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And I'll never let him ever hit a strip club
I learned the hard way, that ain't the place to get love JAY-Z & Kanye West – New Day
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A shot at Amber Rose. It is widely but falsely believed that Kanye met her at a strip club. Like T-Pain, Kanye fell in love with a stripper. Perhaps places where women’s bodies are exploited for money aren’t good places to start stable relationships.

Amber responded to this line, finding that is undermined Kanye’s apology to her in “Runaway”:

‘Never find love in a strip club.’ And that’s when I was like, ‘You know what? Take your apology and shove it up your ass, because I don’t want to hear it.’

He didn’t meet me in a strip club; he knows he didn’t meet me in a strip club… Don’t apologize and then say something like that. It’s just rude, and it’s mean, and it’s not true

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F542d49d051f223e208ab35e14dc5e24

182

5 years

Even if possibly he never started affectionately speaking with Amber Rose via the Strip Club, just her status of a former stripper is almost as if you are “at the Strip Club”, if that makes any sense. You are still making love with a woman recognized as exploiting her body for needs which in my opinion isn’t a smart choice for that “real” love.

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Doctors say I'm the illest 'cause I'm suffering from realness JAY-Z & Kanye West – Niggas in Paris
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Being “real” is one of hip-hop’s most persistent boasts, and “fake” is perhaps the most common insult around. Jay has already established that he is “as real as it gets.” Kanye boasts that his authenticity is what makes him the best rapper around.

A more literal reading is also valid. Kanye actually suffers when he tries to keep it real. The term “ill,” however, is in line with other slang terms, such as “sick” or “bad” meaning “good.”

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Your whip so cold, this old thing?
(Ball so hard) Act like you'll ever be around motherfuckers like this again JAY-Z & Kanye West – Niggas in Paris
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The woman Kanye is with isn’t used to the trappings of fame. In a restaurant, she orders familiar fish filet rather than something sophisticated. She praises a car that Kanye doesn’t hold in particularly high regard.

Kanye tells her to stop being awestruck and act like she normally chills with complete ballers.

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Cff9364e242741f5b3517a75a167f874

198

3 years

uses the same annotation

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I see you shine in your way
Go on, go on, go on
I see you shine in your way
Go on, go on, go on
I see you shine in your way
Go on, go on, go on
I see you shine in your way
Go on, go on, go on
I see you shine in your way
Go on, go on, go on
I see you shine in your way
Go on, go on, go on
(I see you shine in your way
Go on, go on, go on
I see you shine in your way
Go on, go on, go on) Vampire Weekend – Giving Up the Gun
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This line is reminiscent of John Lennon’s famous single, “Instant Karma”.

We all shine on,
Like the moon, and the stars, and the sun.

Like Lennon, Koenig is emphasising how special the subject of the song is.

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22071e49ac9d7c993e5cfd399bc9c6fa

1,276

4 years

Maybe accepting the fact that the world and people change, just like the warfare of the Japanese military changed and an acceptance with things moving forward. an inability to repeat the past

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2b24067968af0d985e09794e3359de7b

151

9 years

The “Go on, go on, go on” also suggests that he is letting go of the relationship he had with the subject of the song.

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[Bridge: Justin Vernon & Kanye West] Kanye West – Dark Fantasy
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Kanye raps these same lyrics under Justin Vernon’s Auto-Tuned vocals.

This marks JV’s first appearance on a Yeezy track. The two have since become frequent collaborators, working on songs including “Monster”, “Lost In The World”, “Hold My Liquor”, “I Am A God” and “I’m In It”.

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God is smiling on you, but he's frowning too
Because only God knows what you'll go through
You'll grow in the ghetto living second-rate
And your eyes will sing a song of deep hate Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five (Ft. Duke Bootee & Grandmaster Melle Mel) – The Message
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Blacks living in poor communities in the early Reagan years were treated as a caste apart, second-class citizens. Naturally, this could lead to them resenting rich people.

Note the contrast between God “smiling” (an expression meaning “granting luck”) and frowning in the same line. God knows that things are terrible for African Americans – maybe He’s “smiling on” them to try and make up for the oppression they face?

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Default_avatar_100

6

1 year

The inclusion of this verse is interesting from a sociological perspective. African Americans will frequently turn to religiosity to better their mental health, which may explain the line, “God is smiling on you”. However, this is quickly countered with the line, “but he’s frowning too”, conveying knowledge of the discrimination and oppression African Americans face.

The lines, “You’ll grow in the ghetto living second-rate” and “And your eyes will sing a song of deep hate”, express discrimination through socioeconomic status and are supported by a study that found that repeated subjection to discrimination can have negative effects on one’s mental health (Pascoe et al. 2009).

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And love is the Holocaust if you don't die quick and you don't get thinner Bo Burnham – Love Is... (Live)
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The humour in this line derives from its shock value, which induces nervousness in the listener.

The Holocaust was utterly dreadful – millions died horrible deaths. Burnham compares being in love to experiencing the Holocaust, but not dying – it just drags on and on and on.

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Emma
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5 years

“except you don’t die quick”

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7 years

Bo is also stating that when you’re in love and in a relationship, it feels like you’re stuck together for eternity (you don’t die quick) and typically people gain weight (you don’t get thinner).

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Ibrahem
7 years

I think he meant how it felt great for the nazis. because the victims were the ones dying and getting thinner.

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360b284fa0c6851c5635a9eba7665a70

138

9 years

he’s saying that love is the holocaust from the perspective of the Germans. It was what the Germans wanted and they got it, but it was also an abomination. It continues the theme in the song that love is a paradoxical good and bad thing

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Default_avatar_100

37

10 years

It’s taking on sexism/male dominance. Even if the prisoners weren’t killed and starved, there would still be a power imbalance and they still would be at the mercy (or lack of mercy) of their Nazi captors. It’s challenging the form of rap where women are always objectified.

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And if we met in 1941
I was a Nazi, you's a Gypsy on the run
That's a little redundant
That, probably wouldn't've worked out Bo Burnham – Love Is... (Live)
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The Romani, informally known as gypsies, are travellers, so they’re pretty much constantly on the run. That was especially true in 1941, at the height of Porajmos. The Nazis persecuted travelling communities just as they persecuted Jews in the Holocaust. Around 220,000 people were killed, although a precise death toll is hard to estimate. There’s little chance of a Nazi and a Roma hitting it off in those circumstances.

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8 years

It wouldn’t work out the same way romance between an Nazi and a Jew would not work out.

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21be26e5f607ecaae27365b8c79e5eab

931

11 years

I would add to it that it “probably wouldn’t have worked out” because the Nazis hunted gypsies during the Holocaust.

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You're making me devolve to a Homo Erectus Bo Burnham – Love Is... (Live)
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Homo erectus was the first Hominid to walk on two legs. Its name sounds like erection.

H. erectus survived for nearly two million years. In that time, many species directly or indirectly evolved from it, including, in all probability, Homo sapiens (us).

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Like Hitler's father needed to learn to pull out Bo Burnham – Love Is... (Live)
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If Hitler’s dad had pulled out, Hitler would not have been born and the horrors of WWII and the Holocaust might have been avoided.

Pulling out is not a good contraceptive technique. Hitler’s father really needed a condom.

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