So, Kanye West has a song yclept "Runaway". It is a song that he has performed on Saturday Night Live and on the VMAs, both times wearing a red suit, numerous gold chains and backed by women in tutus who act less like backing dancers than those annoying "statues" that have become ubiquitous at every street festival since 1995. Of course, since it is a sung piece and not a rap, he is autotuned in a way that can only make one think of Cher or the very worst musical number on television. And, as should be obvious, he always seems quite satisfied with himself during his performances.
My question is simple: When he sings, in this song, "toast for the douchebags, toast for the assholes, toast for the scumbags" is he smart enough or self-aware enough to be ironic, or does he really not know he's singing about himself?
2 comments:
Kanye West is being ironic. In the verses he describes in first-person his asshole behavior, and the chorus is very intentionally about himself. The point of the song is him owning up to his bad behavior and than him more or less embracing it.
I find his whole persona and presentation very grating, but he's not dumb. Just obnoxious.
You are right and I shouldn't have implied that he was dumb, but I still question how self-aware he is. He seems to have a grasp on the way he is perceived and he makes fun of that, but then, as you say, he embraces it. In embracing it and celebrating it, he also belittles its importance.
Of course, it isn't really important or it wouldn't be if there weren't a whole lot of people who act just as he does and who also thinks it's no big deal.
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