Fame and Privacy

Kanye West produced the song "Roses," on Late Registration, in 2005, which followed his debut album, The College Dropout. Since the release of his album in 2005, Late Registration has become triple platinum. In this song, Kanye West raps on the events of his grandmother being in the hospital, not knowing whether she would be able to make it.

In "Roses," Kanye west uses examples of poetry throughout the song, which helps portray the significance that this part of his life has had on him. In the very first lines of the poem Kanye Says,

I know it's past visiting hours
But can I please give her these flowers?

In these lines, Kanye is using an "aa" rhyme scheme to enhance the meaning of what he is saying. The context of these lines, and the reason for the entire song, is the fact that Kanye's Grandmother is in the hospital, and he has no idea whether she will live or not. Kanye goes on the say,

Tell her everything gon' be fine, but I be lyin'
Her family cryin', they want her to live, and she tryin'

Again, in this song, Kanye West using the next rhyme scheme of "bb" to add meaning to the lines. In this song, roses are a symbol for family and for hope that his mother, who has the nickname of "chick" which is used multiple times in the song, will get better. Instead of using the actual presence of flowers as an example of love, he translates it into the family's support which is like flowers.

Kanye speaks on how having fame should not affect the way that people are treated when they are sick, by bringing up how Magic Johnson is able to live a more comfortable live with AIDS, as he has immense amounts of money. Even at the hospital, Kanye is outraged, as seen in these lines,

I asked the nurse "Did you do the research?"
She asked me, "Can you sign some t-shirts?"
Bitch, is you smokin reefer?

In these lines, the listeners learn that after Kanye asks a nurse for an update on his grandma, he is returned with questions asking if he could sign t-shirts for him. Kanye is outraged at this, as he feels that just because he is famous, doesn't mean that he is able to get past all of the grieving stages that families go through in tragic times like these. After the nurse asks this, Kanye responds by asking if she is smoking reefer, which is another word for marijuana, meaning that Kanye believed that she must be acting delusional, as nobody should be pestered when they are in times of great sorrow.

This song further demonstrates its attributes as poetry, by Kanye addressing worldwide problems of medication being too expensive, which means that many people die because they can't afford all of the expensive medicines. Family is very important to Kanye West, and he uses poetry in his music to demonstrate his true feelings.