Ever Tried Explaining a Kanye West Music Video to Someone?

 

It's impossible. You sound crazy. But here's why Kanye West does follow the classical arc of the hero as defined by Greek mythology:

Kanye West, born as Kanye Omari West in 1977, is a Chicagoan born and raised. First known for breaking on the scene as a producer under Roc-A-Fella Records, he achieved early recognition for his work on Jay-Z’s “The Blueprint” (released in 2001) because of his unique production style of using high pitched vocal samples from soul, be-bop, motown and early rock songs incorporated with his own drums and instruments. Some attribute this style to his family roots in Motown. Regardless, Kanye later expanded his musical influences to include R&B, electronica, folk, alternative, industrial and synth pop into his repertoire to broaden his appeal and further experiment and challenge the confines of musical genre. Raised as a young man in a middle-class household in Chicago, IL, many of Kanye’s musical content has been influenced by the trials and tribulations of what could be seen as an “everyday hero” that has been adapted to the modern day.

Particularly, one can see that West has transcribed classical, Greek-inspired storylines into his works and has reinterpreted them to be fitting for the world that he relates to. Born from classical mythology and made popular by Joseph Campbell’s “monomyth” pattern, a “Hero’s Journey” is typically characterized by a hero that ventures forth from the world of the common day where fabulous forces are encountered and a decisive victory is won. The hero then comes back from this adventure changed.  Although West started with a focus on societal and cultural issues in “Workout Plan” and media expectations as seen in “Jesus Walks” in his first CD “College Drop Out” (2004). In his second CD (“Late Registration” in 2005) , Kanye the protagonist hides little as he continues to take on larger challenges, true to his self-adopted hero image by taking on such topics as the blood diamond industry in “Diamonds from Sierra Leone”. Additionally, a turning point is reached as he begins to depart from the social commentary and moved toward the self-inflationary attitude that we know now through “Gold Digger”.

Kanye’s challenges mounted in 2007 with the death of his mother, Donda West. Critics believe that this marked a turning point in his career when he became increasingly self-reflective and released his third album. Largely upbeat, his third album contained a more personal perspective through his Chicago-homage in “Homecoming” and his partnership with Daft Punk to produce “Stronger” but also more surrealistic, satirical visions such as in “Good Morning”, where he partnered with renowned Japanese anime illustrators to play an animated protagonist bear. His fourth album, “808s and Heartbreak” featured such songs as “Love Lockdown” and “Heartless”, which began to focus more on his persecution as an artist, but also further pushed the boundaries of his traditional producer stylings as he struggled to battle the mounting criticism against his music.

His pinnacle of surrealistic adaptations occurred in “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”, his fifth album. In MBDTF, Kanye sought to have all of his songs intertwined with one continuous storyline with such standout hits such as “Dark Fantasy”, “Runaway”, “Power”  and “All of the Lights” (which was banned in some countries due to their risk of causing epileptic seizures). “Dark Fantasy” starts the narrative with Kanye saving an angel, whereas “Runaway” features Kanye orchestrating an elaborate dinner to entertain an angel with professional ballerinas. “Power” frames Kanye as (literally) a mythological hero whereas “All of the Lights” offers a throwback to his earlier Chicago-based days which juxtaposes a 80s-inspired light show with the black and white biopic of a little girl facing her own challenges growing up in the Southside projects of Chicago. Within this album, Kanye West switches from battling societal issues to literally battling people to save his angel. (To view the full video that was produced for “Runaway”, featuring supermodel Selita Ebanks, click here. It involves Kanye saving an angel, throwing a dinner party in an airplane hangar, ballerinas interpretatively dancing to rap, the angel falling into depression and Kanye West having sex with her and then the angel going back to heaven.)

Kanye west has just recently released his “Watch the Throne”, a collaboration with Jay-Z. In his most recent album, Kanye positions himself as a hero returned through such hits as “No Church in the Wild” and “Otis”. In “No Church in the Wild”, Kanye West focuses on a scene of urban protest complete with racist overtones where a masked horseman (literally) stands up for the common man. Otis returns to Kanye’s Motown roots with Jay Z and Kanye West together destroying a Maybach and recreating it as a militaristic car with the backdrop of “Try a Little Tenderness” by Otis Redding remixed in the background. Regardless of whether Kanye West really is the mythological Greek hero that he wants so desperately to be, if the story is to be believed, “Watch the Throne” completes the arc of his development as a musician.