Analysis of New Slaves, by Kanye West

Thesis: The upper class benefits off of the exploitation of the lower class, black people,
and prisoners through private prisons, and stereotypes.
Kanye West starts off his song by talking about how his mother was raised in the era
when, clean water was only served to the fairer skin. His mother was born in 1949 and lived in
the south for most of her life. She grew up during the era of segregation and participated in one
of the first national sit-in demonstrations. While black people ended up using rusty, broken water
fountains white people were served water from high quality water fountains. His use of the
words served and fairer skin evoke an image of the upper class, mostly made up of white
people, being presented with their water. While the Civil Rights movement was successful in
eradicating many Jim Crow laws, many African Americans are limited in what they can do today.
Ye raps about how before he was successful might be worth noting the class/ race axis here he
was told not to touch anything in the store. This shows the prevalent stereotype of a black man
who wants to steal something. The stereotype of the violent, criminal African American man
goes back to slavery, when the perception of black men as brutes was very common. The
brute stereotype was originally used by slaveholders and the upper class to justify slavery.
After slavery was abolished it was used to justify the imprisonment of black males for no reason
and with no evidence. Wealthy industrialists replaced slaves with convicts and used them as free
labor through the convict-lease system. States literally leased out their prisoners to private
contractors, planters, or factory owners for minimal rates. While the convict-lease system has
fallen out of favor in America exploitation of prisoners and people of color still exists.
In the second verse West says the DEA, Teamed up with the CCA, They tryna lock
n****s up, They tryna make new slaves, See thats that privately owned prisons,Get your piece

today. Kanye West is referencing how Americas prison population has grown by 700%
between 1970 and 2005. The DEA, or the Drug Enforcement Agency, was formed in 1973 by
Richard Nixon to enforce federal drug laws. The War on Drugs has disproportionately
incarcerated black males. While only 14% of the United States population is African American,
black males make up at least 40% of Americas prison population. Kanye is talking about how
the upper class negatively impacts and holds back African American through incarceration. The
CCA (Corrections Corporation of America) is a company that manages privately owned prisons
and detention centers. Kanye talks about how the DEA and CCA work together to lock n****s
up and make new slaves. The CCA and companies like it literally profit from bringing inmate
population levels up. Inmates used for labor are paid less than minimum wage and sometimes no
wage. They do not receive health insurance or sick days and have no unions. Many of these
prisoners also live in horrid facilities filled with maggots and cockroaches.There are also many
reports of staff sexually abusing prisoners in CCA youth detention centers. In the end 68% of
prisoners return to prison within five years of release. Instead of focusing on how to help
prisoners re-enter into society they focus on getting more prisoners for their cheap labor. This is
the upper classes way of keeping the lower class and black people down and profiting off of
them at the same time.
Kanye talks about how that privately owned prisons, Get your piece today. Privately
owned prisons have taken in over five billion dollars in revenue in 2011. These companies rely
on the prison industrial complex to gather more new slaves and to make more of a profit. He
talks about how the people who own private prison companies are prolly all in the hamptons,
braggin bout what they made. This evokes an image of the upper class not caring about how
they made their money, even if it comes from the exploitation of prisoners. Kanye West once

again uses the brute stereotype to criticise the upper class by saying, F*** you and your
Hampton house, Ill f*** your Hampton spouse. The brute stereotype evoked an image of
black men that were savage and animalistic. The brute was also known for targeting and raping
white women such as the Hampton wife.
The prison industrial complex is a term used to describe how the interests of the
government and industry overlap. The prison industrial complex benefits off of the negative
portrayal of African Americans in media, increasing policing, and imprisonment.
The media, controlled by the upper class, has used its power to portray African American
and Latino men as criminals. Even after a black male is killed media outlets questions the
victims innocence. For example, after the Michael Brown shooting the New York Times
published an article that said Michael Brown was no angel. The media perpetuates the idea that
people of color are guilty until proven innocent. Kanye West satires the stereotype of the brute
by saying that he will go Bobby Boucher. Bobby Boucher is a character from The Waterboy, a
movie about a waterboy turned football player. He releases all his anger in his football games by
tackling his opponents. Kanye also raps about his problems with the media when he says So go
and grab the reporters, So I can smash their recorders. Kanye has had many problems with the
media in the past. He has had multiple scuffles with the paparazzi and media in the past due to
their invasion of his privacy. This has given him a public image of having a low temper and
being violent. Karl Marx wrote in The German Ideology that The class which has the means of
material production at its disposal, has control at the same time over the means of mental
production, so that thereby, generally speaking, the ideas of those who lack the means of mental
production are subject to it. These incidents and Marxs quote show how the upper class, which
controls the media, can control how people think about subjects, people, and even entire races.

Even though Kanye West is a part of the upper class now, he is still stereotyped and
exploited by the upper class. While lower class African Americans are stereotyped as criminals,
upper class African Americans are stereotyped as people who blow all their money on cars,
jewelry, and expensive articles of clothing. While he was told not to touch anything in the
store when he was poorer and less famous. Now hes told to please buy more. Kanye West
then declares that he cannot be bought by saying that he throws these Maybach keys. This is a
reference to how some companies will use deal sweeteners such as cars to take advantage of
black performers and to get them to sign contracts.
The economic exploitation of black performers is not a recent thing. For example in the
early twentieth century, while many African Americans were creating Jazz music, white
performers would take the music and sell it to a white audience. While African Americans
continued to innovate in music, creating rock and roll, jazz, and hip hop, they were being
exploited by white performers. The upper class never saw a point in selling records made by
black artists because they thought it would never sell to a white audience. If the record labels
ever paid the artist they would severely underpay them. Kanye West criticizes the exploitation of
black performers by using the stereotype that black people cant read. He raps Yall throwing
contracts at me, You know that n****s cant read. This also references how companies will
throw contracts at Kanye filled with complex lawyer language. These contracts are just another
form of enslavement and exploitation in Kanyes eyes. The capitalist ruling class relies on
paying workers, and even rappers, as little as possible. This is the only way capitalism can
survive. They pay the workers as little as possible but enough to keep them alive and working.
While Kanye says that he cannot be bought he also says that he knows that we the new
slaves. He understands that he is a slave to materialism and consumerism. He immediately

follows the lyric by saying he sees the blood on the leaves. This is a lyric from a song made
by Abel Meeropol that describes a lynching. The blood on the leaves refers to how there is blood
on money, materialism, and consumerism. Kanye is talking about how money is used to ensure
that the upper class continues to have a monopoly on wealth. This is the blood of all the people
the upper class and white people have exploited for all of Americas history. Including the old
slaves, and new slaves such as prisoners and black performers. Kanye West understands that
since he is a new slave he has his own blood on the leaves. He knows that he is a new slave
because he is still used by the upper class to make money. He also knows that his own
materialism adds to the blood on the leaves.
Kanye West ends the song with a sweet release. The instrumentals change from being
booming and using a lot of bass to an electric guitar. Frank Ocean appears at the end and sings
about how he can't lose, no, I can't lose,Cause I can't leave it to you Kanye West cant lose
because he is free, yet he is still a slave. He is still materialistic and controlled by money. He is
still someone who is stereotyped by the media and the upper class.Cause I can't leave it to
you means that Kanye cant leave his music, fashion, and success to you or society. He does
not want society or the upper class to decide how he lives his life. He does not make his music
for anyone except for himself. This is his one true freedom that the upper class cannot control.
The song ends with a sample from Gyngyhaj lny a song by the Hungarian band Omega.
The songs lyrics say One day the sun, too tired to shine, Slept in the deep, green sombre
lake,And in the darkness, the world did ail, Until she came, for all our sake. This brings out
the image of the Egyptian sun god Ra, who is born each day and dies each night. This is similar
to how Jesus Christ was resurrected. This sample resurrects Kanye from being a new slave to
being Yeezus. And as Yeezus (or Jesus) he is able to transcend the upper classes oppression.

Kanye West is a demigod who contradicts himself. Sometimes he is taken advantage of

and sometimes he is above the ruling class. This song points out the ways the white upper class
has taken advantage of the lower class, black people, prisoners, and black performers. It also
shows how Kanye attempts to avoid the exploitation of the upper class by having control of
himself, his success, his fashion, and his music. This song is his way of showing that he is not
complicit with the upper classes oppression.