic moments between Kim and Kanye, as they enjoy an intimate motorcycle ride in front of a clearly fake backdrop of the American West, forests, and a night sky. The final image of the video is a license plate that reads Bound, which sits between two ropes a barbed wire fence. Given that everything about the video had been excruciatingly sappy, the sudden appearance of a barbed wire fence is a telling contrast. It's the visual equivalent of Jerome in the house, watch your mouth.

The idea of being bound can be as liberating and soaring as a motorcycle ride through the desert with the love of your life, but the prospect of being with one person forever and doing right by them can feel as foreboding as a barbed wire fence. You can either get stuck on that fence or you and your partner can get over it together. Within the context of Yeezus, the takeaway from Jerome's appearance shouldn't be that love is inherently complicated and problematic. It's that love is complicated by the world we live in, that so much of this world in our society is fake and superficially insidious, and it tries to sweep us into this vortex. That's the danger. That's the struggle. Yeas is ultimately about how to find love in such a

world, under such scrutiny and expectation, under the burning, unbearable glow of the limelight. Yeah, there's certain type of people, you know, of course, being in the limelight, you have to have a match or like someone that's equally yoked. And it's, you know, it's difficult because there's people that you would date that would try to, you know, date you to maybe be more famous or there's people who will want you to be less famous than you were and, you know, just not accept who you are, you know, in life. And when I would be on the phone with her, you know, even at my, you know, lowest moment,

she'd give me energy and remind me of who I was. And I needed that support, you know, at all times. You know, to me it's such a blessing. And now I feel like it's going to give me the stability that I need to really create and really do God's work in the way I should, you know, and have a reason with my family and always, you know, someone to be accountable, someone to be responsible for. Like after I lost, after I, you know, lost my mother, there was times,

I felt like, you know, I would put my life at risk. I felt like sometimes I didn't have something to live for. Now I have, you know, two really special to live people to live for, a whole family to live for, a whole world to live for. Conclusions. The final step at the classic Heroes Journey story structure is to become a master of both worlds. The two worlds in question are the normal world the hero had originally lived in

and the unknown world they entered as part of the journey. journey. For much of the story, this unknown world is perilous and trying. It challenges the hero to question everything they've known, everything they've been. The result of such conflict is empowering personal growth and newly realized skills that allow the hero to succeed against the antagonist from the unknown world. Once the antagonist is defeated, the hero can begin a new life that merges their experiences of the two worlds. For Yeez's, his ordinary world was the nightclub and the lifestyle that the house of sin offered someone ablaze in the limelight. The unknown world was one of meaning, faith, and ultimately love. It was this world that

challenged our hero, forcing him to confront the pain from his past and his string of failed romances. These contrasting worlds were also seen in the duality that defined our hero, who over the course of his journey, constantly oscillated between ego and vulnerability as he attempted to reconcile these two warring halves of himself. The culmination of Jesus' journey plays out on the final two songs, where Jesus must ultimately choose between those two. paths, to regress or push forward. After failing his final test at the club on Send It Up, Yisus seemed to be on the verge of defeat, forever entrapped in the destructive cycle of women, materialism, and drugs. He'd become a self-defined new slave he so aggressively denounced in

Act 1. But as foreshadowed throughout the album, Yisus is ultimately saved by a divine woman sent by God on the album's final track, Bound 2. She rescues Jesus from the club in which they met, And as the song progresses, we witness Jesus living out his own version of domestic life with his new love. Is he the perfect partner? No, not by a long shot. But like anybody else who finds love intimidating, he's trying. He's found someone that seems to be willing to put up with his bad reputation, as long as he's willing to manage the on-site side of himself. It appears he has become a master of both worlds, and that he's learned to not be defined by his former life and ready to start a new, better one. But while the hero's journey normally ends happily,

Kanye West, the storyteller, introduces a strange twist at the end of the song with the mention of the over-the-top player Jerome. As Connie noted in interviews during this time, he knew Kim was going to be his wife the day he saw her. They were bound to fall in love. But at the end, he's also bound to Jerome, bound to his former self that felt trapped by relationships, the expectations of society, and his own reputation.

On Martin, Jerome is nothing more than a player, He's all ego, all braggadocio. All he cares about is sex, money, and power, much like Yeez's at the beginning of this story. So what does it mean to have this character suddenly show up at the end? For Yeezus to be bound to the idea of Jerome. Turns out, this is Kanye the storyteller showing us that Yeezes hasn't quite exercised his demons, despite being on a proper, healthy path. And as Yeezes serves as a fictionalized, exaggerated version of Kanye's actual life, It's his way of showing us that he still has a lot of work to do to become the man his wife deserves.

Kanye West has experienced many ups and downs during his slow rise to prominence. His life has been riddled with conflict, with heartbreak, with depression. But it's also been invested with love, with passion, with an irrepressible belief in himself. He may have lost his mother, but he gained his Kim Ye. Where there was darkness, he's always found light. And when Connie needed someone more than ever, Kim, like the girl, with pearls in her hair arrived. Now all he needs to do is meet her halfway.