Kanye West – The One ft. Big Sean, 2 Chainz, Marsha Ambrosius (Cruel Summer)
This has to be my favorite song off the album Cruel Summer by Kanye West. The piano in the instrumental along with the hook by Marsha Ambrosius really brings the song together in my opinion. I’ll only discuss some of the hook and the first verse by Kanye. The song starts out with some piano and goes directly into the hook with Ambrosius singing “The storm is on the horizon, I’m standing here alone.” This immediately refers to Kanye’s views on his position in the game of rap music. He feels as if he is alone at the top. Who is there to challenge him and his label G.O.O.D Music? As the hook continues, it conveys messages of self-importance and being willing to rise to any challenge or challenger. Kanye’s verse in particular helps illustrate the stream of consciousness that I find in rap music. His verse contains allusions to the Bible, pop-culture, celebrities, the enslavement of debt. All of this is done through some slick wordplay and the wordplay shows how rap music is associative. To cite a few examples: Kanye says: “Yeah, I’m the one, baby since God gave his only begotten son, baby” this is a Biblical allusion as here Kanye seems to be referring to himself as the new or the next Jesus Christ. As he continues he says “You on a run, baby.” I think that this refers to the race of life that we all must run in. The rat race if you will. Many people are always chasing after their false idols or unreal goals. He goes on to say “You think you free but you a slave to the funds, baby.” This can easily refers to the trap and enslavement of debt. Kids take out 100,000 dollar loans to go to prestigious universities to be “free” as in, not under the rules and regulations of their parents but only to be enslaved to the debt that they incurred over the course of four years. It can also refer to credit card debt and people love the freedom to buy whatever they’d like, whenever they’d like but they they begin to drown in debt. His verse continues: “We on a galaxy that haters cannot visit, That’s my reality so get off my Scott Disick, If you ever held a title belt you would know how Michael felt, Tyson, Jackson, Jordan – Michael Phelps.” Here Kanye puts himself on a completely different level. He says that he is unreachable as he is on another galaxy. Perhaps this refers to the hook of the song? And in the rest of the quote the slick wordplay comes in once again. That’s my reality seems to refer to the reality show Keeping up with the Kardashians and since Kanye and Kim are dating, Kanye has been on the show multiple times with none other than Scott Disick. There’s also the saying “Get off my dick” which is commonly used in rap music and the play on the name Scott Disick helps keep common rap phraseology and introduce a new twist. Then he lists the Michaels or champions of the world.
The Stream of Consciousness refers to our conscious and how it is not static. Rather, our consciousness is dynamic and always moving and flowing like a stream, hence the name “Stream of Consciousness.” I believe this song is able to bring out how rap music represents the stream of consciousness. With all the wordplay and the associative nature of the song, it shows why our consciousness is in fact like that stream. Because we are able to understand all these allusions as they are presented to us, there are a ton of word associations we make in a matter of seconds. This illustrates how our conscious is dynamic. How could we understand this song or songs like these if we could only be focused on one thing at any given time? It is the Stream of Consciousness and our collective memories and experiences that allow us to put all the pieces of the lyrical puzzle together and enjoy the music and all the wordplay that comes along with it.