Monday, September 1, 2014

A Critique of Kanye West's "Family Business"

"Family Business" is one of Kanye's most popular and influential songs. The song revolves around the relationships in families and how the family has the power to help people through their troubles; something that money cannot do. This may be considered an important issue in modern America as the family is beginning to play less of a central role in many people's lives.   Kanye also looks to tear down social stigma; apparent with the verse "You can still love your man and be manly dog" blatantly rejecting homophobia and also the lines "I woke up early this mornin' with a new state of mind. A creative way to rhyme without usin' knives and guns. Keep your nose out the sky, keep your heart to God." With this Kanye rejects the accepted stigma that hip hop is a culture of violence and indifference to human nature. The song shows a rather alien side of Kanye's character with his assertion that the power of family will always trump the power of money. It is easy to guess that Kanye would likely choose this as his theme song as it portrays him in a noble light in stark contrast to the universal perception of him as an egoist and materialist. Kanye most importantly seeks to tear down personal social barriers for himself- which each of us experience in our own unique subjective manner. 

PS: Please excuse any errors regarding the lack of commas. My keyboard will not produce them. 

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