Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
My momma was raised in the era when
Clean water was only served to the fairer skin
Doing clothes you would have thought I had help
But they wasn't satisfied unless I picked the cotton myself
You see it's broke nigga racism
That's that "Don't touch anything in the store"
And this rich nigga racism
That's that "Come in, please buy more
What you want, a Bentley? Fur coat? A diamond chain?
All you blacks want all the same things"
Used to only be niggas now everybody playing
Spending everything on Alexander Wang
New Slaves
You see there's leaders and there's followers
But I'd rather be a dick than a swallower
You see there's leaders and there's followers
But I'd rather be a dick than a swallower
I throw these Maybach keys
I wear my heart on the sleeve
I know that we the new slaves
I see the blood on the leaves
I see the blood on the leaves
I see the blood on the leaves
I know that we the new slaves
I see the blood on the leaves
They throwing hate at me
Want me to stay at ease
Fuck you and your corporation
Y'all niggas can't control me
I know that we the new slaves
I know that we the new slaves
I'm 'bout to wild the fuck out
I'm going Bobby Boucher
I know that pussy ain't free
You niggas pussy, ain't me
Y'all throwing contracts at me
You know that niggas can't read
Throw 'em some Maybach keys
Fuck it, c'est la vie
I know that we the new slaves
Y'all niggas can't fuck with me
Y'all niggas can't fuck with Ye
Y'all niggas can't fuck with Ye
I'll move my family out the country
So you can't see where I stay
So go and grab the reporters
So I can smash their recorders
See they'll confuse us with some bullshit
Like the New World Order
Meanwhile the DEA
Teamed up with the CCA
They tryna lock niggas up
They tryna make new slaves
See that's that privately owned prisons
Get your piece today
They prolly all in the Hamptons
Braggin' 'bout what they made
Fuck you and your Hampton house
I'll fuck your Hampton spouse
Came on her Hampton blouse
And in her Hampton mouth
Y'all 'bout to turn shit up
I'm 'bout to tear shit down
I'm 'bout to air shit out
Now what the fuck they gon' say now?
I won't end this high, not this time again
So long, so long, so long
You cannot survive
And I'm not dying
And I can't lose
I can't lose
No, I can't lose
Cause I can't leave it to you
So let's get too high, get too high again
(Too high again
Too high)
Clean water was only served to the fairer skin
Doing clothes you would have thought I had help
But they wasn't satisfied unless I picked the cotton myself
You see it's broke nigga racism
That's that "Don't touch anything in the store"
And this rich nigga racism
That's that "Come in, please buy more
What you want, a Bentley? Fur coat? A diamond chain?
All you blacks want all the same things"
Used to only be niggas now everybody playing
Spending everything on Alexander Wang
New Slaves
You see there's leaders and there's followers
But I'd rather be a dick than a swallower
You see there's leaders and there's followers
But I'd rather be a dick than a swallower
I throw these Maybach keys
I wear my heart on the sleeve
I know that we the new slaves
I see the blood on the leaves
I see the blood on the leaves
I see the blood on the leaves
I know that we the new slaves
I see the blood on the leaves
They throwing hate at me
Want me to stay at ease
Fuck you and your corporation
Y'all niggas can't control me
I know that we the new slaves
I know that we the new slaves
I'm 'bout to wild the fuck out
I'm going Bobby Boucher
I know that pussy ain't free
You niggas pussy, ain't me
Y'all throwing contracts at me
You know that niggas can't read
Throw 'em some Maybach keys
Fuck it, c'est la vie
I know that we the new slaves
Y'all niggas can't fuck with me
Y'all niggas can't fuck with Ye
Y'all niggas can't fuck with Ye
I'll move my family out the country
So you can't see where I stay
So go and grab the reporters
So I can smash their recorders
See they'll confuse us with some bullshit
Like the New World Order
Meanwhile the DEA
Teamed up with the CCA
They tryna lock niggas up
They tryna make new slaves
See that's that privately owned prisons
Get your piece today
They prolly all in the Hamptons
Braggin' 'bout what they made
Fuck you and your Hampton house
I'll fuck your Hampton spouse
Came on her Hampton blouse
And in her Hampton mouth
Y'all 'bout to turn shit up
I'm 'bout to tear shit down
I'm 'bout to air shit out
Now what the fuck they gon' say now?
I won't end this high, not this time again
So long, so long, so long
You cannot survive
And I'm not dying
And I can't lose
I can't lose
No, I can't lose
Cause I can't leave it to you
So let's get too high, get too high again
(Too high again
Too high)
Lyrics submitted by gothic_hobbit, edited by Mellow_Harsher, strykerchick
New Slaves Lyrics as written by Che Smith Malik Yusef El Shabbaz Jones
Lyrics © Ultra Tunes, BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, REACH MUSIC PUBLISHING, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
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Shit's nuts. He brings up a lot of shit but in the beginning he's bringing up social issues for blacks and dealing w. getting signed. "All you niggas want the same things", so companies just throw them some chains, a nice car, and a contract, and tell them to shut the fuck up and "do what we say".
At this point Kanye has his own company so he doesn't have to deal with that shit as much, but we're still slaves to corporations, including himself.
Then he distinguishes himself from every other rapper saying if you turn it up he'll just tear it down - watch the throne.
He's rapping about how blacks are still slaves to corporations and that they can easily be controlled by accepting material things in exchange for their raps. He's saying how he's not going to be controlled by materialism or corporations offering him expensive things to rap about them but instead he'll rap about what's important, like he's doing in this song.
Blacks (and everyone else) might be more beholden to the whims of corporations than we'd like, but for a rich and famous hip hop star to draw an analogy to being a "slave" is an insult to anyone who ever felt the crack of a whip or wore chains, and like so much bad high school poetry.
Great riff, though.
In an interview he was talking about invisible walls. Invisible creative walls. He's talking about the 1% white who own every corporation and control everything from the food you eat to the clothes you wear. They own them and they aren't letting anyone access that level to be able to plug into the mass market on such a huge worldwide scale.
For example: They allow people like Jay-Z to make beats headphones but they still have the Monster cables in them.
dude kanye west has a networth of 100MM+. his wife has a networth of 40MM+. he bought a rock for 8MM. He released Watch the Throne at the height of the global financial crisis where him and jay rapped about owning masterpieces of modern art. He has multiple MM corporate deals. KANYE IS THE ONE PERCENT. that dude is not struggling.<br /> <br /> Same thing with jay. Monster has been pushing pseudoscience propaganda for decades, charging $1000+ for cables, claiming they increase audio clarity, though this has been proven wrong over and over again. Jay had the choice to cash in on this rapper headphone fad and he knew what Monster was doing. No one owns these guys anymore. Jay+Beyonce have a networth of 1B. They are making explicitly exploitative choices. Either of these guys could very easily start up their own businesses and sell for extremely low prices if they were doing something for other than their own profit margins. they're bloodsuckers, not slaves.
How bout the part about the private prisons? Could be some of his funniest, most inspired lyrics. Nobody can compete with this dude. Love it!