STRONGER

Been waiting for this though I missed it in the last throes of the Frenzy. There's a new video out for Kanye “President Bush Hates Black People” West's awesome Stonger. Here's a brief synopsis: Daft Punk. Akira. Hot chicks. Explosions. Katakana. Take a look.

It would be possible to squeeze more things that I am inordinately fond of into the space of four minutes or so. But only just barely.

It occurs to me, though, that this song is nostalgia. Late 80s, early 90s nostalgia (I knew I was tapping into something there with my first Frenzy script.). You've got references to celebs like OJ Simpson and Kate Moss in the lyrics. Even Prince and Appolonia. And then you've got the whole Akira and Daft Punk vibe in the video. Plus the sample is straight out of the “Best of” 90s dance/techno/whatever file.

I originally took the lyrics to be stunningly bad. Containing all the subtlety of an anvil. But, now, I'm not so sure. But Mr. West is a professional singer and this is a polished recording, those words don't get there by accident. The important theme might not be in the chorus – that's just the lovey lovey stuff that's needed to sell records. But the key lyrics could be the throwaway line that comes early on in the song, “Damn, they don't make them like this anymore”. With the context of when things were made coming from the rest of the song. Fascinating. Probably reading too much into things, though.

Apparently there's a chain of hat tips here that stretches to the very dawn of the internet. Maybe even the very dawn of mankind itself. I found it at Mr. Church's, though. Because a comics blog is the first place I check for my musical fix. But the reason is, yeah, I really could do without the “Me Likey”, too.