I think Kanye is doing a couple of interesting things with "Stronger." I think he is on one hand talking about "what doesn't kill him will make him stronger, but he undeniably switches back and forth from that meaning, to one with sexual undertones. I think this is an intentional, yet organic response to the words, "harder, better, faster, stronger." He says, "What doesn't kill me will only make me stronger," but then he says, "You gotta hurry up, I can't wait much longer,I'M GETTING harder better, faster, stronger." I think it is a strange transition in regards to the message of the song, but he definitely does it pretty easily.
I agree with the points made about the sexist/homophobic undertones existing, but I don't think they are intentionally malicious, but malicious by ignorance. Regardless of how intelligent Kanye is, he is (by virtue of being a man) a recipient of certain priveleges that seem to block off a person's ability to differentiate "normative"/racist, sexist, homophobic language from harmless street slang. If a person has no personal connection to the pain and reality of sexism/homophobia, they are likely to say, "what's the big deal, it's just a song..." I can't judge if Kanye's words indicate that he is intentionally sexist (specifically againts black women)and homophobic. I think they more readily point to the fact that he (like so many others) are so far enough removed (or think they are removed) from the tragedy of sexism and homophobia that they have no second thought to using certain words, or imagery that evoke a loss of power to those of us still close to that tragedy. Honestly though, I think that Cassie resembles Kate Moss and wonder if Kanye referred to her as his "Black Kate Moss" because of that, and because of the fact that it rhymed with "Let's get lost tonight." I guess that is up for debate. A healthy response to this song, from a feminist perspective, is to NEVER back down from a healthy critique. It is a form of art, which by default is meant to be critiqued. That is what people with brains do with art. We absorb it, we analyze it, we figure out it's place in the world, and we try to figure out where we fit with it. It's the beauty of being human. When we stop critiquing art, we start becoming machines or better yet, recepticles of information. How boring.
What is most interesting about ALL of this is that Kanye's use of Daft Punk's song destroys the original context of the song! Daft Punks version seems to be a bit of a social commentary on the views of "work" being a never ending reality of life that is marketed to us as something that "makes us harder, faster, better, stronger." Reading the lyrics make it clear to me that the "harder, faster..." line is a somewhat cynical or sarcastic response to an ever increasing work obsessed culture. "do it faster more than ever our work is never over." I love hip hop and r&b, and I LOVE when it effectively taps into a song in a way that speaks to the original message of that song, in addition to using the beat. (a good of example of this is Mary J's "No more Drama"-she sampled the Young and the Restless' theme song...BRILLIANT) The fact is, Kanye failed to accomplish that. I still like the beat though;-)
I think Kanye is doing a couple of interesting things with "Stronger." I think he is on one hand talking about "what doesn't kill him will make him stronger, but he undeniably switches back and forth from that meaning, to one with sexual undertones. I think this is an intentional, yet organic response to the words, "harder, better, faster, stronger." He says, "What doesn't kill me will only make me stronger," but then he says, "You gotta hurry up, I can't wait much longer,I'M GETTING harder better, faster, stronger." I think it is a strange transition in regards to the message of the song, but he definitely does it pretty easily.
I agree with the points made about the sexist/homophobic undertones existing, but I don't think they are intentionally malicious, but malicious by ignorance. Regardless of how intelligent Kanye is, he is (by virtue of being a man) a recipient of certain priveleges that seem to block off a person's ability to differentiate "normative"/racist, sexist, homophobic language from harmless street slang. If a person has no personal connection to the pain and reality of sexism/homophobia, they are likely to say, "what's the big deal, it's just a song..." I can't judge if Kanye's words indicate that he is intentionally sexist (specifically againts black women)and homophobic. I think they more readily point to the fact that he (like so many others) are so far enough removed (or think they are removed) from the tragedy of sexism and homophobia that they have no second thought to using certain words, or imagery that evoke a loss of power to those of us still close to that tragedy. Honestly though, I think that Cassie resembles Kate Moss and wonder if Kanye referred to her as his "Black Kate Moss" because of that, and because of the fact that it rhymed with "Let's get lost tonight." I guess that is up for debate. A healthy response to this song, from a feminist perspective, is to NEVER back down from a healthy critique. It is a form of art, which by default is meant to be critiqued. That is what people with brains do with art. We absorb it, we analyze it, we figure out it's place in the world, and we try to figure out where we fit with it. It's the beauty of being human. When we stop critiquing art, we start becoming machines or better yet, recepticles of information. How boring.
What is most interesting about ALL of this is that Kanye's use of Daft Punk's song destroys the original context of the song! Daft Punks version seems to be a bit of a social commentary on the views of "work" being a never ending reality of life that is marketed to us as something that "makes us harder, faster, better, stronger." Reading the lyrics make it clear to me that the "harder, faster..." line is a somewhat cynical or sarcastic response to an ever increasing work obsessed culture. "do it faster more than ever our work is never over." I love hip hop and r&b, and I LOVE when it effectively taps into a song in a way that speaks to the original message of that song, in addition to using the beat. (a good of example of this is Mary J's "No more Drama"-she sampled the Young and the Restless' theme song...BRILLIANT) The fact is, Kanye failed to accomplish that. I still like the beat though;-)