Power

Here are how two rap songs contemplate power. The first is "No Handlebars" by the Flobots.



In addition to just really cool orchestration, I like this song because I get two different messages from it, depending on if I'm watching the video or just listening to the song. Listen to the song, and you feel there is just one person talking. I feel like the song is contemplating what happens when emotionally immature people come into great power, be it economic, social, or political. If all our politicians are playing a game of one-upmanship ("oh, yeah? Well, I can ride my bike with no handlebars! Beat THAT!") then we'll never end up with meaningful compromise or social discourse. To get anything done, politics requires a level of maturity that seems to be sorely lacking.

Watching the video, however, gives me a second message. This time, the song is sung between two friends who both start out at the same place. One boy takes a job in a big company, where the culture of his business, the media, and everything around him twists him into a hateful, frightened, friendless beast. In this view of the song, it is actually society and/or the giant corporation that is the villain. The boy would've been just fine, had he been in a better environment.

In our political world, I do think this happens all the time. People may enter into politics for noble reasons, but the reality of campaigning will twist them. How can it not? We expect these people to perform all day, every day, for years if they are going into national office. We scrutinize them. Have they ever made any mistake, ever? We will broadcast it, blowing it out of proportion. In an effort to win votes, candidates will promise the world to everyone they meet - by intimation, if nothing else. Then we become disappointed when the impossible fails to happen after they get into office. It is near to impossible for a candidate who is not a lying, egocentric ass to get into office.

It doesn't happen all the time, of course. And some people who get into office are still honest people who are trying to serve their country well. But it does happen sometimes. Just like, sometimes, our leaders are children in 45 year old bodies.

I think the song also cautions against letting corporations have too much influence in politics. Large corporations have lives of their own, but they are unencumbered by such things as morality, empathy, and looking towards the greater good. They really shouldn't be in charge.

If the Flobots have something to say about the corrupting influence of power as seen from the outside, Kanye West speaks about power from the inside, as one who has it in abundance.



From the Sword of Damocles to the assassins to the gaggle of women who aren't even looking at him, Kanye West sits on a precarious perch, and knows it. Power is a fleeting thing, the song says. As soon as you get to the top, there are people surrounding you to tear you down. To be successful in power, you need to revel in their angry cries and accept that your time in the spotlight will end (probably sooner rather than later.) Live it up while you can, and let it go when your time is done.

I don't think this song is quite as meaningful (powerful, if you will) as the Flobots song, simply because Kanye celebrates his ascension over those who would keep him down a bit too angrily for me. But it is still a great song, and the video is a-freaking-mazing. The movement, the symbolism, and flashes of color...stunning. I just love it.

So, that's my review of power, cats and kittens. Now I'm going to go watch that Kanye video again.