Now, I don't know if I'm reading too much into this, but I think that this is a perfect comment on the trivialisation of the past. "Strange Fruit" by Billie Holiday (covered here by Nina Simone), is used at the bridge, a very key element of the song. It's about lynching — something horrific and awful. "Strange Fruit" is a powerful, haunting song that cuts deep to the roots of the USA's torrid and racist past. Yet here Kanye is rapping about nothing much, it's very trivial (on the surface), and doesn't relate at all to "Strange Fruit".
It is in this contrast that I think the true comment of the song is being made, I think that this is looking at music, and society at the moment, and how we are conveniently forgetting the past. We are living in a world where the majority of people are willing to turn a blind eye to history, we like to forget what happened to black people in the past, we like to forget that the South was racist as all living hell (and still is), we like to forget the lessons of Malcolm X and MLK, we like to forget the sacrifices that they and countless others before them made. And through the use of Nina Simone's version of "Strange Fruit" in such a seemingly careless fashion really highlights this.
If you look at other songs on the album, he talks about injustices, and the use of "Strange Fruit" would have been a perfect background for those songs, yet here he is, rapping about running naked in the lobby.
The juxtaposition here seems very powerful to me, and just stands out because the differences are so stark. As I said, I might be reading too much into this, but looking at the rest of the content on the album, there seems to be a subversive intelligence that remains hidden unless you are looking for it, and regardless, I think the song makes the comment whether Kanye intended it or not (I hope he did).
Firstly, I love this song.
Now, I don't know if I'm reading too much into this, but I think that this is a perfect comment on the trivialisation of the past. "Strange Fruit" by Billie Holiday (covered here by Nina Simone), is used at the bridge, a very key element of the song. It's about lynching — something horrific and awful. "Strange Fruit" is a powerful, haunting song that cuts deep to the roots of the USA's torrid and racist past. Yet here Kanye is rapping about nothing much, it's very trivial (on the surface), and doesn't relate at all to "Strange Fruit".
It is in this contrast that I think the true comment of the song is being made, I think that this is looking at music, and society at the moment, and how we are conveniently forgetting the past. We are living in a world where the majority of people are willing to turn a blind eye to history, we like to forget what happened to black people in the past, we like to forget that the South was racist as all living hell (and still is), we like to forget the lessons of Malcolm X and MLK, we like to forget the sacrifices that they and countless others before them made. And through the use of Nina Simone's version of "Strange Fruit" in such a seemingly careless fashion really highlights this.
If you look at other songs on the album, he talks about injustices, and the use of "Strange Fruit" would have been a perfect background for those songs, yet here he is, rapping about running naked in the lobby.
The juxtaposition here seems very powerful to me, and just stands out because the differences are so stark. As I said, I might be reading too much into this, but looking at the rest of the content on the album, there seems to be a subversive intelligence that remains hidden unless you are looking for it, and regardless, I think the song makes the comment whether Kanye intended it or not (I hope he did).