Thursday, June 07, 2007

I Ain't Sayin' I'm A Fence Sitta...


Major carousel face time! Actually, I'm not sure if I can muster the strength to get off the fence to either pick up my sword in rage or don my furry teddy bear mascot costume in support of this, but Kanye West (self proclaimed heir apparent to Christ Almighty himself) has, I suppose, felt the need to step away from sampling the music that I suckled the teat of in my youth...ala' The Police, Chaka Khan and Annie (of little orphan fame) to mounting his sucktacular rap like the Black Lion from Voltron onto the bombastic pillars of more modern giants such as Daft Punk.
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Yeah, you heard me...Daft Punk.
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Kanye West has just recorded a song over a slowed down version of Daft Punk's "Harder Better Faster Stronger" called appropriately "Stronger." The complicated process of deciphering the inherent good and evil of this is almost as layered as some complicated multi-layered thing that escapes my mind right now because I'm freakin' blown away at the cojones on this guy!!! Call me uncultured but the success of most every rap song that has made the top 40 in the past five years has done so on the bruised heels of a breathy Spandau Ballet "True" or the back beat of Phil Collins. Why the hell are these songs so popular? Is it their misogynistic lyrics or their undeniable juicy soft core 80's pop hook? To now feast on the robotic corpse of those that aren't even dead yet has me scratching my head.
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Just as I feared, the interenet is abuzz with comments like: "The song is alright but I'd love to hear it without the rapping...where can I find the original!" and "I wish I could hear the song without the guy rapping over it..."
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!!!!!
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Exactly!!! Is this how the youth of today is going to discover one of my favorite songs from one of my all time favorite artists? Or worse, is this how Kanye West will conquer another fan base by sticking is words in an already terrific song like a wild boar in the Lord of the Flies?
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On the other side of the fence, isn't this what I've been waiting for? To have the masses finally sway over to the electronic side and realize the genius of Guy Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter? Shouldn't I, as a peace loving, flag waving, music sharing fan of the robots welcome anyone who thinks their music genius enough to sample? Finally, isn't it already ironic how Daft's "Harder Better Faster Stronger" is already a better song thanks to their sampling of Edwin Birdsong's "Cola Bottle Baby"? If so, then who is at fault here? Daft Punk for discovering this little gem first or Kanye for not knowing he is a two timing sampling God? Either way, Kanye is way overrated but I can't help liking this crap in the same way I like poking my gums with the blunt end of a toothpick.
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  • For your giggling pleasure:

Kanye's lyrics:

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n- n- now th- that don't kill me
can only make me stronger
i need you to hurry up now
cause i can't wait much longer
i know i got to be right now
cause i cant get much wronger
man i've been waitin' all night now
that's how long i've been on ya
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i need you right now
i need you right now
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lets get lost tonight
you could be my black kate moss tonight
play secretary i'm the boss tonight
and you don't give a f*** what they all say right?
awesome, the christian and and kristen dior
damn they don't make 'em like this anymore
i ask, cause i'm not sure
do anybody make real shit anymore?
bow in the presence of greatness
cause right now thou has forsaken us
you should be honored by my lateness
that i would even show up to this fake sh*t
so go ahead go nuts go ape sh*t
specially on my best stand on my bape sh*t
act like you can't tell who made this
new gospel homey take six, and take this, haters
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n- n- now th- that don't kill me
can only make me stronger
i need you to hurry up now
cause i can't wait much longer
i know i got to be right now
cause i cant get much wronger
man i've been waitin' all night now
that's how long i've been on ya
!
i need you right now
i need you right now
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me likey
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i don't know if you got a man or not,
if you made plans or not
god put me in the plans or not
i'm trippin' this drink got me sayin' a lot
but i know that god put you in front of me
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so how the hell could you front on me
there's a thousand you's there's only one of me
i'm trippin' i'm caught up in the moment right?
this is louis vuitton dime night
so we gon' do everything that kan like
heard they'd do anything for a klondike
well i'd do anything for a blonde-dike
and she'll do anything for the limelight
and we'll do anything when the time's right
ugh, baby you're makin' it (harder, better, faster, stronger)
!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Actually, he also has stolen from Steel Magnolias when he talks about "What does not kill us, makes us stronger".

Sad...

Anonymous said...

I'm now more stupid having read these lyrics.

stephanie said...

Ugh. I threw up in my mouth a little.

Speaking of heresy, Kanye also samples "Young Folks" by Peter Bjorn and John on the album. Here's a link to listen to it: http://iguessimfloating.blogspot.com/2007/05/kanye-west-loves-peter-bjorn-and-john.html.