“Do you think I sacrificed real life for all the fame and flashing lights?
There is no Gucci, Louis Vuitton or Ice,
No clothes that I could buy that could release my mind from this jail
No vacations that I could fly
Or take me back to real life.
I ask you tonight
What does it feel like
To live a real life?
I just want to be a real boy
Pinocchio lied, that’s what kept him running,
I tell the truth and still I am running
I turn on the TV and see me
I turn on the TV and see nothing
What does it feel like
To be real?
Not some façade that no one can really feel
Do you really have the stamina
For everybody that sees you to ask
“Where is my camera?”
For everybody to say sign my autograph
For everybody that sees you crying to say
“Boy you ought to laugh”
I just want to be a real boy”
“Pinocchio story”- a free-style song performed by multi-million selling rapper - Kanye West in which he tells his live audience a story about himself, juxtaposing his life with that of Pinocchio, the wooden puppet whose nose grew longer every time he told a lie. During this performance, West cries in front of the audience as he tells the audience of how he feels his life is a lie, a life of emptiness and of no real substance.
After listening to this, I doubt this will really have a major impact on changing the opinions of the young minds who have decided to pursue the limelight, but it tells me that truly, “all that glitters is not gold”, and fame and fortune does not in any way guarantee happiness. Contrary to what many might believe nowadays, the desire to be famous is not a solid ambition, and although a formal education is by no means the only path an individual can go in life, neither is the search for stardom.
A few clichéd phrases come to mind to put to Kanye in response to his sad lament:
ReplyDeleteBeware what you wish for! An ordinary life may be the opposite of what your life NEEDS (as opposed to what you WANT)...
Count your blessings...
And finally "A warrior accepts his lot in life, neither as a blessing to be grateful for, nor as a curse to regret, but as a life challenge to be met with head up".
I beleive every career path you choose to take in life has its lows...im sure the bankers that have been badly affected in the recession will have an equally sad story to sing about like Kanye if you ask them....
ReplyDeleteI guess what the youth of today need to understand is saying "I want to be a STAR" isnt an empty statement and being a "star" isnt all cookies and cream. I guess in that trade you need people around you to keep you grounded or you might just drown in all the Hollywood fakenes....OH well....
hmmm...interesting i think ur right all that gliters isnt gold! and young peole are seduced by the fast life and stardom etc...i think the problem nowadays is that every one wants everything NOW-instant gratification. no one wants to work ....we all forget that wateva is worth having is worth workin for!!
ReplyDeletein regards to Kanye...he doesnt have to be in the limelight ALL the time...other "stars" exist and are still famous without being in the limelight all the time...although i do understand the pressures of being a role model..and always having to be perfect all the time..but everyones human..
That's a shame... the thing is when he wasn't famous he wasn't satisfied was he? If he was he wouldn't have felt like he needed to be where he is right now. So it's not really about the outside world and how they perceive him as an individual but really about himself and how his inward thoughts and feelings mould him as a person. If a person can't look inside of themselves and be happy with what they are and have achieved there is nothing outside that is going to make up for that or fill in that void.
ReplyDeleteIt's a question of a persons priorities if you ask me, if you put material possessions over real relationships and feelings then you'll find you're never happy because all those things pass away and are utterly useless if you don't have happiness.
Bum bum, na wa oh! I will put that threat of mine into place at exactly 12.05 past midnight on the 4th of May, 2009. You had your chance!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteOn a serious note.. your articulate analyses of the contemporary goings-ons in the lives of celebrities and people in the limelight shows a depth that was otherwise not obvious before. Well done my dear celebrity critic originale!!! a chip off the old female block..ha ha!!!
Toks, that's very true, material possessions and fame should not be what comes at the top of a person's priorities but perhaps its only natural for someone as talented as Kanye to want to express his talent...and with that, comes the fame, and with the fame comes the wealth and with wealth, comes the fakeness and emptiness he is talking about.
ReplyDeleteAlso, who would really in all honesty say no to the superstar lifestyle with all the luxuries and opportunities that come with it? Very few of us, I think.
Nice blog Bumsy. I think you should take up a career in journalism.
ReplyDeletePoor poor Kanye! He jettisoned a college degree for fame, stardom and lucre. Unfortunately he lost his dearly beloved mother in the process, she having got caught up in life in the fast lane as well and died on the plastic surgeon's table having a TUMMY TUCK!Real sad innit? No wonder he is moaning about the emptiness of life in the fast lane! oh well the grass is always greener on the other side innit? Its a lesson for all of us malcontents who desire fame and riches. Everything comes with its price.Thats just one of the many lessons of life. You sometimes get MORE than you wish for...!!
A.L..thank you...I'm happy I've impressed you a bit!
ReplyDeleteThanks Justice! x
airmanchairman,
ReplyDeletenow I have been marked, I can reply to your comment, somehow I thought I shouldn't earlier.
I know exactly what you mean about the cliched phrases coming to mind, exactly what I thought, simple well known but not really adhered to, even when they should.
BTW, someone I sent my project to before I decided to start this blog picked up on the fact that I used some cliched phrases and told me off for doing that, not bothering to see them in this context. Airmanchairman, you get me! As for the journalist I sent my work to, I guess she just didn't....oh well
*smiles*
airmanchairman,
ReplyDeletenow I have been marked, I can reply your comment, somehow I thought I shouldn't earlier.
I know exactly what you mean about the cliched phrases coming to mind, exactly what I thought; simple, well known but not too often adhered to, even when they should be.
BTW, someone I sent my project to before I decided to start this blog picked up on the fact that I used some cliched phrases and told me off for doing that, not bothering to see them in this context. Airmanchairman, you get me! As for the journalist I sent my work to, I guess she just didn't....oh well
*smiles*