![]() West explained this, stating, “It’s the way society has set people up to be able to control them: slave mentalities.” The scene presents a theme Kanye has regularly spoken about with dissatisfaction – the repression of his creativity and the restriction of his ideas by the media. By the end of the scene, the child has been cultivated in a Klansman hood, walking slowly holding the torch. At the beginning of the scene a child runs through holding a torch which, according to Kanye speaking to MTV, “represents his thoughts and ideas”. ![]() Kanye also uses the scene to explore the idea of ‘mental jails’. “Every day on the news there’s some new bullshit about me or about everything going on,” he said, “Once you’re on this side of the camera you’re like, ‘Aw man, none of this stuff is actually real.’” Kanye is giving us a taste of the lifestyle he leads while telling the bird to ignore the negative side of his celebrity. When the bird is watching the news at ’Ye’s house, he tells her not to trust the media: “First rule in this world, baby, don’t pay attention to anything you see in the news.” In an interview with MTV, he described writing this line with director, screenwriter and collaborator Hype Williams. The bird is Kanye’s opposite, fragile and scared of the world she has found herself in. ![]() The bird acts as Kanye’s love interest she’s beautiful and graceful in her appearance, and has birdlike wings and clawlike jewellery. ![]() Vince Staples recently mirrored this concept in his track “Lift Me Up”, where he raps: “ Fight between my conscious and the skin that’s on my body / See I need to fight the power but I need that new Ferrari.” Kanye feels he is owed a luxurious lifestyle for his work, but is aware also of the superficiality that comes with this.ĭuring the scene he crashes the car, coming across the film’s other primary character: the bird. Kanye is in a constant battle with his authenticity as an artist and his desire for status. “ The people highest up got the lowest self-esteem / The prettiest people do the ugliest things / For the road to riches and diamond rings,” he raps on early cut “ Self Conscious” (the lyrics were later reworked for “All Falls Down”), while on “ Through the Wire” and “ Good Life” he talks of how he’s deserving of fame and fortune. On Kanye’s early records, materialism and self-esteem are inextricably linked. The beginning of Runaway shows Kanye’s celebrity bravado, driving through the woods in his Lamborghini Murciélago, wearing shades and jewellery while “ Dark Fantasy” plays, the lyrics ringing through: “ Fantasised about this back in Chicago / Mercy, mercy me, that Murcielago / That’s me, the first year that I blow.” Kanye recently described his former self as a “ backpack n***a with luxury taste buds” in his ferocious “No More Parties in LA”, and the contrast between his indie/underground background and ‘luxury’ tastes has been a major theme throughout his work. We took a look back through the film – the genesis of Kanye’s belief that he could break out the restrictions that had been thrust upon him – and how it rings true with the man he is now. Six years since its release, the message he delivers resonates even more strongly. Runaway, the film he released to accompany the album, encompasses both of these themes, acting as both a catharsis and swansong for Yeezy’s past relationships. The album’s themes vary from his post break-up woes with his ex-partner, Amber Rose, to the perils of fame and the stress mounted on his shoulders as a result. In 2010, he dropped My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, an album more refined in sound and with a clearer artistic direction than anything he’d done before. As his popularity has grown, he’s primarily explored the superficial bubble that fame creates around individuals, with the themes of celebrity isolation and mental health referred to most prominently throughout The Life of Pablo. However, Kanye has always been one to wear his emotions and his private life on his sleeve. ![]() That was the cap on a very turbulent year that saw him release and constantly update his album The Life of Pablo, debut a new Yeezy Season show to a mixed reception, get into a public feud with friend and partner Jay Z, incur the wrath of Taylor Swift’s mass fanbase, and, most shockingly, learn his wife was robbed at armed gunpoint. After his hospitalisation for exhaustion following the cancellation of his Saint Pablo tour, one of his first public acts was to visit Donald Trump at Trump Tower. For Kanye West, the realities of fame – and the pressure and scrutiny that comes with it – came to light this year in a very public way. ![]()
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